Falling for My Old High School Bully (Complete)

Chapter 27 - The Truth Comes Out

**** Later that evening ****

Emma sat in the room with Dr. Gupta waiting for Axel to show up for their session.

"Maybe he forgot. He did go out on a fishing trip," Emma said, looking down at her newly painted french tipped nails.

The door opened and Axel came in with wet tousled hair wearing dark jeans and a dark t-shirt. He smelled really good when he sat on the pillow right up against her, wrapping an arm possessively around her waist. He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

"Sorry I'm a little late. I had to take a quick shower because I didn't want to come here smelling like a catfish," he laughed.

"That's alright. We haven't been waiting long. So did you both work on the homework I gave you?" the Doctor asked, looking at Axel skeptically.

Emma figured he had probably forgotten all about it since he went fishing. It's not like they were a real engaged couple anyway so he probably wasn't taking these sessions too seriously.

"I did," Axel nodded, pulling a folded piece of paper out of his back pocket surprising her.

"I did too," Emma said, waving her notebook at her.

"Good. Emma let's start with you. I want you to face Axel and tell him what he can do to earn your trust back."

Emma turned her body to face his, chewing on her lip nervously as she flipped through the notebook to the page with her notes on it. She took a deep breath and let it out before looking up into his grey eyes.

"Axel. I thought a lot about what you said yesterday and you were right. I did just as much shit to you as you did to me, even worse, but you've put it in the past and haven't held it over my head like I've been doing to you. You've been able to get over it and move on, so why can't I? That's what I've been asking myself," she said, lifting her eyes from her sheet and looking into his. 

She took a deep breath in and let it out. 

"I have a lot of trouble trusting people in general. You remember how you said I didn't even try to make new friends in high school and gave off vibes to stay away? I think I'm like that because my Dad was a bad alcoholic and he was verbally abusive and neglected me growing up and one time he was even physically abusive. My older brother never even tried to help me or take my side. That has always made me leery of trusting people. I've always done things completely on my own because I learned from a very young age that I can't depend on anyone but myself," she said with her eyes burning as they filled with tears.

She felt so much sadness and pain from saying this out loud. The only person she had ever told about her Dad's abuse was Stella and it had taken a long time before she even opened up to her about it.

He reached out and took her hands in his and said, "I'm so sorry you went through that Em. I had no idea."

"I know you didn't. Nobody knows besides Stella. But that's why I am the way I am. I have walls up and it's really hard to break them down, but today I realized something." 

"What?" he asked. 

"As I was making my notes I thought about what happened earlier when we were on the hike." Then she looked up into his eyes and said, "You put yourself in front of me and stood right up to that bear like you weren't even scared."

"No I was scared as hell. I was scared you were going to get hurt. That's all I could think about," he told her.

Hearing that made her melt and her eyes started to water more as she felt a tug at her heart strings. You never know how a person's going to react in an emergency situation but the fact that he put himself between her and danger, said a lot.