Saving Grace Ch. 10
Aaron Hotchner x Female Reader
Author’s Note: Hello again everyone! I’ve got a few chapters typed up this time so prepare for plenty of content to come out. Some chapters are longer, other’s shorter...but they all have our favorite man :)
Warnings: There is a decent amount of death talk, however I bunched it into one spot. That is designated between a series of lines. If car crashes and death are not your thing, scroll past the series of solid lines (you don’t miss anything of great importance).
On Tuesday morning I gingerly slid myself into my packed car and waved goodbye to my family as I pulled out from the long driveway. Lewis and I had mostly broken in Dipshit and the cows were ready to go for the Fall.
Grandma sent me home with a cooler full of frozen meats, breads, and cookies so I wouldn’t miss her cooking for too long. I promised I would be out soon to help around the house and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Murphy enjoyed his time by chasing the goats all weekend and even learned what a cow looked like and what a cow hoof to the head felt like. His fault for trying to go near her calf though. He quickly ducked back under the fence and ran straight for me to cuddle him and tell him that he would be okay.
At this point, I had enough time to get home, unload the cooler, put Murphy away, and change clothes for my lunch date. I was looking forward to meeting up with Lindsey, but even more so for getting all the chunky baby cuddles in with her little one Mavery. Until I have kids of my own, I relish any opportunity to hold, play with, or even babysit my friend’s kids. I’ve become the “Aunt” of my coworkers and a couple of them have already booked me to watch their kids for a much needed date night with their spouses/partners.
Murphy settled in on the passenger seat and let out a high pitched yawn. I rubbed his ears and went to turn up the radio. My phone buzzed in the cup holder and when I got to a stopsign I picked it up to notice a message from Aaron.
Aaron: Good morning. Are you on the road yet?
Me: Yes, already left. I can’t wait to see you tonight :)
Aaron: Drive safe darling
My breath caught in my throat for a second and an ooey gooey feeling spread across my chest, he called me darling. He’s never done that before and that makes me pretty darn happy.
The drive home felt much quicker than normal and I managed to get everything inside with time to spare. It was a bit warm today so I changed into jean shorts, grey short sleeved shirt, and a rust colored cardigan. When I told Aaron what cafe we were meeting up at, he mentioned how that was one that he and his team would frequent for lunch. They would also apparently send someone out before their flights take off to grab a series of snacks and sandwiches for the plane ride so they could have the comfort of home despite where their flight took them. I thought that was pretty sweet that they tried so hard to keep a sense of normal in their abnormal lives.
Lindsey was there already with a table held by the time I pulled into the parking lot. Mavery was sleeping in her car seat and her toddler Myatt was coloring on the paper menu. “Hii! Sorry, I know I’m a bit late.” I said as I gave her a quick side hug and then sat down next to her. The cafe was newly redecorated in light wooden tones with bright shiplap walls and lots of pastel flowers and thick greenery. The original owners sold it and the much younger new owners wanted to revamp the space in hopes of drawing in more customers.
“Oh please, you are right on time. These squirrels were becoming impatient so we left early. I ordered you a drink, it should be here any minute.” She said with a wave of her hand before helping Myatt pick up the spilled crayons from the floor. I looked over the menu and settled on a pesto chicken parm sandwich with fries of course. After our drinks arrived and we placed our orders, Lindsey and I got to talking while I helped Myatt color in his photo. We went on to gossip about our students and the other teachers for a bit. Myatt’s food came out first, so his mom started cutting up his food for him and Mavery woke up crying for her food. I unbuckled her from her carseat and placed her on my lap facing sideways.
Lindsey handed me her small jar of pureed apples with a ‘thank you’ and a small spoon. I opened the jar and dipped the spoon into the liquid so she could get a taste of it. She only started eating baby food recently so I didn’t want to overwhelm her. Her mouth smacked together happily and the little noises made me smile big. She is quite a character when it comes to food, and her animated features just make her seem like a living cartoon character. When mine and Lindsey’s food came out, she offered to take Mavery so I could eat but I waved her off and said that she didn’t need to do that. I wanted her to have a break and be able to eat her food while it was still hot.
As Mavery smacked her hands together in a clumsy clap while she gummed on the apples I looked up and saw a big black SUV pull into the parking lot. For a moment I smiled to myself and thought about Aaron being the one driving that car.
To my surprise, he was the exact person who left the driver’s seat in jeans and a college shirt, and opened the back seat door to let Jack jump out of the car. The shocked gasp that left my lips caught Lindsey’s reaction and with a piece of lettuce hanging out of her mouth she asked “What?” and followed my gaze to the parking lot. “Him? Do you know him?” She asked as she wiped the corner of her mouth with a napkin.
“Uh yeah, sorry. That’s just one of my students and their Dad. I have always thought about how weird it would be to see my students in public and this is the first time it’s happened.” I said with a light laugh and turned my attention back to Mavery. I was sitting so that the main entrance was in front of me, so if Aaron came in looking for a table, then he would be able to see me clearly. The first set of doors opened up and Jack quickly raced to open the second set of doors for his Dad. I picked the spoon up from the apple jar and continued to feed Mavery a couple more small bites and dabbed the corner of her mouth with the napkin. I felt eyes on me so I glanced up slightly to see Aaron staring at me with a small smile on his face, his dimples slightly showing. I returned the smile and he continued to stare at me with joy, but also a hint of something else I couldn’t make out because his attention was shifted away due to Jack pulling on his arm.
They walked to the other side of the Cafe and waited for their waitress to come by. “Is he a good student of yours or is he a little you-know-what.” Lindsey asked as she ate the last of her sandwich. I smiled and shook my head, “If I had to be a bit biased, I would say that he’s the best student I’ve had all year. Couldn’t say enough good things about that kid.”
Lindsey pushed her plate to the side and said that she would take Mavery so I could eat my food. I lifted her up high and she started giggling really loud. Bringing her back down to my face, she placed her hands on my face and babbled a bit before I lifted her back up in the air again and made loud kissy noises so she would laugh more. She jammed a hand into her mouth and laughed around it, I scrunched up my nose and spoke in a baby voice, “Whatcha got in your mouth Mavery? You got your hand? Ohhhhh, that looks like a yummy hand. Come here pretty girl!” I brought her down one last time and gave her a kiss on her forehead.
Mavery kept babbling as I handed her over and Lindsey kept talking to her. Myatt and I got deep into conversation about race cars and Lightning McQueen while I ate my sandwich and fries. Every so often I would look behind him to catch a glimpse of Aaron and Jack now chowing down on their food before returning to my table. We sat for a bit longer after I finished eating to just enjoy the company, but I knew that the kids would dictate soon enough that it was time for this party to be over. The waitress came over with our bills and Lindsey handed Mavery back over to me so she could take Myatt to the bathroom one last time. Once she left, I noticed Jack and Aaron were making their way over to me.
Jack got excited once he saw me lock eyes with him and he quickly dodged between tables to reach me. A huge smile was planted on his face and I couldn’t help but smile back at him.
“Hi Ms. Y/N!” He said as he gave me a side hug. I slipped my arm around his back and gave him a hug back.
“Hi Jack! Did you enjoy your lunch?” I asked and he nodded enthusiastically. He went into great detail on what he got for lunch and how this is one of the best Cafes he’s been to. Aaron finally made it to the table at this point and greeted me. He rested his hands on the back of the chair Myatt had been sitting in previously.
“Ms. Y/N I didn’t know you had a baby.” Jack said and that caught me off guard completely. I coughed a couple times from choking on some spit and I shook my head, “Oh uh, no Jack. Ms. Y/N did not have a baby. Maybe one day she will have one though.” Aaron said adamantly and gave me a pointed look.
His lips formed a smirk and I mimicked it before turning to Jack, “This is another teacher’s baby. Would you like to say hi to Mavery though?” He said ‘hi’ and waved to her and I grabbed her little balled up fist and waved it to say hi. “Are you excited to be going to camp this week? You’ve been talking about it in class a lot.”
He blushed at that a bit, “Yes I am! Dad and I wanted to get lunch before he dropped me off. It’s going to be sooo much fun.” His smile matched his father’s to a t. He leaned more into me when talking so I wrapped my arm closer around him as he whispered to me, “Can I share about camp during Circle Time next week? I really want to tell everyone how it went.” He fidgeted with his fingers while he waited for my response.
I hummed a bit before saying, “I have an even better idea. Why don’t we have everyone make a poster explaining what they did on Fall break. I think the majority of our class had something planned.” His mouth dropped open a bit and he bounced up and down in excitement.
“That means we get to do a really big show and tell and then, and then I can hear what Zach did. I forgot to get his mom’s number so we could hang out over break so now I have to wait for class to start again.” Jack rambled on excitingly and I couldn’t help but nod along and hang onto every word he said. Lindsey and Myatt came back to our little group and Lindsey introduced herself to Aaron. Jack briefly talked to Myatt about the coloring page that Myatt had colored in while waiting for food earlier, and Mavery kept herself occupied by chewing on my clean fingers.
“Uh Jack buddy, we have to get going in just a minute so we aren’t late. Say your goodbyes.” Aaron said carefully to Jack and he took that as his que to wrap up his conversation with Myatt.
I looked up to Aaron and his eyes darted between me and Mavery before he smiled warmly and softly said, “It was good seeing you again Ms. Y/N. Have a good afternoon.” Jack gave me one last hug before departing with his dad. Lindsey took Mavery from me and buckled her into her carseat before leaning across the table to me.
“He’s not that bad looking. A bit older, but still a solid man.” I rolled my eyes at her jokingly, “And,” she continued, “did you see that he didn’t have a ring on?!” This time I hit her forearm lightly and urged her to quit it. We said our final goodbyes in the parking lot and I made my lonely drive back home. After I fed Murphy an early dinner I got to work on laundry and sorting through bills so that I wouldn’t have to worry about that while Aaron was here.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket and unsurprisingly it was Aaron asking for my dinner order from whatever sounded good. I shot back my Chinese takeout and headed up to my room to make sure that it and the bathroom were cleaned and organized. I lit the giant sandalwood candle on my bedside table and moved a couple things around so the flame had nothing to catch fire on. Aaron should be at my place in the next twenty minutes, so I just took my time watching a TV show waiting for the doorbell to ring.
When the doorbell finally did ring I raced Murphy to the door and swung it open wide to see a beaming Aaron holding his overnight bag in one hand and food in the other, “You know,” I started as I opened the door, “it seems like everytime you come over you have food with you. I think that is one thing I can always count on now.” He chuckled as he removed his shoes and I took the Chinese bag from him.
“Well, I’m glad that I can be useful for one thing at least.” He joked as he pulled me in by the waist and gave me a kiss on the cheek. There was a playful glint in his eyes, something I haven’t seen before. He almost looked ten years younger with that look and I wanted to keep that look on his face for as long as possible. He seemed relaxed and calm.
“Ohh, I can probably figure out at least two more ways for you to be useful.” I patted his chest with my hand twice as I walked to the kitchen island. Aaron took the food out while I grabbed two glasses and filled them with ice water. I sat down sideways on the barstool so I could face Aaron face on and he turned a bit so his left knee knocked into mine. We started eating pretty quickly and fell into easy conversation of how our breaks have been. His was pretty quiet and mundane, which for Aaron is something he wants, but he felt out of place with not having much to do.
I suggested that he find a hobby he can stop and start whenever or TV show he can binge watch when he has enough downtime to help combat that restlessness. That of course led into a whole discussion of what shows and movies are more superior and even if he did have enough time for a hobby, what would he even be interested in doing. “Well, what about collecting things? You go to so many states, maybe you could bring back something like a postcard from them?” I suggested.
He immediately shook his head, “Nuh uh. That would be way too similar in my head to serial killers keeping trophies. Wouldn’t want to mimic that too much incase I bring back more than just a postcard.” He said quickly as his eyes avoided mine. I knew what he meant. He didn’t want to look at the postcards and be reminded of the people he either saved or didn’t.
I sucked in a quick breath, “Okay, no postcards then. Got it. Uhh, let's run down the list of usual collectors things. You’ve got stamps, rocks, art pieces, figurines, coins..”
“Coins!” His eyes shot up to mine again and a light look took over his face.
“Coins?” I reciprocated with raised eyebrows. That didn’t take long to find a possibility.
He sat his fork down momentarily, “Yes, coins. When I was younger I was getting into collecting them and I became obsessive over finding a rare 1944 coin that was worth thousands of dollars. Never found it and started growing out of it I guess.” He shrugged his shoulders and gave me a small smile.
“What?” He asked sheepishly and fidgeted in his seat a bit.
“Nothing, I just wouldn’t have thought you to be a coin guy. If I had to pick a collectors item for you I would have said something like model planes or cars.” I shrugged and turned back down to stab my fork into the chinese food once more.
“What about you? Did you collect anything as a kid?” Aaron asked as his knee knocked into mine a bit. He took a long drink of water and grabbed another crab rangoon.
“Yes, actually I did. It’s a bit nerdy, but it makes sense for me. You know, grandparents owning a ranch, being around horses all my life, riding at rodeos…” I led on and he caught what I was saying.
“Ohh yeah. I would convince my Dad to buy them and my Grandpa to build the shelves for my room. For a time I wanted to get rid of them, until I learned how valuable the collection was. Truly I think that my mother just wants to keep them for any grandkids she may have.” I said with a small smile on my face. It was a happy memory to have of my Dad, him adamantly saying that he wouldn’t buy me any more, but anytime we went into the tractor supply store I would refuse to leave until I had a new horse. Eventually he tried to go to the store without me, but when I would stand pouting with my arms crossed in front of his truck, he had to give in.
We finished dinner and moved to the couch upstairs. I put on some background TV but we mainly just sat there talking. Wrapped up in each other’s arms. He extended his legs to stretch out onto the ottoman, and I laid perpendicular to him so that our bodies made an L shape. My head and hair was splayed out onto his lap and every so often he would run his palm over my hair. I tried keeping a neutral look on my face, but my inner thoughts were eating at me.
I really want to know about his wife. I know it's personal and he probably doesn’t want to talk about it, but I’m nosey. As much as Aaron tries to maintain a calm exterior, there have been moments where he has slipped up. Just tonight even he broke a little. We were starting to walk up the stairs, with me in front, and there was a loud bang from outside. I wasn’t too phased by it, figuring my neighbors dropped something, or something broke, but Aaron’s spooked look in his eyes told me he was phased by it. He whipped his body around to look behind him on the stairs. He startled me by barking out a “Stay here” before slinking back down the steps and out to the main floor.
I heard doors opening, shutting, and locks locking. I swore I heard the dull clicking of the window locks before a deep sigh sounded out. Aaron gave a tight smile and said that it was nothing and urged me to go upstairs.
“Something is weighing on your mind.” Aaron observed, and I blinked a couple of times to clear my head.
Releasing my lip from my teeth I meekly looked up, “Sorry, just kept thinking about something.”
“What is it?” He asked as his fingers gently traced my cheek. I closed my eyes briefly and gathered my two seconds of courage.
“I was just thinking about earlier, when you went to check the house. Is that something you normally do because of your job or is there another reason?” I whispered out and for a moment I thought he didn’t hear me. That is until his hand paused heavily on my hairline.
“It..it has to deal a lot with work. There was a time when my work carried over to my home life and it still affects me.” He spoke out with a faraway glance in his eyes.
I pushed my luck even further and asked the big question, “Was it related to your wife?”
His eyes closed and he took a long breath in, “Yes.”
A thick sour taste was in my mouth now and I became a bit afraid to ask for more context, but I headed into this wanting to know so there was no going back now. I reached behind me and grabbed his hand, “May I ask what happened?”
His hand clenched under mine and his head turned to the side, the tension in the air becoming thick, “I can share my story first if it helps any.” I offered up and he nodded, still not looking at me.
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I swallowed the lump in my throat before speaking, “Technically speaking, the whole thing was ruled as an accident, however it was natural once you break it down.”
“We were heading out to my Grandparents for the weekend and Mom went a couple hours ahead with Lucas while Dad and I stayed behind to finish a couple errands. There’s many things I don’t remember so some of this story is my personal recollection and the rest is what I’ve been told over the years. I remember sitting behind my dad with my stuffed dog. We were actually almost to the house according to my Mom when all of a sudden the car started spinning and then I blacked out from the impact.
“My father had a spontaneous brain aneurysm burst and it killed him immediately, which is where natural death comes in. When he passed, the car spun and it threw us off of the road. When I finally woke up, I was hanging out of the window facing the ground. The car was pinned against a tree and I couldn’t move. By the time the ambulance got to us, I wasn’t really alert.
“What I was told was that I was in an upside down V position with my lower chest hanging over the bent metal of the door frame. According to the doctors, I would have bled out if it hadn’t been for my stuffed dog wedged between me and the bent metal. It didn’t stop it from cutting into me completely, but it stopped it enough so I could hang on for a few hours. I spent 18 months in the hospital recovering from surgeries to my chest and abdomen, reconstructing my ankle, and repairing my femur. They had to keep me in a coma for a couple months and the doctors weren’t sure I was going to pull out of it.
“Once I did get out of the hospital I went right into physical therapy and my Grandfather managed to befriend a couple of college students who were doing equine therapy. I wanted to be back on a horse so bad so once the doctor cleared me, I started my therapy on horses. That lasted at least a couple of years. I had my mobility back, but my Mom still wanted me enrolled just in case I needed a bit longer. It took a huge toll on my family though. My Mom lost her husband and bestfriend, Lucas and I lost our Dad, and my Grandparents lost their bonus son. We really weren’t a family for awhile, my Mom was hyper focused on me for a long time so my Grandparents were raising Lucas. Even though Mom was by my side for everything, I could sense that she wasn’t really with me though mentally once the day was coming to an end. She didn’t sleep much and I could hear her cry throughout the night. It changed all of us, sometimes it was a good change, but for a long time it was just a bad change.” Finishing up the more abbreviated version of my story I looked back up to Aaron to find him finally looking back at me.
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His lips were turned down into a frown and his dark eyes looked even darker somehow, “I’m sorry.” He whispered out and I looked at him puzzled.
“For what?” I asked and he smoothed my hair out once more.
“That all of that happened to you. It's one thing to lose a parent that young, but it's another to be heavily involved in it like you were. Do you still deal with any physical trauma from it? I know it was a long time ago, but are you okay?” He asked worriedly and a warm feeling spread across my chest.
“Just a couple of scars. Some of them healed over time, others I got surgically lightened, but I left the rest as a reminder to what happened. It is a part of me that I can move on from, but can’t remove from my life. As sad as it was, I don’t want to forget what happened.” I shifted myself up so I can now sit on my feet next to Aaron and he slipped an arm around me to pull me in close.
I laid my head on his shoulder softly and played with the hem of my shirt.
“My job killed my wife.” Aaron said after a minute of silence and I froze up at the statement he just made. He continued talking, “There was a mad man, a monster, that wanted revenge and he chose my family. Even after placing them in witness protection he still found them and he shot her. I found him and I..” He paused and I lifted my head up to look at him. Aaron was staring ahead with another faraway look in his eyes so I placed my hand on his cheek. He startled a bit at my touch and I peered into his eyes, understanding what he was trying to get at.
“You did what you had to do.” I said in a firm voice.
He pulled me over to sit on his lap and he buried his head into my shoulder. It took a moment before I wrapped my arms around him and ran one set of fingers through his hair. A sudden sob halted me though and my heart clenched at the sound. “Let it all out honey.” I cooed softly in his ear and his grip became tighter on me. I had to hold back from wincing and pulling out from his embrace.
We sat there for a couple of minutes as he cried into my shoulder, his tears soaking my shirt. “I miss her so much. She was the first woman I ever loved and she was the mother of my child.”
I pressed my lips into his hair, “I’m so sorry Aaron. I’m so sorry that you were put through that. I’m sorry that she was taken from you and Jack.” He nodded against my shoulder and he stayed quiet.
I went to shift myself backwards but Aaron pulled me back to my original spot, “Please stay” He whispered. He went on to speak softly about how he hasn’t been able to really mourn since he has to be strong for Jack and continue with his job. He turned his head so that his ear was smooshed up against my breast, I’m confident he could hear my heart beating loudly in his ear though.
“Thank you for sharing about her though. I hope I didn’t push you to say something too soon.” I said and he lifted his head back up to me.
“No, you didn’t. Thank you for getting me to share. I needed to get it off my chest.” He reached up and kissed my cheek. He pulled back and asked with brows furrowed, “Do you know how great you are?” I smiled and scrunched up my nose at him. My head shook slightly side to side and his lips turned upwards, “Well then,” He quietly started, “let me show you.”
His hands grabbed my cheek and the back of my neck to pull my face to his and his lips bruised themselves against mine in a firm kiss. A numb feeling was spreading itself over my brain, making it go hazy until he released the hand on my cheek and pressed it against my back. Before I could hold it in I let out a yelp in pain and before I could process what happened, Aaron had yanked backwards and let go of my back.
“What’s wrong?” He yelled out in shock, his eyebrows immediately furrowing together. My hands reached around my backside to apply the smallest amount of pressure to stabilize myself. Aaron’s focused eyes followed my movements and grabbed the bottom of my shirt.
I pushed myself up and off of Aaron before he could lift my shirt up, taking a couple steps back to create some space. “It’s not your fault, I promise I’m okay.” I tried soothing him but it didn't appear to do anything. His mouth was silent but his body wasn’t. Any person would be able to tell that he didn’t believe a word I said as he sat there rigid and on edge.
“Let me see.” He said in a low tone.
“No, it’s okay Aaron. It’s nothing really, it was just an accident.” I said in hopes that he would just drop the conversation. It wasn’t that I was ashamed of what happened, just more so embarrassed.
He rolled his eyes and stood up, taking a giant step forward so that he was towering over me. “I said,” He grabbed the bottom of my shirt again, “let me see.”
My shirt was pulled up several inches until it bunched up under my bra. The breath that left Aaron’s lips told me that he saw the deep purple bruises that blossomed over my back. At first I didn’t want to look up into his eyes, afraid of him seeing the embarrassed blush that creeped over my cheeks.
“Who did this?” He rasped out in a gruff tone. When I didn’t answer him right away two fingers hooked under my chin to force my gaze upon him. His eyes were dark and hard, a long way from the playful glint at dinner. I suddenly wished to myself that we were back at dinner again, almost scared of his reaction to my bruises.
I brought myself back to the moment and a quiet, “It was no one..” started to slip past my lips but I couldn’t finish as Aaron cut me off.
“I promise you, Y/N, I will deal with whoever did this to you. Just, please tell me their name, darling.” His voice kept its gruff tone until it became pleading at the end. My lips pursed together and I shook my head slightly.
“It was no one Aaron, it was an animal. A horse. I..I was thrown off yesterday.” I explained quickly and he still didn’t look convinced so I reached into my back pocket, “Here! I’ll prove it to you. There was a video taken.”
I held the phone out for Aaron to watch. My mom was filming on my phone so that we could keep a record of how far Dipshit has come since the beginning. Lewis and Grandpa were standing next to her commenting on my form and how it looks from their perspective. In the video Dip and I were trotting around in large circles and I got a bit cocky and urged him into a faster gait.
Dip didn’t like that and threw his head downwards so that he could start bucking his back legs into the air. I held my own for the first several bucks and tried my hardest to pull his head back up so that he couldn’t continue bucking. That ended up not working and soon I found myself debating if I should get off or not or if I should ride my way through this.
Lewis and Grandpa were giving conflicting shouts of what to do. Mom’s voice could be heard somewhere on the video between the both of them, telling me to ‘just hang on’ and that ‘you’ve got this’. That didn’t last long as Dip reared up and when he came back down, I was flung over the front of him, landing on my stomach. The air was knocked out of my lungs from the impact and whatever air had started seeping back in was pushed back out as Dip trampled over me.
Mom’s horrified gasp was accompanied by a lot of ‘Oh shit, fuck’ s from Lewis and Grandpa. Lewis had ducked between the fence and started sprinting to me as did Mom while Grandpa went after Dipshit. Lewis had turned me over onto my back so that my airway wasn’t blocked. He started running his hands over my shirt to check for any blood or broken or swollen joints. The raspy inhale of air sounded over the camera that Mom was still holding. I don’t think she knew she was still recording at this point.
“Oh honey! Honey, you’re going to be okay. Lewis help her.” She shrieked out and Lewis knelt down next to me, taking my face in his hands.
“Y/N, breathe. I need you to calm down and get air back in you.” Lewis said as he lightly tapped my cheek. My eyes were wild in the video and my arms were flailing around, knocking into Lewis’ legs. After a couple more breaths I managed to get my breathing under control and I coughed to get the tight feeling out of my throat.
Mom must have noticed that the camera was still recording so she fumbled around for a couple seconds before figuring out how to stop the video feed.
Aaron took a ragged breath in and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them and looking back down at me. “Are you okay? Did you get checked out?” He said in a hard but quiet voice.
I placed a small smile on my face to tell him that I was okay, “Yes, I’m okay. Incredibly sore, but I’m okay. Mom took me to the hospital, nothing was broken, just really bruised.” He leaned his forehead down onto mine and took another deep breath in. I closed my eyes and relished the moment with him. His hands dropped from my back, the shirt following too and replaced themselves on both sides of my cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” He whispered and kissed my forehead, “I shouldn’t have reacted like that. I’m glad you are safe now. It’s been a full night for both of us now.” I wrapped my arms around his side and pulled him closer to me.
“Want to go shower? Maybe cool down a bit?” I suggested and he hummed in response. We pulled away and made our way into the bedroom.
I turned the water on hot in the shower so that the bathroom could start steaming up. Aaron sat on the bed, looking into the bathroom as I moved around and grabbed a second set of towels for him. I grabbed my makeup remover and wiped off as much as I could before I released my hair from its hold and scratched my scalp to ease the roots of my hair.
I could feel Aaron’s eyes on me as I started to discard my clothes, one-by-one and put them into the laundry hamper. First was my shirt, putting my bruises on display, along with the rest of my scars from my accident. Next was pulling my pants down, leaving me in just my bra and underwear. I slowly slid my pants down my legs and stepped out of them, tossing them into the hamper. I glanced over to Aaron and he was intently watching me, with firm dark eyes. I inwardly smirked to myself and slipped my arms out from the bra straps.
My heartbeat was rapid in my chest, mentally preparing myself to remove one of my last pieces of dignity. I peeled the cups of my bra down and gently laid it on top of the rest of the clothes. I turned towards the shower, my backside fully showing to Aaron, and opened the shower door to turn the water on to hot. As I stood there waiting I took a deep breath and reached my arms above my head to stretch. My hair fell backwards as I arched my back and pushed my chest up to the ceiling. Bringing my arms back down I let out my deep breath and tested the water temperature with my hand, making sure it was warm enough for me to step into.
Stepping in, I was enveloped in the hot water. At least it matched how I was feeling on the inside. My eyes peered through the open shower door to see Aaron sitting on the bed still. He was hunched over with his elbows on his knees, his hands somewhat clenched together. It looked like he was struggling to stay composed, and the small chewing on his bottom lip only confirmed that for me. We bore into each other’s eyes for a beat before I soothed out, “Come join me.”
