Sterling stared down at her, mouth twisted down and eyebrows drawn together in worry. “It’s not nothing, E… Please, don’t do this. Don’t play this game with me. What happened?” he asked softly, rubbing his forehead with his hand. He looked into her eyes before drawing his gaze back to the hand that covered her neck. “You know you can tell me anything. You know I won’t judge you. Not for any of it.”
Eden bit down on her bottom lip, cursing herself for her stupidity. If only she’d been a bit more careful… what was she supposed to say? ‘My nightmares are always memories, except worse. I dreamt about being strangled by my abusive ex-boyfriend, and I woke up to my own hands wrapped around my neck. Fun, right?’ He’d never look at her the same. Everybody judged. He’d be no different.
“I’m sorry,” her eyes dropped to the ground. “I can’t. I can’t talk about it. I don’t want to fall deeper in your eyes than I already have. I’m sorry, you weren’t—you weren’t supposed to see this.”
Sterling closed his eyes and let out a slow sigh. He leaned down and wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face in her shoulder.
“Okay… If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay. Just know hat you would never fall further in my eyes. You could never,” he murmured. “You’re far too important to me.”
Eden melted in his embrace, wrapping her own arms around him, hands gripping his shirt tightly. “I’m sorry,” she whispered again. “Thank you, Sterling…”
“It’s okay, beautiful. It’s okay,” Sterling assured her softly, his arms tightening around her. “Just… Let me know if there’s ever anything that I can help you with, okay? Anything at all at any time.”
“Okay,” Eden tightened her hold on him. “Thank you for being so patient with me.”
“Of course. Always,” Sterling promised gently, lifting his head to kiss her cheek. “Now… I think your brother and best friend are expecting you. I suppose I should let you go, hm?”
“Yeah,” Eden breathed, loosening her hold on him and stepping back. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Sterling hummed and let her go, albeit reluctantly. He stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled at her. “Yeah, of course. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said before taking a step back to his car.
[TIME SKIP: MONDAY]
Eden ran a hand through her hair. On the outside, she seemed the epitome of calm. On the inside, however, she was anything but.
For some reason, Sterling had been irritable all day. She didn’t know why and she didn’t want to ask lest he grew angrier. He kept scowling, kept drifting into thoughts. It was lunch by now and his mood still hadn’t improved. Eden had no idea what to do. Had she done something wrong? Maybe… maybe he was still upset about Saturday, when she refused to tell him about the bruises on her neck?
Sterling let out a long breath as he started won the hallway. He was meeting Eden at the front doors of the school so they could go for lunch together, but he don’t want to be so frustrated around her. He didn’t want to scare her.
When he saw her and made his way over, he gave her a small smile. “Hey, E…” he murmured.
Eden looked up when he approached her, pulling out a hesitant smile. “Hey, Sterling,” she murmured. “Are you… okay?”
“Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine,” Sterling sighed, lifting his hand and pushing it through his hair. “Ready for lunch?”
“What’s wrong?” Eden questioned, worried still. She nearly flinched when he had raised his hand, but she fought it back. He wasn’t going to hurt her, she knew it. “Sterling, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing. I just…” Sterling shook his head, letting out a small growl of frustration. “People can be so stupid sometimes.”
Eden reached out to touch his arm tentatively. “What did they do?” she quirked an eyebrow. This was the first time she’d seen him so angry. Usually, he was cool headed. A few glares and scowls, but he had never been this angry. What could have happened for him to lose his cool?
Sterling pushed a heavy breath through his lips, trying not it take out his anger on Eden. “They were talking. About us,” he muttered, tearing both hands through his hair. “And I so want to punch them.”
Eden removed her hand from his arm, looking at him, hoping her nervousness wasn’t apparent. She was sure it wasn’t—if anything, she was probably looking more confused. Her eyes never left his hands as they ran through his hair again. If he got angrier…
“Hey, it’s fine, isn’t it?” she murmured, trying to calm him down. “People talk. It’s in their nature. Let them talk. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
“The things they were saying, E… I hate that they were talking about you that way,” Sterling muttered, pressing his palms to his forehead. “They were saying… that I was only going to use you for a few more days. Any day now, I would drop you. And then you would be all theirs… You’re not theirs. You’re mine. They cannot have you. I won’t let them.”
At his words, Eden felt both the weight and the relief. The last man who had said that to kept her on a leash like a dog. She didn’t know how to feel about his words, even though she liked the fact that he cared so much.
“I’m used to it,” she said softly. “They won’t say it to my face. They won’t approach me unless they want a trip to the hospital. So just—ignore them, okay?”
“I don’t like it,” Sterling growled, finally looking down at her. His eyes blazed with hot fury, nostrils flaring. He took deep breaths as he tried to calm down. “I don’t like that they think that I would just drop you like that, like you’re just some fling… You’re not. I hope you know you’re not. You’re more than that. So much more.”
“I know,” Eden started softly again. Usually, she would have found an irritated him extremely attractive. Now… in this moment, he was scaring her. His words… they brought up memories she wanted to forget, but also memories she didn’t want to forget. She knew he wasn’t mad at her, but the way he was behaving… “I know I’m not a fling for you. So shouldn’t that be the only thing that matters? So what if they talk about me like that? So what if they think you’re using me? It’s fine, Sterling. They’ll know soon enough.”
Sterling closed his eyes, nodding slowly. He continued to take deep breaths, running his hand over his face.
“Yeah. Yeah, of course,” he murmured eventually. “I’m sorry. I just— I heard them saying that, and I hate it…”
“So—are you okay now?” Eden asked tentatively, reaching out to touch his arm. “You know you have to get used to them talking about me like that, right? Or us. Talking about us like that.”
“I know… I’m sorry,” Sterling muttered, turning his arm over in her hold so that his hand was palm-side up. He held his other arm out as well, a silent invitation for her to come to him.