Chapter Twenty Two

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Gracie ~

A few hours later I opened my eyes to find Wes, wide awake and scrolling his phone as I slept on his chest.

Shit what time is it?

I squinted my eyes trying to focus on the time at the top of his phone.

"Oh my God it's 11:00am"

My body jolted up to a seated position in one jerky motion, nearly knocking Wes' phone out of his hand.

The movement made me wince the second that I was upright and I immediately regretted my sudden overreaction.

"What's wrong?" Wes asked readying his hands to help me.

"I overslept. I needed to call my mom and go down to the police station to file the restraining order, not to mention I had an 8am class that I missed." I slapped my own forehead in disbelief that I had slept so long and grimaced at my injured palm, hissing air through my teeth at the sting.

"Easy Gracie." Wes chuckled, taking my hand in his and turning it face up so he could get a better look at it.

"Amanda is here and called your mom early this morning while you were sleeping. She should be here any minute actually and is going to take you to the police station. And I think your professor will understand sweetheart. You had a hell of a night." Wes' voice was even and comforting, but the mention of my mother put me on edge again.

"She's coming here?" I asked, looking down to see that I was dressed in Wes' oversized tshirt and my panties, but nothing else.

"But I don't have any clothes here." I practically shrieked, scrambling out of the bed, but immediately regretting the sudden movement.

I squeezed my eyes closed against the pain in my body and braced my weight on the bed at my sudden head rush.

"Gracie, baby, you gotta calm down." Wes said, standing behind me, ready to take my weight if I fell as he ran a hand up and down my back.

Baby? Why did he just call me baby? And why did I like it so much?

"Take a deep breath for me...Amanda brought a change of clothes for you. I put them right over there." Wes said calmly, motioning over to the stack of clothes on a chair in the corner of his room.

"Sorry," I said softly, suddenly embarrassed by my outburst.

"No need to apologize, it's understandable that you're a little rattled." Wes reassured me with a smile that made my insides warm and fuzzy.

"I'm going to go get dressed before my mom sees me...coming out of your bedroom...in nothing but your t-shirt."

Wes' scratched the back of his head and wrinkled his nose slightly.

"Yeah I could see how that might look bad." He chuckled. "I'll give you some privacy."

Wes grabbed a tshirt from his drawer and threw it on before he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

I sighed and grabbed the stack of clothes from the chair, turning to face the mirror and jumping when I saw my reflection. The side of my face was scratched and bruised and my lip was swollen and purple from where I'd hit the pavement. My shoulder and had a gash on it as well.

Turns out I look just as bad as I feel.

Unable to stare at my reflection any longer, I hopped in the shower, trying to rinse away some of the trauma with the hottest water I could stand, hoping I could burn some of Colt's filth from my skin.

My arms and chest were red and flushed from the heat of the shower, but Amanda brought me a comfy t-shirt and some leggings that didn't irritate the cuts on my body too much.

When I emerged from Wes' room all eyes fell on me and I felt myself internally retreat at all of the attention, knowing I looked like hell.

Blake was the first to make a pained expression out of nothing but concern for me, but I wished he hadn't.

"Yikes, that looks bad Gracie-girl." Blake said as he got a good look at the side of my face.

Amanda threw her hands in the air before turning and slapping Blake hard across the bicep.

"Jesus, don't say that." Amanda hissed.

Blake became flustered and quickly back tracked, which was comical to watch.

"I mean not bad, bad. You never look bad Gracie. Your face just looks...painful." Blake desperately tried to eat his words but seemed to only make it worse. His stuttering and stammering put a small smile on my face, but Wes intervened before Blake made another stupid comment.

"Hey Blake?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut the fuck up, will ya?" Wes said as he stood and walked over to me.

"He's a dumb ass, you look great." Wes whispered quietly against my ear as he steered me into the kitchen.

Amanda glared at Wes' close contact with me and I knew exactly why. She came and gave me a big genuine hug and surveyed the scrape on my face with tears in her eyes.

"Can I talk to you alone for a second?" I asked.

"Of course babe, whatever you need." She said quickly, ushering me into the next room before shooting another hateful look at Wes over her shoulder. Luckily Wes seemed completely unfazed by Amanda's angry looks, but I she and I needed to get on the same page about Wes.

"Stop it." I said once we were around the corner.

"Huh?" Amanda asked, recoiling her head on confusion.

"I love the way you love me Mandy, but all due respect - stop acting that way toward Wes."

Amanda rolled her eyes at me and let out a sigh that was almost a laugh.

"I just know how he is Gracie..."

"No. You don't." I cut her off and corrected her sternly.

"Wes ran across campus and beat the hell out of Colt for me. He held me while I talked to the police and carried me to his truck, he washed my scrapes and cuts and gave me his clothes - even offered his bed to me and was willing to sleep on the couch, but I wanted him to stay. Hell, I begged him to stay. He took care of me Amanda. He had every opportunity to take advantage of me but he didn't."

My words seemed to sink in and Amanda nodded slightly.

"I've just seen the damage he's done to other girls. He's a player - a manipulator and he'll make you feel like you're the only girl in the world until he finds someone better. I just don't want you to get hurt." There was so much sincerity in Amanda's voice, it was difficult to be irritated with her.

"He may have been that person to them, but he's not that person with me."

Amanda sighed and relented, knowing that there was no convincing me otherwise.

"I sure hope you're right." Amanda said softly. "But if you're happy...I'm happy."

"I don't know what I am right now." I said honestly. "But it feels good knowing you'll support me no matter what."

"You know I will."

She gave me a bright smile and a big hug before we rejoined Wes and Blake in the kitchen. I took a seat next to Wes on one of the bar stools as he listened to Blake tell some funny story. Wes and I were both watching Blake, but I felt Wes' large hand rest lightly on my leg.

Wes didn't look at me and acted as if it was nothing out of the ordinary, but his thumb brushed back and forth over my leg beneath the bar top, completely concealed from everyone except the two of us.

My stomach did a flip flop at the subtle gesture and my legs prickled with goosebumps that I'm sure he felt, because a small grin gathered on the corner of his mouth.

Before my mind could get too lost in the feeling of Wes' hand on my skin the doorbell rang and my mother's voice echoed from the other side of it.

I jumped at the sound and went straight to the door, hoping to get her in the car as quickly as possible. As soon as I opened it my mom's whiny baby voice slammed into my ears like nails on a chalk board.

"Oh my sweet Grace!" She said, cupping my face which hurt as she looked at my injuries.

To be honest I was surprised that she was that worried about me. Our relationship wasn't the greatest, but had gotten better now that my stepdad was in the picture instead of my alcoholic father.

"Look at your face, poor baby." She said in an over exaggerated baby voice that made Blake, Wes, and Amanda fight back laughter.

"What in the world did you say that made Colt angry enough to do this?"

Annnnd there it is. There's that toxic behavior I was waiting for.

I watched as Wes cocked his head to the side and his brows drew in as my mother placed the blame on me.

Letting out a sigh I shook my head at him, signaling him to let it go, hoping he'd understand that she was always like this.

She did the same thing when my dad would come home drunk. He'd beat the hell out of her and she'd turn around and tell me it was because of something she did. She mouthed off, she burned dinner, she worked too late - you name it, and she was going to do the same thing for Colt because Colt and my father were practically the same person.

"I didn't say anything to him, mom. He attacked me for no reason at my car. He just can't seem to accept that I don't want to be with him." I corrected her.

She waved her hand in front of my face dismissing my words with a misplaced smile on her face.

"Oh I'm sure he just had a few too many. We can talk about all this in the car."

She rudely ignored my friends who were standing there in utter disbelief that my mother could be so dismissive of such a serious situation, but I was used to it. To me she wasn't acting out of the ordinary, she was just acting like...my mom.

Wes' brows were drawn into a hard line and I knew he could see the hurt behind my eyes that I was desperately trying to hide. I gave him a shrug of my shoulders pleading with him with my eyes not to say anything to my mother.

He held his tongue, but it was obvious that he didn't want me to leave - and neither did I.

I watched him stand in the doorway and lean against the frame with his arms folded across his chest as I climbed into the car with my heartless mother. I fought back tears as we drove to the police station but not because of my mother's dismissal of my feelings, but because I no longer felt safe...Wes was my safe place and I needed him.

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