Razor Sharp | ✓

Fourteen

♡♡♡

The days drag on, longer than usual.

It's scary to think that I rely so much on seeing one person. I crave to see his warm smile, his blonde hair and beautiful blues eyes. But I know he's going to betray me.

He is razor-sharp and I'm going to get cut if I'm not careful. There are so many reasons why I should despise him. But I just...don't.

I press my palms to my eyes, breathing out slowly. The mattress squeaks under my weight.

It's clear that he's been avoiding me. Now I only see Ridge, and occasionally Marcos when Ridge is too busy to bring me my food.

I've hardly spoken to Ridge since my nightmare when he stayed with me. An occasional few words pass between us, but we are lucky if we speak two sentences combined.

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying not to think of Hunter's stupid hand on my face when he'd told me what his dad would do to me if he found out about the phone call. He actually sounded pained and worried. But then again, he didn't seem to stop his dad when he hit me over and over.

It's just a waiting game now. Only time would tell what my fate will be.

I constantly find myself daydreaming about what it would have been like if we had met under different circumstances, different lives even. I start to wonder if this is what it was like for Stacey and Ridge in the beginning, before everything started to spiral out of control between them. I wonder if this is how she felt about him when she smiled at her phone, glad he had replied to her messages.

I've never understood why she would fall for a Haswell, but now I'm starting to see the appeal of it. Even if I can't ever do anything about the way I feel. Stacey is lucky in that aspect. She has the freedom to be herself, something I've never even tasted.

Thinking of her brings a stabbing pain to my chest, and I clench my teeth. I wonder what she's doing right now, at this very moment. How much did Stacey and Carmen know about my whereabouts? Did they know anything at all?

A knock at the door jolts me out of my thoughts.

Ridge comes through the door, leaving my food on the small fold-out table I've been given. "Here's your food," Ridge says.

"Thanks."

"Um," Ridge clears his throat. "I'll leave you to it then."

Before he can reach the door, I'm talking without thinking. "Wait," I blurt."Can you...could you stay for a bit?"

He frowns, looking sceptical. A slight blush covers his cheeks and I wonder if he's been trying to avoid talking to me since he held me while I sat in my room, frightened.

What if he thought...

I laugh nervously. "Oh, no, you've got the wrong idea. I didn't mean...well, all I meant was would you stay because I'm...lonely?"

My pride takes a major hit and can hardly look at him.

Ridge suddenly grins, nodding. "For a second there, I thought you were cracking onto me and then I was going to have to let you down easy."

I blush, looking away. "Yeah, well, as soon as the words came out of my mouth, I should have noticed how it sounded."

"It doesn't matter anyway, I know how you and H—" he cuts himself off, frowning.

I think I know what he's going to say, and I'm grateful that he doesn't finish it.

"So," Ridge says," finding a spot to sit down of the floor. "What do you want to talk about?"