What He Doesn't Know {Completed}

Don't You Remember

“When was the last time you thought of me?

Or have you completely erased me from your memory?

I often think about where I went wrong,

The more I do, the less I know”

-  Adele “Don’t You Remember”

***

Once I was done with all the slices of pizza Colton brought, I sighed as my stomach was finally content. “Thank you,” I muttered for I knew if he didn’t baby fed me like he just did, I wouldn’t have touched a bite of food and more than likely I would have ended up in the hospital.

Colton, who was already looking down at me, with his dark brown eyes, nodded, “You’re welcome.” He started to run his hands through my hair, softly. “I’ve missed you Alice,” He admitted in a calm, relaxed manner.

I looked away from him as I pleaded with my lips to not reciprocate his words back to him because for some reason I just couldn’t let him know that I missed him too. “I’m fine now,” I told him as I tried to get out of his lap.

Gripping me and halting my attempts to get up, Colton shook his head. “I’m not convinced.”

“Well, you are going to have to be, Colton. Now let me go and please, just leave...”

“It has been two years since I have seen you, can’t you at least humor me with what you have been up too?” Colton asked as he clearly showed he was not going to let me go anytime soon.

A lump formed in my throat as I started to think about how to answer his question without lying because I know he would catch onto my lies if I tried. “The events that have taken place in the past couple years will in no way humor you,” I confessed, foolishly.

Colton furrowed his eyebrows, “How so?”

I shook my head, “I don’t want to talk about it.” His grasp on me tightened, and I knew I was making him mad but the truth would only anger him more.

You see, Colton was always super protective of me. It was in his nature ever since I was a baby. I can remember like it was yesterday running out of the doors of my preschool and racing into Colton’s arms. He was fourteen going on fifteen at the time, and he had an uneven tone of voice, which I later learned was due to puberty. Anyway, that is beside the point of the story ... I ran to him crying that some kid was teasing me about my glasses and poured sand in my training diaper. Colton looked furious at first but soon composed himself and asked who the boy was.  I pointed him out through my teary eyes and Colton, with me in his arms, marched over to the boy. Colton managed to talk with a deep, venomous tone I’ve never heard him use. He told the boy that if he dares to even look at me at school that he was going to tell the Boogeyman to come to the boy’s room at night.

While now that threat seems trivial, it wasn’t to an average preschooler who was afraid of monsters. Plus, aside from telling the boy that, Colton confronted his mother and told her what her son did to me. Trust me when I say, the look in the mother’s eyes said it all: he was going to get a spanking, a good one.

That was the first time Colton ever stood up from me like that, but it is a complete and utter to lie to say it was the last. In fact, Colton has threatened, beaten and even went to jail once all in an attempt to ‘protect’ me.