Page 129 of You Had Me At Thirteen

She moans, trying to push me away. ‘No more sex, baby. I think you broke my vagina and butthole.’

Jesus.

She thinks I’m waking her for a root. Any other time, I’d be down, but right now I need her fully alert.

‘Matilda.’ I shake her again.

This time her eyes flutter open. ‘Wren? What’s—’

I press my finger to her lips to silence her, and she bolts upright, wrapping her arms around her legs as she stares up at me with wide eyes. She snaps her head towards the door when she hears the noise, too.

Her voice a whisper, she says, ‘What the fuck is that?’

Pressing my finger to my lips, I shake my head and walk backwards towards the door. ‘I don’t know. I think someone is in the house,’ I whisper.

‘What?’ She crawls over the bed and gets up behind me, crouching low.

Turning and with my hands on her shoulders, I push her back. As if she’s coming with me to investigate. ‘You’re not coming. Stay here.’

She scowls at me. ‘No fucking way. I’m not getting murdered alone.’

Christ.

‘You watch way too many murder documentaries,’ I say.

‘That’s why you need me.’ She pulls her legs into a pair of my grey sweats.

‘I’m not kidding, Matilda. Stay here and lock the door. Do not open it until I come back.’

‘But…’ She sighs when she sees I’m not kidding. ‘Fine,’ she says before climbing back on the bed.

As I creep towards the door, I motion for her to stay quiet. She nods as she grips the bedsheets to her chin. Once I have the door open, I peer into the hallway.

‘Be careful,’ Matilda says, her hand now gripping mine when she comes up behind me again.

Fuck, she’s like a little ninja sneaking up on me without a sound. She’d make a good criminal with those skills. After I leave my room, Matilda locks the door, and I creep down the hallway until I reach the top of the stairs.

There’s a light on somewhere downstairs, but I can’t remember if I left it on before we came up to bed. I was so distracted by wanting to be inside my beautiful girlfriend, that I don’t remember anything after she came in my mouth earlier.

Rounding the top of the staircase, I swallow hard, unable to fully control my anxiety. If it was just me in the house, I wouldn’t hesitate to confront the fucker. But with Matilda here, everything changes. If something happens to me… I shake my head of those thoughts and take it stair by stair, knowing full well I don’t know what I’m coming up against.

There could be weapons involved. Although I like to think my body is a weapon, it wouldn’t fare well against a fucking bullet.

More glass smashes somewhere at the back of the house, so I take my chance to bolt down the stairs.

Fuck it.

Footsteps out the back of the house have me chasing the sound, racing towards the back door that’s wide open, my bare feet pounding against the timber floor.

By the time I get outside, the darkness hides anything or anyone that’s out here. I pull at my hair and throw punches at the starless sky. ‘Fuck.’ My voice echoes, and when I turn around Matilda is standing behind me, holding herself around the middle.

Goddamn it. She never fucking listens to anything I say.

When I’m in front of her, I grab her shoulders, before wrapping my arms around her neck. ‘Damn it, baby. I told you to stay inside. Nothing can happen to you. Do you understand?’ I close my eyes and breathe her in, pressing my cheek against the top of her head to stop my heart from pounding.

No matter how hard she pushes back, I’ll never stop her from being who she is. She’s one of the strongest women I’ve ever known, and I’ll never ask her to change that, no matter how much she pisses me off sometimes.

‘Sorry, I… got scared something happened to you.’

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