I still needed to head back to my dorm to change out of the clothes I’d been wearing since the party, and she needed to do the same, but she asked me to wait for her.
I didn’t know what she was up to until she came back with a suitcase and a pulley as if she’d packed everything she owned. I knew where this was going and didn’t argue. When Jess tried to get in her way, I stopped her with a shake of my head. “Give her some space,” I whispered to the two women.
“Don’t fraternize with the enemy.” Oh good! From the lack of venom in her tone this time, I’m guessing she was no longer as angry as she had been. The frost had melted just a little bit from before, and I’d like to think I had something to do with that. I’ve been working on her in between feeding her insatiable need for dick. I knew my tough nut had a heart as soft as the clouds, and it wouldn’t be long before she caved.
From what I can see, those two didn’t really have a choice in the matter. I get that she’s hurt because now she thinks she was nothing more than a job to them, but I don’t see that. I’ve seen the way the three of them interacted with each other, and I’m almost certain there were days when even they forgot why they were here.
I asked her to talk to them once she’d calmed down and find out their story. Not necessarily why her parents found the need to saddle her with them; after the shit I’d seen, that’s pretty much self-explanatory. There are people worth less who have a whole battalion following them around. But I guess for the one living it; it’s a bit harder to take.
But she should at least find out why two women not much older than she was had trained almost their whole lives to be what her mom had described. You don’t get to be that good unless you’d been trained from a very young age, so to me, there’s a story there as well.
She’d stopped fuming each time their names were mentioned sometime last night, but from the looks of it, she wasn’t quite ready to forgive and forget. I helped her carry her stuff out to the waiting car and was driven to my dorm across campus. I’ve never been so grateful for my setup off campus but still covered by my scholarship.
No one was going to ride my ass for letting her stay with me for what I don’t expect to be more than a week or two at most, and as long as she was comfortable, she could stay as long as she wanted. I went through the million and one texts I’d gotten over the weekend on my way taking her to class, and all anyone could talk about was the party and the damage to the car.
I hadn’t even called my boys other than once in the very beginning when I sent out a group text letting everyone know we were okay. I wasn’t even sure where to start when the questions came, as I know they will. How do I describe her family, her, without giving too much away or putting her in danger?
I learned a lot this weekend. After meeting her parents, it felt almost like we’d been together for a lifetime or half. I doubt she even realizes the significance of half of what went on, but maybe that’s because she’s too close to the situation to see things as clearly as me, the outsider, had.
I also learned that when it comes to her family and what they have going on between them, she’d rather avoid confrontation. She puts up a brave front, but really, she’s running scared. If I told her that they weren’t half as bad as she thinks, that would be the wrong approach. She’s very clear on one thing; I’m not allowed to side with anyone against her at any time.
I can get behind that, but I still need to find a way to let her know when she’s wrong without hurting her feelings. Because something else I realized this weekend is that I, too, have the power to hurt her. I’m not sure how I didn’t know it before, maybe because I’ve never held that kind of responsibility before with anyone else, never felt the need to protect another human being the way I want to protect her.
We’d spent most of the night last night with me reassuring her that no matter what her family did, I wouldn’t leave her, something that she seemed deathly afraid of. She spent a lot of time curled up on my lap when her mind would torment her with all the things her mom could do now that she knew about the apartment.