“You’re welcome,” Lucas nodded with a polite smile. “And I will. See you later, Sterling.”
With another nod, Lucas turned around and walked away, already practically dying to share this information with his girlfriend. Sterling Ainsley had admitted to liking his sister and her best friend. How would Ashley react to that?
TIME SKIP: THE NEXT DAY]
Eden sighed, looking at herself in the girl’s bathroom mirror. She’d skipped first block, but that wasn’t a surprise. She shared that with Sterling. She didn’t think she could see him at that moment. He said he hated seeing her hurt.
And that’s exactly what she had done to herself. She’d hurt herself. There was a bandaid on her cheek, the bruise throbbing painfully, but it felt good. It gave a release. Her hand was wrapped in a bandage from when she had punched the wall in anger. She looked miserable. Finally, she took a deep breath and stepped out of the bathroom. The hallway was rather empty, so that was a plus. Chances of running into Sterling were low, too.
And just as she thought that, she bumped into someone’s back and breathed in a very familiar scent.
Sterling hadn’t seen Eden in the morning, not in the first class they shared together. Lucas had said that she would be coming, but he hadn’t said when. Maybe she was just coming later, but sterling couldn’t help but feel like something was very wrong.
He was making his way through the halls, on his way to his class from using the restroom, when he felt something bump into him from behind. Turning around slowly, he blinked down at the girl who’d run into him and gave her a small smile.
“Look who finally decided to show up,” he murmured, his eyes taking in every scrape and bruise on her face, the bandage wrapped around her hand. A heavy sigh escaped him and he slowly shook his head. “What have you done to yourself…”
Eden froze, her eyes cast down. She was trying to avoid him and it lead to her running straight into him. Finally, she lifted her eyes, making sure they were blank. She looked at him, taking him in and realized she wanted to see him. Badly.
But she didn’t feel like talking to him, not right now. Not ever. Not when she could crack. So she turned her head away and began to move past him, hoping he’d let her go.
She avoided his gaze at first, and when she finally lifted her eyes… They were blank. Blank and cold, like when he had first met her. She gave no indication that she cared for him, not even one bit.
He caught her arm early when she started to move away, letting go as soon as she had stopped. “Eden… I missed you yesterday. I was worried about you, and this silence isn’t helping,” he murmured, quiet enough that others wouldn’t hear.
When he grabbed her arm, the spot burned. Eden knew it wasn’t because of what touches did to her. She inhaled deeply at his words. He missed her. He was worried about her. That warmed her heart, but it didn’t warm her expression.
“Well, you’ve seen me now,” she murmured. “Is that enough?”
Sterling narrowed his eyes at her. “You known it's not. I don’t know what happened to you, and I know you’re not ready to tell me yet, but… Please, Eden, don’t do this. Don’t lock me out,” he muttered, his eyes narrowing as he looked over her face.
“Why?” Eden’s own eyes narrowed as she stared him down. Why did he care so much? He had absolutely no reason to do so, so why? “Why can’t I? What reason do I have to not lock you out?”
Sterling stared at her for a moment, silent, debating his next words. “Because I care about you. Whether you want me to or not, whether you want to believe it or not, I care for you. And I want to help you, even if you don’t want me to.”
Eden bared her teeth, stepping back.
“You care about me,” she said as if it was a joke. “You’re wasting your time and effort on someone who doesn’t need it. I don’t care for you. I don’t care if you do. I don’t want your help. I don’t want any goddamn person’s help. Why can’t you get that through your head?”
“Because I can see past that facade of yours. I can see the girl who’s hurt by someone beyond belief. And I want to help her out so that she can’t be hurt anymore, not in the way she was. Life will hurt, so I can’t promise hay there will be no pain, but I can promise to help her through it all,” Sterling said, leaning closer.
Eden’s eyes widened at both his words and the way he leaned forward. Why couldn’t he leave her alone? Why couldn’t he realize she didn’t want this? She was fine.
“Everything was so much better when you weren’t here,” she breathed, the lie escaping her tongue smoothly. “It was so much easier. I could be whoever I wanted to be and nobody stopped me. But then you came along—“ she stepped closer, eyes burning with anger. “—and you ruined everything! Everything that haunts me comes flooding back each time we interact. And I don’t like it. I really don’t like it, Ainsley.”
“Maybe that’s because you never dealt with it properly. All you did was shove it into a corner of your mind, packing it away like you would forget about it if you never thought about it. But that obviously wasn’t true, was it?” Sterling questioned, clenching his jaw. What an effort it took for him to not look down at those soft, pink lips that were so painfully close…
“And what do you want to do, play the hero?” Eden snarled, eyes burning with fury. Her trauma was hers to handle. She could do whatever she wanted with it, she could deal with it however she wanted. Nobody could tell her how she should be doing it. Nobody had the right. “You know what’s so freaking ironic? People watch others break right in front of them and they don’t do anything to stop it. They look on and do absolutely nothing, but once the damage is done, they come swarming over to you, expecting you to welcome them with open arms? When people are suffering, you choose to turn a blind eye to them and only step up when there’s nothing left but an empty shell? Well, guess freaking what—it’s unwanted. It’s unnecessary. It’s complete bullshit. I’m perfectly fine on my own. I’m handling things at my own pace. I don’t want anyone’s, quote and unquote, help. I’m long past that. So stop thinking you can just waltz into my life thinking you can fix things that are far too broken!”
Eden stopped, cutting herself off with a gasp. She breathed heavily, body shaking with the anger radiating off of her. Then she froze. In the middle of her speech, she had pressed Sterling to a wall, her fingers gripping his shirt tightly, his head pulled down so low that their faces were inches apart. His breath fanned her face, her wide eyes staring into his.
And Eden made the mistake of looking at his mouth.
They breathed heavily, the air flowing past their lips and across each other’s faces. Sterling’s gaze had darkened slightly at their proximity and the way she spoke to him. He wasn’t angry with her, far from it. In fact, the only person he was upset with was himself. He wished that he could help her, but she didn’t want his help. She didn’t want anyone’s help… And it made his heart clench that no one had helped sooner.
And then her gaze dropped to his lips, and he clenched his jaw again. He couldn’t have her, she didn’t want him, but gosh did he want her so bad… Especially right now, with that look in her eyes and the way she had him pressed against the wall. If he could just kiss her, maybe that would satisfy him, satisfy this want, this need for her to be ever closer.
“I’m sorry I want there to help you, but if I had know you before, if I had noticed that you were hurting, I would have done my absolute best to help you if you wanted it,” he rasped, his voice as strained as his self-control was at the moment. Unable to resist, and wanting desperately to feel them, he lifted and hand to cup her cheek, pressing his thumb to her lips.
Eden felt so stupid at times, and this time was no different. She should have walked away. She should have taken even the smallest chance and turned away from him. Instead, she burst forward and released a little of the tension inside of her. In that burst of anger, she had him pressed to the wall, faces inches apart, her eyes on his mouth.
Those inviting lips—the way they had pressed against her face gently every time he comforted her. The lips she’d come to want. She felt disgusted with herself at that moment. Then with great self-restraint and control, she managed to remove her eyes from his mouth and back to his eyes and froze at the hunger present in them. And then he was speaking, his raspy voice sending shivers down her spine, warmth spreading through her, heat exploding in her core.
Her breaking point was when he cupped her cheek, his gentle touch making her lean into his hand unconsciously. His thumb pressed against her lips and she shuddered, parting her lips slightly, eyes dazed. Then she swallowed thickly, her grip on his shirt loosening.
She didn’t find it within her to reply.
The intensity with which they looked at each other… It was smothering. Hot and thick. Sterling both tensed and relaxed with the want of her.
Her lips parted, and he swept his thumb over the lower one, pulling it in that direction. Then he took it between his thumb and forefinger and gently tugged on it before releasing. He leaned down further, though whether he noticed or not wasn’t clear.
“Do you want to kiss me?” he murmured, the words low, rumbling in his throat.
Eden’s chest rose and fell with heavy breath she took. This atmosphere surrounding them was so thick—suffocating and hot, complete with desire and want and God, did Eden want him at that moment.
He swept his thumb over her lower lip and took it between his fingers, pressing on it gently before he let go. The action caused a whimper to escape her lips, and once Eden realized, her cheeks burst into flames, more so when he spoke again. His voice sent tremors coursing through her, boiling her blood. And his question… it caused explosions inside of her stomach. It caused her heart to squeeze, skip a beat and quicken all at once. How long had it been since she wanted someone this desperately?
Her eyes slowly began to shut, her lips still parted as she leaned further towards him, hyperaware of how close he was getting. And then a small ‘yes’ slipped out of her mouth before she could stop herself.
A whimper slipped past her lips, and Sterling held back a groan. That sound… Gosh, he loved it. It sent shivers down his spine, heat coursing through him. He wanted to hear it again.
And then she answered his question. And she said yes. She wanted him to kiss her. She… She wanted him to kiss her.
So he did. His lips met hers as he bent down to clasp them together, his hand moving to cup her cheek softly.
When their lips met, fireworks exploded in Eden’s stomach. As cliché as it sounded, sparks flew, heat coursed through her and her heart hammered wildly in her chest. Her hot blood roared in her ears and Eden became unaware of everything else. It was just her and Sterling and his mouth on hers.
She was quick to kiss him back. Standing on her toes, she pressed herself harder against him, eyes falling shut, her injured hand resting against his neck while the other wove its way into his hair. The fire gnawing in her stomach for the taste of him only grew in intensity.
Sterling’s free hand went to Eden’s waist, pulling her closer. She kissed him back, and he could barely process it. So he pressed lips against hers harder.
He didn’t even realize what he was doing until it had already happened. His hands ended up pressed on either side of her head and the wall behind her… When had he done that? He’d completely flipped their positions, so now she was beneath him, pressed against the wall. And his mouth was hot on hers.
Everything was going smoothly. They were kissing, heat was exploding through her, and for once, she didn’t feel the disgust and fear at having to kiss someone again. She, in fact, loved the way he worked on her mouth, lips molding together, moving in synch.
Until he swapped their positions and she ended up being pressed between him and the wall. And that’s when things went wrong. That’s when the trauma kicked in.
She was slammed against the wall, given no time before his mouth had slammed on hers. This time, he was more jealous than angry, and that made the kiss far more bruising.
His fingers dug into her shoulders, earning a whimper of pain from her and like always, he enjoyed it. He pried her lips open with his tongue despite her objections. And when her cries of protest finally got to him, he pulled back only to grip her hair tightly in his hold.
He snarled, his teeth digging into her neck, and at this point, Eden merely squeezed her eyes shut. There was nothing she could do anymore.
”Cover these marks, love, and I’ll punish you twice as much,” he growled before taking her lips in his own again. She had kissed him back.
Eden’s eyes snapped open and she pushed against Sterling desperately, her breathing heavy, heartbeat erratic. Her skin burned and this time, it wasn’t because of the feeling Sterling gave her. She slipped away from him, pressed her hand against the wall and gasped, taking deep gulps of air.
What had she done? What had she done?
His lips were suddenly ripped away from hers as she shoved him away. Shoved… She’d shoved him away… Why? What had happened that made her do that? He’d thought things were going well; he’d kissed her and she’d kissed back. They had both enjoyed it… Hadn’t they? Hadn’t she? What had he done… to… Oh… Oh, no.
“I’m sorry, Eden,” Sterling whispered hoarsely, the simple words holding every thought, feeling, meaning that they could. He was so sorry for everything.
And he wasn’t even the one who’d done anything.
Eden squeezed her eyes shut, shudders wracking her body. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to hold back the sick feeling that threatened to overtake her.
Breathe in, breathe out. He can’t get to you. He’s not here. If he was, he would have shown himself. You’re safe. You’re with Sterling.
Sterling… her eyes snapped open just as an apology slipped from his lips. She turned to look at him, eyes wide. Why was he apologizing? He didn’t need to. There was nothing for him to apologize for. He hadn’t… he hadn’t figured it out, had he? The abuse. The manipulation. Tears stung her eyes. He couldn’t. God, he couldn’t find out about those.
“No, I—I’m sorry,” she shook her head. “I can’t do this. It’s too much. I’m sorry. I should go. I—I’ll see you later.”
She turned her back on him and slipped away before he could stop her.
“Eden, wait!” Sterling shouted, reaching for her. But she slipped past him, silent as she walked away.
He sighed and turned around, sliding down the lockers and burying his head in his hands. What had he done? What had been done to her that would make her react this way? If another man did this to her… he would find him and repay him for it.