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Chapter Twenty-Three

I slept the rest of the night without a peep. I woke up the next morning still curled into Pierce's chest. My hands were wrapped tightly around his body. As my body was pulled from sleep I ran the pad of my index finger in circles against his side. His bruise had completely disappeared. He had officially stopped the physical harm on himself. I was proud of him for doing so.

I was still suffering every day from my physical abuse. Eating was difficult because it was hard to keep food down. It made me not want to eat at all. A triggering feeling to a girl who was forced into having an eating disorder.

Every day that I looked at myself in the mirror I still felt worthy of physical harm. Not just from myself but everyone. It's not that I sought out the physical harm, but it was like I felt like I deserved it. In my life, I had caused so much pain to so many people. I just felt that I deserved that pain back. It was hard to not grab a knife, scissors, a razor, my nails, just anything in my sights to inflict pain on myself.

Pierce stirred below me, trying to turn to his side. I raised my head off his chest letting him roll over. I curled into his back still craving the contact of his skin. No part of me wanted to start the day. Too much had occurred in the past twenty-four hours that I didn't want to face anyone. I wasn't Pierce. I couldn't just brush it all off like nothing happened.

It wasn't long before a phone alarm tuned. I sighed as Pierce's arm reached out for his phone to stop the alarm. Of course he was sensible. It didn't matter if I attempted to stop him from starting his day, our day. He would win the battle. We had school to attend. I wasn't getting out of this.

"G'morning." Pierce said as he groaned into a stretch.

"Morning." I replied trying to curl back into him. He fought me off knowing if I tried hard enough I might just convince him that staying in bed all day was a better option than school. Pierce would always be better than school. He would always win.

"Get up my sleepy head." Pierce leaned down to plant a kiss to the top of my head.

"I've been up longer than you." I mumbled through my hands that were running down my face.

"I don't doubt you." I could tell a smile was planted across Pierce's face. He was too chipper this morning. Maybe this what he had been missing, our sleeps together.

"Babe?" I said as I slid my hands off my face finally. Pierce answered ushering me to continue. "When are we going to tell our parents?" I spoke faintly like I was scared to upset him so early in the morning.

"Whenever you feel comfortable. I'm ready when you are. If you want to wait, we wait. If you want to tell them today, we do it today. This is your body." Pierce wrapped his arms around me from behind, resting his hands on my stomach. "I will be ready whenever you are love."

"I'm just scared. After Reece last night." I dropped my head back against Pierce's chest to look at him. "I don't want people to know. But I also know that I need to go see doctors and stuff. If I wait I'm afraid that I'll end up fucking something up. I don't want to die because I was stupid."

"You won't die Baker." Pierce kissed my forehead in a comforting act. "I won't let that happen. Now, let's get up and get ready for school."

Pierce lifted me off the bed, standing the both of us to our feet. I dragged my feet across the hard wooden surface below me. Pierce did everything in his power to chipper my spirits. He wanted me happy by the time we walked out the front door to head off to school. It worked because I left the house laughing.

The day was simple. Reece distanced himself from Pierce and I. He couldn't even look at Pierce. I understood why, it was just hard. I was the reason that my brother couldn't even look at his best friend. I mean I wasn't fully the reason but I was part of it and I hated that. I never wanted to be the reason anyone stopped talking or being friends.