The Little Dove #2 ✔️

47. Turn Around

CHAPTER 47: Turn Around

I stare at him as he sits down on the mattress, his head in his hands, and the shirt he wears does absolutely nothing to hide the penetrating muscles of his biceps, and his shoulders, from my eyes. He still looked paler than the snow falling outside-I notice as I close the door behind me, leaning on it softly. He runs his fingers through his now disheveled black strands, that looked glossy and so smooth to touch-what in the hell, Melanie?

My inner thoughts were overwhelming as I look at him, he was literally wearing shorts and a flimsy black shirt, yet here I was looking at as many features of him as I could. I guess going on a race track and thrumming the engine of a beautiful car really sets the mood, "What are you thinking about?" Edmund asks me, stoically.

I blink, shaking my head, "Nothing. What did you want to talk about?" I ask him, placing the files on the desk drawer, making sure my laptop was secured as I glance over to see him sitting there, head still in his hands.

I give him a confused look, "What's going on, Edmund?"

"I can't sleep."

That makes two of us.

"I dream of...I saw you with Kenji on the television, do you not think I can see the way you act around him, a familiarity, the chemistry? Fuck, I'm not blind nor am I an idiot, lemon. I know I've treated you horribly and you have every right to push me away...I want to try again. Is what I'm trying to say." He says I would have said 'yes' straight away if he just took the tight shirt off. I growl internally-this needs to stop, Melanie. I look over to Edmund, who's giving me an indecipherable look.

I blink, and he closes his eyes, "Will you ever forgive me?" He whispers.

I slowly take a seat in the portable chair, crossing one leg over the other, I lean my chin on my hand, heading the snow against the rooftop, I blink slowly. What could I say to him? I still couldn't fully trust him, we were making progress, but we weren't to this point where I could just outright say that I forgave him.

I did forgive him. His friends were not so easily forgiven, but I was falling long and hard for the man in front of me, who growls and actually does remove his shirt, throwing it across the room, not too far from the fireplace as he clenches his abdomen, relaxin it before contracting once again.

He stands in irritation, "I promise not to touch you or go over any boundaries, could I please just stay in here for tonight? I'll stay on one side of the bed, I just need...I need...please, Melanie?" He asks me, still standing, one hand out to me slightly. He doesn't move further as I sigh in defeat and gesture to the bed.

"It's alright. Just abide by those rules," I whisper, grabbing my gown and undergarments, I move silently into the en-suite, deciding on a shower as I lock the door behind me with a click. My heart was racing with adrenaline, I was scorched on something, and his bloody muscles took me to dark places of wishing he would hold me and promise me with absolute assurance that he would not ever hurt me again, that he's here for the long run and that loving me isn't just a promise or a vow, it's something more, a genuine feeling in his own body. When I came back into the room, I showered and changed into the skimpiest chemise, the one he'd first seen when we got here, considering the others had miraculously disappeared, or I couldn't be bothered locating them.

Edmund was flat on his back, in the sheets, with his eyes closed. I turned the lights off, my leg movements were exhausted after my adrenaline levels lowered and I was more ready for bed than anything else. The second my head touches the pillow, I close my eyes, sighing as I turn away from him completely, looking in the opposite direction as my thoughts run wild.