There’s only one way out unless she wanted to walk through the dark woods surrounding the estate and climb the ten-foot wall beyond. I sped down the dark driveway in my bare feet in fifty-degree weather. It must be love.
I caught her on the street not far from the gates. “You!” I didn’t want to move up on her knowing what she’d faced, so I called out to make her stop. I saw the fear before she recognized me, and then the look in her eye changed to one of regret.
I approached her and grabbed the bag off her shoulder. Taking her hand in mine, I pulled her back towards the long driveway that led up to the house. “How did you open the gate?” If pop ever finds out about this shit, he’d have a hernia. There was no one patrolling the grounds at night anymore. Not with technology and high security. “I put it on the sill of the gatehouse.”
She pointed to where she’d left the stolen key, and I retrieved it after closing the gate. “How did you reset the alarm?” Even in the moonlight, I could see her blush. “I saw as Kate put it in when we arrived together one day.”
I held her hand all the way back to the house, barely holding onto my anger. Who knows what the fuck could’ve happened to her out there alone at night.
I got her settled and went to get her some tea and something to eat and to give myself time to calm down. I’d locked her ass in my room before I left after threatening to spank her ass if she moved an inch from where I left her.
“Eat; you look pale.” Those were the only words I said to her when I walked back into the room and placed the tray over her lap. I waited for her to finish her tea and the snack I’d brought her.
“No, stay there.” I stopped her from moving when she made to get up from the bed and removed the tray myself, putting it on the night table before turning back to her. I thought my anger had faded, but it had only been lying in wait, it seems, because I could barely get the words out.
“Why were you trying to leave?” I almost said me but didn’t want to spook her any more than she already was.
“I cannot stay here. I’ll have to leave soon when the baby starts to show anyway…”
“And this is the way you chose to do it? Just sneak off in the dark like a fucking thief?”
“What is it to you? I left you a note thanking you for all you’ve done.”
“You…” I barely restrained myself from grabbing her. “Do you think I need your thanks? Do you really not know what this is about? Where were you headed off to, huh? Where were you planning to sleep tonight?”
She didn’t have a ready answer which pissed me off even more. “So you’d rather face the cold and the dark than stay here with me.”
“No, it’s not that it’s just…thank you for all your help….
“Stop with the fucking thanks already.” I had to stop and take a deep breath because now she was looking scared—something I never want her to be with me. “Sofia, I know you’re smarter than this. I know you must have some idea of what I feel for you.”
“So how in the fuck can someone with any kind of intelligence think that it’s okay to do this shit? Is this how you repay a kindness? What if I hadn’t found you? Would I have ever seen you again?”
Now she started to cry and broke my fucking heart. I wanted to go to her, but this shit needed to be dealt with. She has to know she can’t just go running off every time she gets some shit stuck in her head.
“And what about the baby? Was it going to sleep on the streets with you? What about when you ran out of what little savings you have? And in the morning, who’s going to take care of you when you’re sick?” Now I was the one with tears in my voice.
“Do you have any idea how hard it is to live in this place? Especially when you have no one?”
“I know it’s all true what you’re saying, but why? Why do you want to help me? Why would you want to waste your time with someone like me?”
“What the hell does that mean?”
This was the one thing I never wanted her to do, blame herself for what that asshole had done. From the way she hung her head, I had a pretty good idea that that’s precisely what she was doing.
“You know what I mean. I’m…soiled. What would you do with me? And what about your parents? Do you think they would accept me?”