Fatal (Rolleigns)

Chapter 13

The next morning I woke up cuddling up close to my precious Joe. My body was sore, and I felt like with every move I made my body was getting jabbed with knives and teeny tiny needles. I slowly got out of Joe's grip and headed towards the bathroom to examine my bruises being extra careful not to wake him. He's like a grumpy old bear when he's woken. I take off my shirt that has laced itself with sweat while I slept and glimpse at the red welt that formed on my chest, carefully taking my hand and running it against the mark softly.

I hiss at the almost unbearable pain that the gently touch gives me, and know that I probably won't be able to wear a shirt for a long time today. The welt is slowly starting to bruise all along its edges, and the thought of my skin, that Joe thought was perfect, not being perfect anymore scared me. What if he thinks I'm ugly now that my skin is tarnished? What if he leaves me because I can't deal with even the tiniest bit of pain? All of these thoughts plus more coursed through my mind as I tried to remind myself how to breathe. I get my lotion that helps with bruising out from under the counter as I hear a gentle knock on the door.

"Colby, are you decent? May I come in?" The sleepy voice of Joe asks, as I gaze wide eyed at the bathroom door.

"Ummm... I'm taking a leak. Be out in a minute." I shudder as I apply the lotion onto the bump, flush the toilet to not seem suspicious, and find my shirt, before opening the door to come face to face with a messy haired, baggy eyed Joe. He always looks adorable when he first wakes up, black strands sticking to his face from a restless night of sleep, shirtless abs flexed unconsciously, and brown eyes glazed with sleep dust.

"You okay, my little prince?" He asks sweetly against my skin as I try to relax against his touch. Every inch of my body throbbing in a pain that is indescribable.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine babe." I lied in a shaky tone, I just wanted to keep him away from noticing exactly how torn up my skin really is, and he's not exactly making that task easy. His hands trail up my thighs before gently smacking my ass and switching positions with me, closing the bathroom door behind him.

That's when I realize that even though I had tried my hardest to hide what I was actually doing, I had left my lotion on the counter for him to notice, and I silently said a prayer to make him not notice. Please don't let him notice, I don't want him to think that I need babied, or carried around like I'm a child. I don't want him to think that I'm too weak for this business. Please just don't let him notice what I was actually doing. Despite all of my pleads with myself when Joe opened the door, he still commanded the inevitable.

"Take off your shirt." He said as he held my lotion in his elegant palm. I shifted uncomfortably on our bed as I debated the consequences of telling him that no I wouldn't take off my shirt for him. I just didn't want him to think that I wasn't as perfect as he wanted me to be.

"No." I barked as tears started streaming down my cheeks making me feel even weaker than the bruises all over my body did. I hated crying. Ever since I was a little kid, my dad used to tell me that the only time I was allowed to cry was when a family member died, and this was not one of those times. So, I simply buried my face in a pillow and listened while Joe sat down on the bed, and placed the bottle of lotion on the night stand.

"Colby, I'm just trying to help you feel better. I don't want to make you feel worse." Joe tried to soothe me, but I wasn't having any of it.

"Then leave me alone. Just go! I don't want you to care for me. I don't want you to help me. I'm fine, I already told you that." I argued, trying to sound strong but failing. My body ached in places I didn't even know had feeling. With every breath, my ribcage felt like air was threatening to explode it. My chest hurt from screaming at him, but I didn't care. I couldn't have him babying me, and seeing that I wasn't perfect.

"What's wrong with me caring for you?" Joe asked confidently, even though I could hear the hurt behind every word.

"Because then you see that I'm not perfect. You see that the skin that you thought was flawless was only because I've been wearing foundation to cover marks and scars from all of my matches, and that's just something I'm not comfortable with. I don't want you to think that 'your prince' is too weak for his job. I don't want you seeing the things that even I'm scared to look at. I just don't Joe, why can't you just drop a subject for once?" I said as I buried my head further into the pillow to muffle my sobs.

"You'll always be perfect to me, darling. I don't just love you because your gorgeous, I love you because you're you. Your imperfections are what make you who you are. So, what kind of man would I be if I didn't except them? I love you, Colby. Always have, always will, no matter how scared you are I'll always be right here to pick you back up and tell you to keep going." Joe whispered softly and sweetly against my neck before peppering a kiss.

"Alright, promise me you won't judge me based off of my marks?" I asked, about to cave in to his offer of rubbing lotion into my back for me.

"Yes, my sweet little prince. I promise." Joe said kissing my cheek as I slowly slid out of my shirt, revealing marks from the match, along with the marks that I had done myself. I relaxed when I felt Joe's strong hands rubbing lotion onto the welts that caked my back before spinning me around and finishing my chest. "Lay on your side so the lotion has a chance to work before getting ruined." He said, before laying with me across our bed.

"Hey Colby, can you promise me something?" He asked after moments of silence.

"Depends." I said cheekily, biting my bottom lip as I waited for his response.

"Next time that you have insecurities, just come to me. I love you no matter what. I don't expect you to be perfect all of the time. Hell, nobody is perfect, not even me. But you're damn close." He said before lightly peppering kisses all over my face.

"Okay, I promise." I said sheepishly, before nuzzling into him, and silently being thankful that he had cancelled on everything we had today so that we could just spend the day wrapped up with each other.