lover of mine || l.h.

26

Luke's POV*

  I woke up to bright lights blinding me, and I felt a small, soft, and warm hand gently holding mine. My wrists were in pain, not a huge one but enough for me to feel it. I kind of felt like shit, but I guess that's what I should've expected. Well I actually expected to be dead right now if I'm being honest.

"Hey how are you feeling?" Her soft voice said and I felt her stand up and walk closer to my bed.

"Okay." I said and finally opened my eyes, which I'm now wishing I didn't. She looked awful, not literally but it just looked like she was crying a lot. Her eyes were super red and puffy. Her lips were swollen which was a clear sign that she had been crying a lot and biting down on her lip. Her hair was also a mess. I did this to her, and I felt terrible for it.

"Are you in any pain? Let me get a nurse for you." She said softly and gently squeezed my fingers before letting go and heading out of the room for a second.

"Hey Luke how are you feeling?" The nurse asked and put on a pair of gloves.

"It hurts a little but I'm fine." I said and shifted a bit in my bed.

"We can get you some more meds to ease the pain for you if you'd like. We're just going to keep you here a few days for supervision and if things are normal we'll send you home." He said and checked my stitches to make sure they weren't infected or anything.

"Okay." I said and looked at Eleanor who held a worried look on her face as she watched the nurse check me. She was pinching her bottom lip between her thumb and index finger, had creases in her forehead and stared at my arms. She was worried sick.

  The nurse left the room a couple minutes later and left the two of us alone. She walked back over to my bed and stood next to me with that same worried look on her face.

"You told me you would stop." She said softly and looked down at my hand as she ever so gently held it in her own.

"I know I just-" I said and shook my head and pinched the bridge of my nose with my free hand.

"You what?" She asked gently and reached over to moved my hair out of my face with her cold hands.

"I just saw the way you looked at me. You looked so terrified of me. Like I had hurt you or like I was him. I didn't mean to scare you, that's the last thing I wanted to do. I just wanted to protect you like you've always protected me. You're my girl and I want everyone to know that I'm not letting you get taken away from me. I couldn't just listen to him say those disgusting things about you and not do anything about it, especially because of what happened before. I didn't think you'd want to be with me anymore if I reminded you of him." I said softly and looked down at my lap. I briefly looked up at her and saw that she was crying again. I hated seeing her cry, and it was so much worse now that it was my fault.

"Baby you're nothing like him. You're so gentle and so so sweet and you care about me. I'm not scared of you. Violence just has never sat right with me since him, and I'm sorry that you felt like I didn't want to be with you anymore or that I was scared of you. I didn't mean to shut you out I'm so sorry. I love you Luke. I love you so much." She said and sat down next to me and held my hand in her lap.

I felt my heart speed up in my chest, I'm sure she could hear it pounding against my rib cage actually. She loves me? She can't love me. She's so much better than me, she's worth so much more and deserves so much better than me. She can't love me.

"Y-You love me?" I whispered with wide eyes and looked at her glossy blue ones. She slowly nodded her head and bit down on her lip and held my hand tighter in both of hers.

As crazy as it was that she loves me, I couldn't deny the fact that I love her too. She's so perfect in every single possible way. I'd be an idiot not to love her. Frankly I know I have for a while, it's hard not to fall in love with someone like her.

"I-I love you too." I breathed out and looked into her eyes. It felt so weird saying it out loud. I've only ever thought about it, I've never said it out loud. Honestly those words haven't even left my mouth or been said to me in so long which made it weirder. But knowing her she'll be saying it all the time so I never doubted it for a second because that's just how she was.

"Don't do this again please. I love you, and I always will. Even if I happen to get mad at you I'll still love you and I want you to know that I won't be mad at you forever. Don't do this, because no matter what I will love you and after whatever happens passes things will go back to normal. And things can't go back to normal if you're dead. Couples fight or argue or go through rough patches, but they pass when they truly love each other. You just have to let it pass if that ever happens. Don't harm yourself please. Because I can't lose you to this, there's no coming back after this and I can't have you gone like this." She said desperately and let a few tears fall from her eyes. I nodded my head at her and let a few tears fall from my eyes as well but she quickly kissed them away with her soft lips.

"Can you lay with me?" I asked and she quickly nodded her head and stood up. I moved over so there would be enough room for her to lay down next to me.

When she climbed into the bed I wrapped my arms around her waist tightly and laid my head on her chest so I could hear her heartbeat. She ran her fingers throughout my hair, which was always so calming and relaxing and I absolutely loved it.

"You okay?" She asked softly and ran her fingers down my arm which sent shivers throughout my entire body.

"Mhm." I mumbled and closed my eyes shut as I relaxed in her embrace.

"Everyones here when you're ready to see them." She said after a long silence.

"Okay." I mumbled.

"Do you want me to go get them for you?" She asked and I nodded my head.

"I'll be right back." She said and delicately kissed my lips as she escaped my grasp and got ready to head out the door.