Cold Truths | H.S.

27

Davina's POV

The bed was warm when I woke up. The daylight streaming through the curtains made it hard to fall back asleep, but I still laid for a while with my eyes closed. When I finally did open my eyes and went to reach the bedside table for my phone, I had realized I was slightly constricted. I looked down, seeing a tattooed arm draped over my torso, and felt a firm chest close against my back. My eyes focused on the familiar intricate tattoos that were littered on Harry's forearm. My body tensed slightly unsure whether I should try to wiggle free or just wait for him to wake up. Either choice had a potentially awkward outcome. I had made sure I was far to the edge of the bed last night just like I had slept the night prior. I must've moved closer to the middle of the bed in my sleep. That would also explain how tangled the sheets were at my ankles.

There wasn't much I could do in this situation and as I tried to wiggle closer to the edge of the bed, I heard Harry's breathing shift slightly. I stiffened, trying my best to steady my own breathing so he wouldn't notice I was awake. After a moment when I had surmised that he was still asleep, I quickly tried to free myself but when I did my leg was still tangled in the sheets. As I was almost off the bed I tripped myself, landing hands first on the floor. I heard Harry stirring before he cleared his throat. I peeked up slowly seeing him facing me, resting on his elbow with a look of amusement on his face.

"Have a nice sleep down there?" He asked, voice rough.

He sounded hot in the morning, a slight rasp in his throat.

I rolled my eyes, standing up from the sheets that had now been strewn across the floor. I scooped them up in my arms before tossing them back onto the bed.

"Actually, no I slept like shit," I spoke, matter-of-factly.

When we got back to the room last night I fell asleep almost instantly, but somehow in the middle of the night, I woke in a panic for no particular reason. From then on I tossed and turned all night. I guess Harry had gotten fed up and wrapped his arm around me to stop my constant stirring. 

"I know, you wouldn't stop moving all night." He groaned.

I didn't want to confirm why his arm was wrapped around me this morning, so I brushed the thought out of my head and rubbed the sleep from my eyes before sitting on the edge of the bed, checking the time on my phone. 

8:30 a.m.

"What's our plan? Are we heading back to New York anytime soon? Now that everything was worked out?" I asked, dancing around the questions that were, "did everything go smoothly with Gray?", "what was the negotiation?" and "did everything work out?" 

"Start getting ready, we're gonna leave at 9." He began.

The bed shifted as he stood up, stretching as a slight groan escaped his lips. He was shirtless, only wearing sweatpants. I turned to look at him waiting for more information but noticed my eyes kept shifting to his body. He turned to walk to the bathroom and that was when I noticed his back. His back was clean of tattoos but it was littered with small round marks instead. Mostly closer to his shoulders were these marks that I couldn't quite make out. They looked faded, like small scars that had no particular pattern to them. I had seen him shirtless before but never had focused on his body in this much detail or this harsh lighting. I had never noticed the markings before. I kept my eyes trained on his skin before peeling my eyes away in sudden realization. 

They were cigarette burns.  

My stomach clenched when I looked back at his skin, realizing that these marks had been inflicted on him by someone else. Someone who I assumed was his mother. He didn't seem to want to cover them up, which only meant that he accepted the pain that had been inflicted on him. That maybe it didn't bother him that much. But it bothered me. It made me mad and I wasn't really sure why. The thought of his mom putting out her cigarettes on his back just made me feel sick. But I had realized I was quick to pin the blame on his mother, which wasn't right. It could've been anyone. I tried to get the thoughts out of my head as I watched him start getting ready for the day.