Page 25 of Bound By Secrets

After cuddling Callie for almost an hour whilst both of us were sobbing, I’d laid us down so we were now side by side on the bed.

Her legs are still wrapped around me, and our bodies are close enough for me to smell her delicious strawberry scent. Thankfully, her body has stopped tremoring now and her breathing has levelled to an almost normal pace. My thumb swipes back and forth, softly caressing her cheek as she stares into nothingness, her mind still buzzing.

“What are you thinking about?” Her eyes connect with mine and she rolls her lips inward, showing me that she’s debatingsomething. She draws in a deep breath and squeezes her eyes shut.

“Hey, come on, just spit it out. You know whatever it is, it won’t matter. I’ve got you.” A small smile appears on her face and her eyes slowly open. She looks at me the same way she used to. My heart warms, and I feel my pulse beat a little faster.

“I don’t want to freak out the next time something happens. I want to be normal again.” She trails off, the small smile leaving her face and her eyes dropping from mine. I lean forward to press a soft kiss onto the tip of her nose. "I want you to help me, Ryk. I need you to fix me." Her vulnerable tone sends pain shooting through my heart as I stare at her saddened face.

“Then let me help. You can take control. I won’t touch you. I won’t even talk unless you ask me to. Do what you need to do. I don’t want those sick and twisted pieces of scum to have a hold over you in any way.” Her hand delicately frames my face as she looks up at me with such adoration.

“I don’t know if it’ll work, Ryk. But I want to try, and if it’s going to be anyone who can help me get past this, I know it’ll be you.” I give her a playful smirk.

“Oh yeah, and why’s that? Because I’m awesome and so god damn sexy right?” She lets out a soft laugh but shakes her head.

“You are awesome and sexy, yes, but more importantly, you make me feel comfortable. I know that you’d never physically hurt me, and I know I can trust you.” Her thumb grazes across my bottom lip and a tear trickles down the side of her face, “You’re also my first love, my only love as it stands, and I wouldn’t want to be here doing this with anyone else right now.”

I can’t contain the beaming smile that takes over my face.

“You do realise I want your help because I’m interested in other guys, right?”

Okay, that hurts a little, but she doesn’t need to know that.

“Yeah, I’m good with that. I’m the one you trust to help you and I also know that you’re always gonna be mine, so it’s fine. I’ll still be here when you realise that they’re not as good as me.” She lightly punches my arm.

“On a serious note, how are we going to do this?” Her voice shakes as she asks, and it breaks my heart to see my feisty girl so timid.

I press a chaste kiss to her lips before moving away from her to lay flat on my back.

“Start slow, Callie, just do whatever you want to do. Keep your eyes open and on me, and don’t lose yourself in your thoughts. Just stay one hundred per cent focused on me.” She stares for a moment before nodding her head slowly. Her eyes roam over me as I lay with my hands locked together and underneath my head, they trace the features of my face before stopping on my lips. I dart my tongue out to lick my bottom lip and Callie smirks at the move.

“You haven’t changed at all, Ryk.” She looks up at me with sad eyes and I frown.

“We’ll talk, I promise. But I think you need to do this. Also, you know if I thought I could’ve stayed at the time, then I would’ve, but I was just a scared kid, and I thought I was protecting you.” She nods, agreeing with what I’m saying before she lifts herself onto her knees.

“Can you take this off?” she asks timidly, tugging at the hem of my top. I let out a soft and quiet curse. My hand comes down to cover hers and I scrunch my face up, cautious of how she’ll react to what she sees.

“So, there’s something that I have to tell you.” Her brows knit together, creating a crease on her forehead as she frowns down at me in confusion. “I went a little crazy being away from you and well, I missed you a lot, so I wanted some kind of constant reminders of you. The pictures from Johnny weren’t enoughbecause he hardly gets to see you, and it’s not-” My rambling words cut off when Callie’s hand covers my mouth.

“Firstly, pictures? You’re a creep Ryker. Secondly, will you just stop rambling and tell me.”

I smile because yeah, it is creepy, but I’m madly in love with this beautiful woman, and I needed to see her. I needed my fix. She’s an addiction and no matter how long I went without her, I couldn’t give her up.

“I got some tattoos. Quite a few, actually.”

“Yeah, I know. I caught a glimpse of them at the warehouse.” Her eyes drop to my arms which are covered by my long-sleeved top. “I like tats, Ryker. It’s fine.”

She tugs on my top again, and this time I give in. As my top slides up and past my stomach, I hear her quiet gasp. I reach for my top and whip it off quickly, wanting to garner her reaction to the other tattoos. Her eyes stay locked on her date of birth that’s tatted along my lower stomach and she reaches out to trace it. Her mouth pops open as if she’s about to ask something, but her eyes catch on the tattoo carved into my chest.

“Oh my god. No, you didn’t.” Her eyes meet mine for the briefest moment before they flit back to her name inked across my heart. “Ryker.” She doesn’t say any more as her eyes trail back down to the ink on my lower stomach.

“I have two more that are linked to you.”

Her gaze jumps over my left arm, taking in the full sleeve of tribal marks that cover it. Her lids narrow as she slowly searches all the black swirls and strokes.

I turn my arm so that the palm of my hand is facing towards the ceiling, her eyes tracking the movement. That’s when she catches the next tattoo. Her eyes grow glossy as she stares at my inner forearm, her mouth parted in shock.

“Say something.” Her mouth opens and closes a few times, and she shakes her head.

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