Page 5 of Come to Bed

He wasn’t interested in any of that, but he was doing what he thought the world preferred. Golden boys stayed out of trouble. They could easily hide in the shadows. They could get away with more.

The girl fell down onto the ground dramatically on top of where his father was buried. “Sit with me?”

Her complete disregard of his presence had him smiling genuinely for the first time in years. He gently placed himself next to her, accepting that she had zero etiquette when it came to gravesites.

“I never got to mourn my dad. I get the feeling you didn’t either.” Her voice was laced in understanding.

He couldn’t keep the shock off his face as he turned to look at her again.

She grinned up at him; even sitting, she was much smaller than him. She reminded him of his collection of butterflies. Fragile, beautiful, bright. Except she still had her wings.

He could fix that.

“I can see it in your eyes, the hurt and mistrust. You need to let it out. That’s what my dad used to say.”

He was curious what else she could glimpse in him. Could she perceive the darkness that threatened to take hold? The anger he held deep in his heart? The need to be in control?

Before he knew what she was doing, she leaned forward abruptly and started hitting his father’s gravestone. Beating it over and over again as she screamed profanities. He jerked out of his paralysis and took her hands in his. They were soft, small, and bloodied.

“Stop it,” he murmured softly. He didn’t think, he simply acted. He softly tugged the girl into his lap and held onto her. Comforting her. He had never been this intimately close to another person. Her face fell into the crook of his neck. He leaned down, breathing her in. Sweet. Floral. Delicious.

Oliver knew he wasn’t normal, and he hid that from the world, but he wondered if she could be different. If she was just crazy enough to understand him. To not run away. He felt her shake as she began to sob into his shoulder.

“I miss him so much. And nobody is here to talk to. No one has even told me they’re sorry he died. My mother simply shoved it under 50mg antidepressants and a new husband.”

He felt an incredibly foreign feeling bubble into his gut. One that took him several moments to truly process.

He was protective over the stranger. He inexplicably cared about her feelings. He undeniably wanted to know more about her.

He had always felt closed off from the world as if a thin filament stood between him and any living being. But sitting here? With this girl in his lap? He could really feel her. He didn’t sense that separation.

He didn’t believe in love at first sight. But obsession? That was something he was intimately familiar with.

After that encounter, Oliver found himself hyper-fixating on her. He would continue to “accidentally” run into her. He found out she was a freshman and transferred to her school as a senior. He kept everyone else away from her. Except the gremlin named Yara.

He and his Isobel became incredibly close until one day it got to a point where he almost crossed the line. It was a jarring encounter, and it became clear he needed to leave. She was too pure for him. She deserved better, and he would break her.

He enlisted in the military and did his best not to look back; it was the most difficult and selfless decision he ever made. He forced himself to believe he wouldn’t return. It was a lie.

When he visited home during his last year of service, Isobel found him and begged him to help her get out of their town. He could tell something bad had happened, but no matter how much he tried to find out, she never told him.

It still drove him crazy to think about it. His mind swirling at the what ifs.

He recalculated his choice. He would never be letting her go. He would always watch over her and keep her safe. And one day when she was ready?

She would be his.

His throbbing cock brought him back to the present.

Without further delay, he wrenched open his pants and pulled out his dick. It was immediately hard the moment she was even within his sight. The instant he thought of her.

Every part of her was a temptation. The freckles that covered only her ears and nowhere else. Her voice that always came out a soothing lilt, even in her rage. Her silky soft skin that he wished to stroke for hours as he watched her come undone.

Her stupidly sweet soul that attracted the worst kinds of monsters. Her insanity that threatened even his own. Her fiery passion for anything she decided she wanted.

It was all of that and more that saved her from him all those years ago. What made him decide to let her keep his wings. Why he wanted to give her a choice, let her choose when she was ready for every twisted part of his soul. He had never been obsessed with a girl before her. It had always been items, things, those who did him wrong.

She installed those cameras to catch Harry. She had asked for Oliver’s help. He was more than happy to set them up for her. Happier still when she didn’t remove them. They made her feel safe.

---