Violent Things

Hollis

An hour passedand he still hadn’t come inside. The car was still in the driveway the last I looked, but I couldn’t tell if he was in it.

Knowing Bates, he probably went for a walk to calm down since he always hated when we argued.

But knowing Bates even better, he’d be even more likely to fall into another pussy just to get his mind off me being angry at home.

With a frustrated grunt, I picked up the cushion from the empty spot next to me on the couch and chucked it across the room as hard as I could.

If Bates decided he couldn’t be here right now, then what the hell was keeping me in place too?

I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees, dropping my face into my hands.

The answer was the same as always, and no matter how much I hated to admit it to myself, it was something I was all too familiar with.

Fear.

I slammed myself back against the couch and turned my eyes up toward the ceiling. It amazed me that I had enough faith in Bates to cut off the one thing that had tormented me for years, but not to remain faithful.

It wasn’t like he’d done it more than the one time I knew of, and he even helped me get rid of the bitch, but the insecurity never left me.

It only amplified that I needed to get rid of this fucking thing so that I could keep him forever.

Wiping the tears from my eyes, I got to my feet and headed for the bedroom.

With as much as I loved Bates, I still couldn’t get over the fact that he’d ‘slipped.’ Even though I knew it was something I shouldn’t have kept faulting him for, he was mine.

That’s what he promised.

That’s what he shattered.

That’s what he tried to rebuild again.

I climbed into our bed, closed my eyes, and hoped that the cycle wouldn’t be repeating itself all because I wanted to look and feel normal.

Ugh.

I swatted at the hand that was gently shaking my shoulder. A quiet chuckle broke the silence, followed by the bed shifting.

“Stop it,” I barked as the hand shook my shoulder again.

“You’re always such a rain of sunshine when you get woken up, Holls.”

Bates?

I cracked one of my eyes open and peeked out from beneath my bangs. He was sitting on the side of the bed, looking at me with affection in his eyes and amusement on his lips.

“Where did you go?” I asked gruffly as I turned onto my back and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.

“For a walk. I managed to find something for you while I was clearing my head.”

I blew out my breath, dropped my hands onto my stomach, then gave him my undivided attention.

His smile widened, becoming slyer, and his eyes twinkled with mischief.

“Sorry I acted like that,” I mumbled as I tore my eyes away from his.

“Don’t worry about it,” Bates replied. He reached for one of my hands and interlaced his fingers with mine, pulling me up to a seated position. I shot a nervous glance in his direction before he pressed his lips to the side of my head. “Do you wanna see what I got for you?”

I pulled my hand out of his and folded mine in my lap. The offer was tempting, but I wasn’t so sure I was ready to start pretending like everything was okay just like that.

Pursing my lips, I shook my head slightly, then laid back down, turned on my side, and pulled the sheets up over my body.

Bates would give me the time I needed to feel better.

He always did.

That was one of the things that made him so goddamn special.