After a while of just sitting there andsilently crying, I heard the shower door open and knew it wasDarren. I felt my body tremble as I tried to hide my face from him,hoping he’d just leave me be, but he hesitantly stepped in, closingthe door behind him. His steps were soft and slow as if he were afraid of scaring a wildanimal.
He crouched low beside me and placed hislarge warm hand on my shoulder. I shuddered and choked back a sobas I continued to hide my face from him. He then moved me a fewfeet from the tiled wall and stepped around me to sit down behindme, his legs on either side of my body. He then pulled me againsthis chest and wrapped his arms around my entire body, clutching meto him. It only made me cry harder that he was trying to comfort mewhen he was the source of my pain, not my solution.
For the longest time, he just held me likethat while I cried my sorrows down the drain. Eventually, he was able to pull my head awayfrom my knees to lay it on his chest. His hand cradled my face andhe patted down my wet hair while I melted into his body. I hatedhim so much, but I had never been more grateful for his unusualtenderness.
At that moment, I suddenly wanted him totake care of me, to comfort me in the aftermath of his fury. Iwanted him to show me how much I truly meant to him, that I waseverything to him as he had said.I wanted him to prove it. I wanted him to make me feel cherishedand special and loved so I wouldn’t notice the shadow of miserythat promised to consume me if he didn’t. I was so tired of beingafraid all the time. I just wanted to feel something, anything,other than the absolute hopelessness I felt right now as I crumbledin his arms.
He was breaking me. I could feel it.I was shattering right before his eyes and I hated myself for it. Isuddenly had no desire to fight him, at least not at this moment. I was pissed off at how fuckingweak I looked right now, but I told myself this was only temporary.I had to release my weakness if I was to become strong again andrise above it. I would regain. I would survive. I wouldn’t let himbreak me. I was Jaden fucking Wilder, and I was made of fire andsteel.
When I was done with my stupid fuckingtears, I rose off Darren and looked him dead in the eye. He had anice little red mark at the top of his cheek from my elbow, butother than that, he came out of last night completely unscathed.Zero expression on his face, Darren took my face in his hands andwiped my tears away with his thumbs. A small moment of mutualunderstanding passed between us, me showing him I could withstandhim, and him loving that I could. His eyes blazed with intensity ashis gaze met mine, but I wasn’t afraid. Not this time.
And then he leaned in, pulling my facetoward his so he could kiss me with an utmost gentle passion I had never experienced with himbefore. That kiss spoke a thousand words of need, want, lust, and absolute acceptance. Darren waswho he was, there was no changing him, and there was no changingme, but what I could do was evolve around him and he would ensurethat.
We finished our shower together in silence,and then, after carefully drying me off, Darren carried me back tohis bed and laid me down. I felt the weight of my eyelids again asI fought to keep them open, but they were quickly winning theirbattle with me. I felt Darren climb in beside me and pull me to himas he had the night before. I relaxed against him with my head onhis chest and his lips on my forehead while I finally drifted backto sleep.
~*~
I had never witnessed anything so honest andpure in all my life. When I opened the shower door, I didn’t knowwhat to expect, but seeing Jadenhuddled in a ball and crying on the shower floor, my heart suddenlyswelled for her. I wasn’t sorry for what I had done last night, sheneeded to learn her lesson and she obviously had, but when I sawher like that, all I wanted to do was hold her and comfort heruntil the tears stopped. And eventually, they had. They stopped because Jaden hadsomething most women I knew didn’t—resilience. When she finishedcrying and looked me right in the eyes like that, my level ofrespect for her had grown immensely.
She was showing me that, yeah, I might hurther and make her regret every fight with me, but she could take it.She could withstand my wrath, and though it might take her sometime and tears to recoup, she would always eventually come back tome with eyes blazing and fire in her heart. I loved that about her.It was exactly why I chose her. She was absolutely perfect for me,and I was never ever letting her go.
When Jaden’s breathing evened out, I gentlyeased out from under her, pulled the sheets over her shoulders, andslipped out from the room. I wanted to stay. I wanted to watch hersleep against me while I listenedto her soft breathing and beating heart and felt her silky skinunder my fingertips, but I had too much shit to do.
When I saw her standing on my balcony, Isuddenly ached to be at her side. I hadn’t expected her to wake upso early or to see me train the way I did. That was a normal once aweek routine for me to keep my skills sharp. Not many peoplebattled the way I did anymore these days, but I prepared foreverything and anything.
I left Jaden in my bed and decided to lether sleep for as long as she needed. She
