All I Never Had

Chapter Twenty Two

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.