Chapter 38 : I Love You

"Baby?" A voice says softly into my right ear. Their fingers brush against my face lightly causing me to stir. The person moves my hair before lightly shaking me awake.

"Babygirl," My lips form into a slight smile. My eyes flutter open and I turn over on my back, my eyes meeting with Damon's.

He smiles down at me, moving some of my hair from my face, "Good Morning beautiful," He says softly.

"Morning," I reply, my voice raspy.

"We have school today," I whine and cover my face with my blankets. Damon laughs at me before removing the blankets.

"One more day, please?" I pout at him.

"You said that yesterday. It's been a week and a half, you have to come back, baby. Mainly because I miss you there," He shrugs. I huff out a breath and groan.

"Come on," He grabs my arms, pulling me up.

"Get dressed all nice and pretty for me to get distracted," He smirks and I roll my eyes playfully.

I get up from my bed, stretching out my limbs before turning to walk into my closet. But before I could get away, Damon pulls me onto his lap.

"Kiss me," He mumbles.

"Ew, no I have morning breath."

"I don't care," He shrugs, connecting his lips with mine in a slow deep kiss. He holds me tight as I slip my fingers through his hair, kissing back with the same energy. I then heard my bedroom door open and pull away from Damon to see my brother.

My eyes widen and I get up quickly, blocking him. "Don't kill him!" I say as Harley makes his way over.

He just stood in front of me and smiled. Smiled?! Somethings not right.

"You know I love you right?"

"I guess...? I'm scared," I stared up at him with the most confused eyes ever.

"Okay good." He tilts over, looking at and equally confused Damon with the same smile, but this time it slowly faded away. "So how was my sister's mouth?" I slapped my forehead and sat back down next to Damon.

Don't answer. Don't answer. It's a trap!

"You mind as well start running while you can," I tell Damon, sighing as I get up and walk towards my closet. As I'm looking through it, I heard four heavy footsteps run out of my room and I roll my eyes.

I take a quick shower before getting dressed into something simply because I really wasn't planning on going back to school ever, but my future calls so.

And plus I have a lot of catching up to do.

I grin from ear to ear and shake my head at the sight of my brother and boy- Damon outside, playing a little game of basketball while Harmony sits on the porch, listening to music.

Before I leave the house, I hear some crashing coming from the kitchen which made me jump. Jogging there, I suck in a breath. My mom was crouched down by the counter, shards of glass on the floor.

"Mom?"

She looks up at me and I see her eyes are red and puffy, indicating that she was indeed crying for a while. Hesitantly, I walk towards her and help pick the pieces of glass up. She shakes her head at me.

"N-No I got it, you get to school," She sniffs and I frown. I hate seeing her so sad. I ignore her and continue picking the glass up, but ended up feeling salty as a piece of the glass cuts the palm of my hand.

I suck in a huge breath and drop the remanding glass in my hand on the floor. My mom immediately stands up and grabs me by my arm.

"I told you I had it, now look," She groans, walking to the sink to grab our mini first aid kit she got from the hospital she works at.

I bite into my lip hard to restrain a sound leaving my mouth as she runs my hand underneath the sink, the water coming in contact with the cut immediately. After, she wipes my cut with alcohol and puts a big bandaid onto my hand.

"Mom, what's wrong?" I knew exactly what was wrong, I just wanted to see if she'd lie.

"He won't leave," She blurts out.

"What?"

"Y-Your dad. He won't leave," She sniffs.

"He's still here?" I widen my eyes at that thought.

"No, he Uh, went to a hotel and said he'd be back later," She mumbles, avoiding eye contact with me.

"Mom, it's ok. It's not your fault. You didn't know he was just gonna show up. Are you going to talk to him?" I nibble on my top lip.

"I-I don't know. Gosh, he still makes me nervous just like when we were younger," She sighs, her face holding embarrassment and shame.

"But when I look at him... all I see is the man who didn't want me anymore," she chuckles bitterly and I felt my heart swell. My arms instantly wrapped around her and she returned the hug immediately.

"I'm sorry mom, I really am. I wish I could make you happy," I hear her chuckle as she holds me tighter.

"You already make me happy, baby. You and your siblings. You three have made me so incredibly happy and I don't know what'd I'd do if I didn't give birth to you beautiful human beings," I laugh lightly as she kisses my cheek repeatedly before letting me go.

"Now, you get to school. I already know you're gonna be safe because, I mean Harley is your brother," I laugh and nod my head before hugging her one more time.

"I love you, mom."

"I love you more, now go," She demands and I chuckle, rolling my eyes playfully and leave the kitchen, walking out of the house, shutting the door after.

"Hey what took you so long?" Damon appears in front of me, so close that I had to think before speaking.

"I was talking to my mom," He nods before glancing at my bandaged hand. I try stuffing my hand inside my jacket pocket, but Damon was quick and gripped my arm.

"What happened?" He glances at me, narrowing his eyes. I just stare at him, trying to gather my thoughts. He shakes his head and drops my arm.

"You didn't.. do it again, did you?" He roams my face worriedly and I scoff and roll my eyes.

"No! My mom dropped some glass on the floor, I helped but ended up cutting myself, geez," He sighs in relief and I roll my eyes once again, pushing past him.

Damon quickly grabs my arm, turns me around and holds me close by my waist. "Hey, Look I'm sorry. I was just worried you hurt yourself again," He whispered, leaning his forehead against mine.

He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes, holding me tighter. "I'm sorry, baby," He mumbles and I couldn't help but smile.

It is really hard trying to stay mad at him.

"You forgive me?" He opens his eyes, lips hovering over mine. My breath hitches when he rubs them against mine so softly. "Hm?" I mumble, completely lost in a daze.

"Do. You. Forgive. Me?" He says each word in between quick kisses. My lips curl into a smile.

"Mhm," I mumble and he grins, kissing the tip of my nose and I was immediately pulled away by my bag. Turning around, I roll my eyes at Harley.

"You're riding with me," He glares at Damon, pulling me down the stairs and towards his car.

"You can't do that!" I try getting free but he began tickling my sides. "N-No! Wait stop! Ok, ok!" I laugh through my words and he stops, smirking before opening the passenger side door, waiting for me to get in.

"Ladies first."

"Then go," I say. He rolls his eyes at me and mugs me into the car playfully making me laugh lightly.

Harmony gets into the backseat and I frown at Damon as he walks towards his car. He told me his mom gave him her old one since she got a new one.

He pouts back at me, winking before getting into his car and we drive away at the same time.

"I feel like I'm forgetting something," I mumble to myself, looking out of the window as we pass by houses and kids making their way to school.

"Our baby sister is joining our school today," Harley reminds and I gasp, turning around in my seat. Harmony had her headphones in and I lean forward to tap her. She takes one earbud out.

"Why didn't you tell me it was your first day?" She shrugs and I could tell she was nervous out of her mind. "Want me to guide you through today?"

She presses her lips together. "I wouldn't mind, but I kind of want to try on my own. I'll text you if I need any help," I nod my head, understanding.

"But please be careful. People at this school are quick to believe and do what others do, so just try not to fall in the wrong crowd," I tell her, letting her know how serious I am. People at our school are really complete assholes and I'm sick of them.

"Mhm," She nods her head, putting her headphone back in her ear. I look at Harley and he glances at me, both of us sharing a look. I'm scared.

Honestly. We are going to be leaving soon while Harmony is going to be starting sophomore year. I'm scared for her, but I know she can do it because that girl is tough as nails. Sometimes she may show weakness but that's also apart of her.

"She'll be ok," He assures me.

"I know," I reply, letting out a deep breath.

~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~

After making sure Harmony got to her first class safety, I hurry to my math class, my excused pass in hand. I felt scared to the point where I couldn't control my body and my hands began to shake rapidly. I felt extremely hot as I stopped at my class.

It felt weird being back.

Everyone gave me weird looks as usual and I wondered if they knew what happened. I saw Jayden this morning too. His face still had some healing cuts, a brace on his hand too. He would glance at me every once in a while before class started and it scared me.

I ignore him, but I didn't feel right being in the same place as him after what he almost did to me.

I felt my breathing increase and I held onto the wall beside me for support as I tried focusing on steadying my rapid breath. I felt dizzy and I cursed myself for feeling like this now.

I pull my phone out but it slipped from my hands.

I then suddenly heard footsteps run my way before I was pulled into warm familiar arms. "Baby, are you ok?" Damon asked, worry dripping from his words.

"Y-Yeah just dizzy," I shake my head, trying to stop the feeling. I felt him grab my face in between his hands, making me look into his eyes.

"You are having a slight panic attack. Breath," He tells me, face inches away from mine.

"In and out," He mumbles and I do as told, but it felt too hard. I couldn't control it.

"You have to breathe baby. I know it's hard, but you have too," He speaks softly, thumbs rubbing my cheeks in a soothing circular motion as I tried again.

"I-I can't-"

He cuts me off with pecks of kisses on my lips and the corners. "Deep breath in." I do as told, "And out." I do this method for a minute until my rapid breathing slowed down to normal.

"You're ok now," He assures me, planting light kisses all over my face before landing onto my lips. Our lips moved in sync but I felt too tired to kiss back how I really wanted.

"H-How'd you know I was here?" I breathe out.

"I knew you were helping Harmony and kind of said I had to use the bathroom just so I could come check on you. I know your math class is this way."

"Oh."

"I'm glad I came in time though," He mumbles, eyes searching mine as he held my face. I lean my forehead against his and take a deep breath.

"I'm scared."

"I know but I'm here and I'm not going to let anything happen to you again," He says, kissing my forehead repeatedly and I close my eyes, the feeling calming me down almost immediately.

It felt nice to finally be in his arms.

"I love you way too much," I heard him whisper and those words made me snap my eyes open. I pull away from him, eyes widen as I search his widely. He backs away realizing what he just said too.

"You love me?" I tilt my head, heart beating out of my chest. I felt the corners of my eyes water but I tried not to let them fall. He looked everywhere but me and I turned around to walk away but I felt him grab my hand.

"Yes, I do love you," I turn around.

I felt tears sting my eyes as he pulled me against his body. I stared at him in utter confusion and I don't know why. He just told me he loved me but I'm still confused. "Really?" The tears began to fall.

"Cross my heart," He held my waist. I close my eyes, a smile appearing on my lips as the salty tears fell. A sob escaped my mouth. Ugh, I'm dramatic.

"Say it again," I heard him chuckle. "I love you," The tears fell more as those words sounded like music to my ears. The way those three words fell from his lips.

"One more time."

"I love you," He pecks my lips. "I love you, I love you, I love you," He repeated over, pecking my lips each time. I laugh through my tears and hold his face between my hands and kiss him deeply.

He seemed surprised at the way I kissed him but didn't hesitate to kiss back. I knew I was late for class and I felt bad but I still have time.

I pulled away from his mouth, letting my lips linger lightly on his as I felt him move forward to bring our lips back together. He groaned when I declined.

"I love you too."