Page 65 of Broken Halo

“Never.” I lean and put my lips to her forehead before nudging her to sit on the sofa. “Have you eaten?”

She instantly falls to her side, her head landing on a pillow, and her eyes close. “Fajitas. But I don’t think they were organic, either. My body’s going to go into shock.”

I shake my head and go to Jen’s kitchen to look around. Her place is the shit and probably cost a mint in this part of town. I start going through her cabinets until I find a bottle of Midol and a glass. I fill it from the kitchen faucet and go back to the sofa where Ellie hasn’t moved.

I sit next to her and swipe the hair from her face. “Baby, sit up and take this.”

She drags her tired eyes open and exhales a little moan when she pushes up to her elbow. Not questioning what I’m giving her, she gulps down the pills and I’m surprised she doesn’t complain about drinking unfiltered water.

She collapses back to the pillow, this time bringing her legs up with her, her dress tangling at her knees, her bare legs and feet stretching out as she kicks off more pillows to make room for her small frame.

“Ellie,” I call for her.

She doesn’t open her eyes but waves me off. “Too tired. No more sex.”

Shit.

I kick off my shoes and yank at my socks, tossing them to the floor. When she hears the clink of my belt buckle, one eye peeks open but she’s not concerned enough to move. “What are you doing?”

My belt joins my shoes and socks and I unbutton my shirt, shrugging it off and tossing it to the coffee table.

She opens her other eye and mutters, “I said no more sex.”

“No more sex, angel,” I agree, unbuttoning my trousers. I dump all the contents of my pockets on top of my shirt, and bend to stretch out beside her. “Not tonight, anyway. We’ll save that for when you’re sober.”

“There’s not room for both of us,” she mumbles. “Go find your own sofa. I had this one first.”

I grab a pillow off the floor and stuff it under my head, pulling her body up against mine.

“Trig,” she complains but doesn’t push me away. “I’m gonna get hot.”

“You never used to complain about this, even in the middle of summer when we had no AC in that old barn.”

She fists my undershirt and her breath feathers against my skin where I have her face tucked. “That was a long time ago. I was young and stupid.”

I run my hand down her back as her words soak into me as deeply as the guilt over the last few days. “It was a long time ago, but you were young and happy.”

“Why are you doing this?” Her words come out on a plea and I know I need to explain soon. Not just explain, but beg her to understand that we might both have been young but I was the only stupid one.

But while she’s drunk and tired and emotional is not that time. “Because, despite what you think, things have changed and I’ll convince you of that when you haven’t been drowning yourself in a bottle of vodka.”

She exhales and I feel her body relax into mine.

Just when I think she’s about to nod off, she murmurs, “Trig?”

I’m playing with the ends of her hair and sigh because another day is about to go by and the shit between us has only gotten more complicated. “Yeah, angel?”

Her voice is so small, I barely hear her when she admits, “I’m scared.”

My hand freezes for an instant before I grip the back of her head to tip it so I can look into her face, and fuck me, she has tears in her eyes. “Don’t ever be scared of me.”

She shakes her head. “I’m not scared of you. You annoy me and drive me crazy, but that’s it.”

I raise a brow. “That’s it?”

The vodka has made her honest to the bone because she’s not apologetic when she nods. “I can handle you.”

She’s right, so I move on. “Then what are you scared of?”

---