Loving Carter

32

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Elijah's POV

Elijah had let her cry into him until she calmed down and was reduced to sniffling.

Once she had gotten it all out, he gently guided her towards his bed, ushering her to sit in the corner under the covers. 

She let him do what he wanted, gladly nestling into his bed and looking up at him with a look that made him weak. He gently trailed his fingers across her forehead, moving her hair back and tried to ignore the way she leaned into his touch.

"You can stay here and rest for a bit," he told her in a quiet voice, "I'll be right back."

He was planning to make sure Porter and Del knew everything was okay. Then he was going to go bash Ryder's skull in.

As he turned to leave her, he was held back by something grabbing his hoodie sleeve - Carter.

"Stay," she said, averting eye contact.

And that's all it took for him to pull his hoodie off and get under the covers, sliding in next to her but keeping her at a distance; he wanted her to be comfortable.

All those thoughts went flying out of the window when she scooted closer to him, nuzzling her head onto his chest and settling in.

"Can I stay like this? Just for a bit?" She voiced and Eli almost told her she can stay like this fucking forever.

"Yeah," he said instead, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and bringing her even closer as his head was propped up against the headboard while Carter's body heat seeped into him.

"Tell me something to distract me," she said after a while.

Eli hesitated before he decided to humiliate himself, "Remember when you asked me for my favorite color, and I told you it was green?"

"Yeah?"

"I didn't know that was my favorite color until then."

She looked up at him, confused.

"I didn't know that was my favorite color," he shifted his eyes from the ceiling to look into her green ones, "until I met you."

Her puzzled look shifted into a bashful one,  and she laid her head back onto him as realization dawned on her as to what he was implying.

"Tell me something else."

He swallowed. "I found my mom," he told her what he had told no one yet and he heard her gasp, keeping his eyes on the ceiling this time.

"She's dead," he shrugged. "She didn't actually leave me. She just... died."

Carter wrapped her arms around him then drawing him even closer at his difficult words, "I'm sorry, baby," she said and he almost shuddered at the term of endearment.

"Your turn," he said, desperately wanting to change the subject.

"My um," she started to speak, clearing her throat before she continued. "My step-dad used to lock me in a dark room every time I misbehaved as a kid," she mumbled.

Eli froze, looking down at her as she kept her head laid on his chest.

"What?" He must have misheard her.

"My real dad passed away when I was younger and my mom married a really sleazy guy for his money before she also passed away," she explained.

"He got full custody because I had no other family left.

It was fine at first. He would take me to the park and he was nice but I guess somewhere along the way he decided he didn't want to be a dad.

He became really strict and wouldn't let me go anywhere fun or eat anything sweet. If I was too loud or asked for too much he would lock me in my room with the lights off in the dark for a few hours.

By the time I got to high school, he had stopped doing that and reverted back to the kind guy he was before, but it was too late, you know?

I moved out by the time I was sixteen, working odd jobs and stuff until I got into college and secured a higher paying research job," she finished her story as if she was speaking about the weather.

Eli had felt his chest ache throughout her story, thinking of the warm kind soul in his arms undergoing this level of neglect for years.

double update! next chapter in 30 min 

this story is almost done so be sure to follow me and check out "honey" on my profile!!