Chapter 18

Sab pov-

Sitting here telling Anna about Mark is probably the hardest thing I have ever done. "We met in 7th grade, and he confessed his feelings for me in 9th grade. I always thought he had feelings for me but was too scared to say anything because neither of us had ever been in a relationship. He was my first love," I inhale a deep breath as I feel the memories swarm my mind. "Our relationship was good until around our one year anniversary his parents split up. He started looking up to his older brother who... was not the best influence. He started to act more distant around me, but when I did anything wrong he would get so angry. I wouldn't respond to his texts immediately and threaten me." I felt tears slowly start to stream down my face. Images of bruises flying around in my mind.

"The first day he hit me I didn't know what to do. Then after that first time, it was like he fueled off of it. It went from him hitting me every now and then, to every week, to every day. He never laid a hand on my face. Only on areas that I could cover up so that no one could ever find out. I wore long pants every day with a sweatshirt. My junior year started and it was still continuing. Finally, halfway through the year, his Mom wanted to move to Nevada and she wanted him to go with her. He left and I never talked to him again, even though he was in every single nightmare I had for the rest of the school year." At this point, I was choking on my tears and it was getting harder to breathe.

"I started to date a girl in my senior year, but I was really distant with her, afraid to get too close in case she hurt me. Now there is you... and I know you won't hurt me, but there is this voice in my head telling me you will. Or if you don't hurt me, I don't want to be the one to just ghost you when things get tough or I start to fear the commitment. I just don't want to lose you."

I hear Anna get up and her footsteps grow closer to me. She sits down next to me.

Anna pov-

Hearing about Sab's abusive relationship makes my heart break. I extend my legs and they dangle over the edge of the cliff, just like hers are. I reach my hand over and rest it on top of her's, but she flinches and quickly pulls it away. I slowly retreat my hand back into my lap and we just sit there in silence for a few minutes before I feel her lean her head on my shoulder and crawl her hands into my lap. Her cold fingers interlace with mine.

I turn my head and kiss the top of her head. The wind picks up and I feel her shiver. She took off her sweatshirt at the restaurant and is just wearing a crop top. I slowly move her head off of my shoulder and start to take off my sweatshirt. I put it over her head and she pushes her arms through the sleeve. She takes a deep breath smelling my sweatshirt. She turns to look at me and a smile slowly grows on her face. "Anna?" I hear her whisper.

"Hmm?" I hum in response to her.

"Thank you. For listening. And... and I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I was just nervous that you wouldn't believe me or... or you would think I was making it up." Another tear left her eye and I quickly reached my hand up to cup her face, wiping the tear away with my thumb.

"Hey, there is no reason to apologize. I can't even begin to relate to what you went through, but I am beyond proud of you for telling me and trusting me." I lean forward placing my lips on her forehead. I then pulled her in for a hug and she wrapped her arms around me with nuzzling her head into my chest making butterflies flutter everywhere in my stomach.

I wanted to kiss her so badly. Ugh, I should have, but I don't want to rush her into anything. I know she needs time to heal and be comfortable with me.

The sun starts to set and Sab turns her head to look at it, letting her arms fall. She rested her head on my shoulder and reached out to interlock my hand with hers. I rubbed my thumb across the back of her hand because I knew she loved it. We sat in silence, just enjoying each other's presence.

I felt my eyelids start to feel heavy and thought it was probably time that we should head back. I turned to see if Sab was ready to go and she was passed out. Damn this girl can sleep anywhere. I guess she has already slept here before though. I gently lifted her head off my shoulder, trying to not wake her. I slowly stood up, scooping my arms under her legs. I had folded up the blanket and put it into Sab's backpack earlier, expecting her to fall asleep after telling me. I lifted the backpack over my shoulder, adjusting Sab in my arms.

I carefully walked back along the trail making sure not to step onto any sticks.

I placed Sab on her bed and stood up to walk back over to my bed. I took the backpack off, setting it at the end of my bed. I take off my shoes, then walk back over to Sab to take off hers. I look up at her as I place her shoes neatly on the floor to see her half awake staring at me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. I just wanted you to be comfortable," I half whisper making sure not to wake her up more. She smiles at me and opens her arms out wide. "What?" I asked her, slightly confused.

"I want you to lay with me," she continues to make eye contact with me and smiles as I walk closer to her and crawl into bed next to her. She rolls on top of me and I groan in pain as my phone pushes against my spine because of where I set it on the bed. She turns her head to look up at me, "What? Do you not want to sleep with me?"

"Oh, believe me, I do."

I watch as her face turns red. My eyes widened with embarrassment as I realized that I just said that out loud. "Umm... that was supposed to stay in my head." I stutter with my words. She smirks at me as she lays her head back down on my chest.

"I'm not ready yet... but I promise you the feelings are mutual," she pauses as I exhale the breath I didn't realize I was holding. "Daddy."

Hey everyone. I am sorry for not updating. I was not feeling motivated to write this and I just had to take a little break. I am also sorry that this chapter is shorter than usual. I just thought that I should get something out for all of you.

Also, I would like to thank all of you for your support on this story, even though my updating has been slow.