Page 57 of Power
He looks up from his laptop. “What’s wrong?” he asks, immediately concerned.
“Nothing. Just go.”
He sits back. “What’s happened?”
I fix him with a death stare. He doesn’t even flinch. Despite knowing my penchant for gore, he doesn’t give a shit.
I grit my teeth. “She wants someone to hold her.”
“You mean she wantsyouto hold her.”
“Only because I was there. If you go upstairs, she will want you. She wants you anyway; that much was obvious earlier.”
“She didn’t ask for me. Go back upstairs and stop being a pussy.”
I inhale sharply. “You know I can’t.”
“She didn’t ask you to fuck her. She just wants some comfort.”
“Don’t you get the absurdity of that?”
“It’s not absurd. She wants you to hold her. Do it.”
“You know I can’t do that.”
“Actually, I think you can. With her, I think it’s a distinct probability that you can do that.”
I pause and consider his words. “What do you mean?”
“You say you are incapable, but I don’t think you are.”
I hiss. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Actually, I do. The way I see it, you have built up these walls, big, high, solidly built walls, to protect yourself from your father’s cruelty. But you weren’tbornthat way, Finn. You made yourself that way. Those walls can be broken down by the right person. Baileyisthe right person. She gets you. She will go at your pace. All you have to do is open yourself up to the possibility that youcando that. But heed my warning. If you don’t, you will lose her.”
My anger zings into the red zone, but he continues before I can formulate a response.
“Archer and I will be with her day and night, loving her, giving her what she needs. If you don’t try to give her what she needs, you will be left behind, Finn. We are meant to be in this together. Don’t be too scared to try.”
“You’re a fucking dick,” I growl.
“I’m being honest. Go to her, talk to her about it. She understands you, but don’t cut her off because you have told yourself that you can’t be with anyone intimately. I’ve seen you with Archer. I know it’s in you. You require certain things. Bailey can give that to you and more. You just need to talk to her.”
My heart pounds in a way I haven’t experienced in my adult life. I try not to, but I remember this truly awful feeling from before I protected myself. I feel nauseous. I want to curl up into a ball and make it all go away.
“Go to her,” Owen says softly. “It’s you she wants. Not me.”
Driven by fear that he is right and that I’ll be left behind, cut out, abandoned by Archer, the one person I actually do need in my life, I stalk back up the stairs. I do want Bailey in my life. She understands me. I have to trust her. I have to…
I see her sitting on the bed, her back hunched, and she’s picking at the hem of her tee. She looks up when she hears me. Her eyes are filled with tears.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I didn’t mean to hurt you or push you.”
My throat is thick with emotions that I can’t figure out. They are so alien to me; it’s confusing and overwhelming.
“Bailey, I…”
She kneels in the middle of the bed.
