Chapter 79 Chapter 79
Violet
I came all over his face but he didn’t object as I lay on the bed, chest rising and falling as if I had run a marathon.
When he was done he finally looked towards the door.
“I guess you aren’t scared anymore so I can leave” but I shook my head.
“Stay please”
Elijah hesitated to say no right away and I clung to that hope. Because, I didn’t want to stay alone in this room right now.
Not after what we had just done. I wanted more of him.
Sex with him was always amazing but I had been feeling a loneliness within me ever since my breakup.
I tried to fill that void with work and then with sex but I craved physical touch and warmth. I yearned to have someone close to me, cuddle with me.
Elijah didn’t seem to be a cuddler but I wanted to just wrap my hands around him and rest for a while.
I didn’t say any of this out loud but I hoped my eyes were saying all that because it was too shameful to state out loud.
The silence stretched for so long that I feared he was going to deny it but then he replied,
“Alright, get cleaned up”
Elijah went to the bathroom before throwing a towel at me and I collapsed on the bed, feeling nervous all of a sudden.
Would I be really able to sleep with him next to me?
I gave myself a quick wipe and hydrated while I could still hear the sound of water running down the tap in the bathroom.
I slipped on just a long robe, quickly tying it around me and sat by the edge of the bed.
When he stepped out of the bathroom, he was still fully clothed.
“Are you going to sleep like that?”
I asked.
“No, but I don't have spare clothing in your room.”
I almost wanted to ask him to strip down to his boxers but figured it would be too much of an ask.
So I scooped myself up and pulled the sheets over me, waiting for him to do the same.
Elijah had washed his face and a few droplets of water still clung to strands of his hair that I felt the need to wipe off with my hands.
He slowly sat on the other side of the bed and propped up the pillows, leaning his head over the headboard.
I turned to the side facing him and looked at him as he closed his eyes. He simply sat leaning on his side of the bed without talking or touching me.
It felt weird yet not to share a bed with him.
I studied his face for a while, the way his chest rose and fall and the way he kept his hands to himself.
Daring a little, I inched closer to him, throwing a hand over his torso.
Elijah didn’t pull away but he did open his eyes.
“Help me fall asleep” I murmured.
He lay down on the bed completely and I snuggled up in his warmth, placing my head on his chest. His hand lay a bit away from me but I reached for it and placed it on my back.
Pulling the sheets over both of us, I snuggled as close as possible to him and listened to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.
Neither of us said a word for a long time which emboldened me to reach for his other arm and pull it closer to.
The blood had dried on this hand and the injuries were healing far better than his other arm.
I gingerly kissed his wrist and fingers, noticing the spike in his heartbeat when I did that.
“What are you doing?” He asked again.
I intertwined my fingers with his and replied.
“Telling you that you can feel safe with me as well. That you can share whatever secrets you have when you are ready to tell them.”
It was calming to not hug a pillow and cry myself to sleep after a long time. It felt peaceful and my overthinking mind simply shut down in mere seconds.
I must have slept like a long and was only woken up when there was a knock on the door. My eyes fluttered open but the side of my bed was empty.
I looked around, half rubbing my eyes but there was no sign of Elijah. Had he slipped out after realizing I had fallen asleep?
How long did he stay beside me?
I had no idea but my thoughts were cut short when I heard the sound of soft voices outside my door again, but this time I didn’t startle because I was too busy reliving the night with Elijah through my memories.
Some part of me had already accepted that privacy didn’t exist in Ironcrest Manor. It was a place that watched, that listened, that decided things for you while smiling politely to your face.
I lay still, staring at the ceiling, when the knock came, gentle, almost apologetic.
“Miss Violet?” a voice called from the other side. “May we come in?”
I didn’t answer fast enough and barely had time to pull up the sheets to tidy my robe.
The door opened anyway.
Three maids entered first, hands folded neatly in front of them, their expressions carefully neutral. And then Nicole stepped in behind them, her posture poised, her face arranged into something soft and contrite.
The sight of her made my stomach twist. All of the happiness and euphoria I had been feeling, died down instantly upon seeing her face first thing in the morning.
“Oh,” she said gently, as though surprised to see me awake. “I was hoping you’d still be resting.”
I sat up slowly, pulling the covers higher around myself out of instinct. My head still throbbed faintly, but the sharper ache came from memory, not my body. Of the strokes of Elijah’s tongue down there.
“What do you want?” I asked, annoyed to see her face.