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Chapter Twenty-Two

I felt Pierce's lips press against the back of my neck. "Baby girl," he whispered quietly causing me to turn my head to look back at him, "we have to get you cleaned up."

I turned my head back around to face the Coleman siblings. "He's right Charlee, you did a number to yourself. Go head to my bathroom and clean up there. I'll grab you supplies Pierce."

"She shouldn't be walking. Pierce take her to mine." Ally's voice was quiet as she spoke. She may hate me but she still had a heart somewhere in that body of hers.

Pierce swiftly lifted me up off the ground, cradling me in his arms. I wrapped my arms around his neck, resting my head against him. He carried me the short distance across Ally's room, setting me on her bathroom counter.

"Why did you have to do this to yourself?" Pierce said as he let the water run in the sink while he waited for Grayson to enter with some medical supplies.

"I was hurting. I just wanted you to look at me the way you looked at me in the group home again."

"Baby girl, I love you, okay? I will always love you. Don't hurt yourself again. Please." Pierce pressed his lips softly to mine a few times.

"Don't hurt yourself anymore either Pierce. You don't have to tell me why you do it. You don't have to open up to me about it. I know you're not ready. But if I'm stopping, you're stopping." I reached up placing my palm against his cheek with just the slightest of touch.

"Deal." A smile rose to the corners of his mouth. "I love the hair cut though. You look adorable." He ran his fingers through the shortened hair.

"It reminds me of my old home." I broke my look with Pierce, dropping my focus to my legs hanging off the edge of the counter. "This is the hair cut I had when the abuse first started." I let my head drop against his chest.

"It's not going to make you think of the past to see yourself like this will it?" I shook my head as I looked back up at my concerned boyfriend.

Grayson entered the bathroom with an arm full of supplies. Ally joined him in the doorway as Pierce wet a dark gray wash cloth Grayson brought with him.

Pierce started with my face, wiping away the now dried blood gently from my skin. After cleaning up the area with the damped cloth he moved to the bottoms of my feet. He started by pulling out any glass shards still in my foot, dropping the small pieces onto the counter beside me.

"You really like ruining your feet Charlee." Grayson said with a joking tone.

"It's just glass from picture frames. It's pretty thick glass so this shouldn't be as bad as the lamp incident. I should be fine." I gripped Pierce's upper arms as he wiped against the bottom of my feet. Pain only running through the surface when he caught glass still embedded in my skin.

"This next parts going to hurt Charlee." Pierce looked up at me from his crouched position in front of me.

I leaned over and wrapped my hands tightly around his shoulders. Pierce lifted a bottle of peroxide and dumped some of the contents of the bottle down both my feet. My nails dug into his shirt, marking his skin below. I bit my bottom lip to hold in the screams wanting to escape my mouth.

"Babe," Pierce groaned, "ow." His eyes darted to meet my glares.

"Fuck you." I tipped my head back as the pain still stung at my feet.

A slight laugh left his mouth as he dampened a cotton pad with the peroxide. Pierce lifted the pad to my forehead and tapped the cut across my forehead. The pain didn't compare at all to the pain on my feet. I could barely even tell he was using peroxide on the wound.

"She going to be okay?" The concern in Grayson's voice was still strong.

Pierce lifted my right foot up to meet his face, he examined the bottom of my foot carefully. In true Pierce fashion, he tickled the unharmed parts of my foot, causing me to squirm on the counter top.

"She's good. Nothing went too deep." Pierce wrapped my feet up in gauze just in case my feet decided they weren't done bleeding. "I think I should take this one home though. You know, in her Charlee ways, she just charged out of that house like a maniac." Pierce nudged my shoulder lightly.

I shrugged my shoulders. "What can I say? I'm predictable."

"Predictable but everyone over at your house is probably worrying like crazy." Pierce turned around, putting his back towards me. "Up Baker." He tapped at his shoulders.

I wrapped my arms around his neck as he wrapped his arms around my legs. Nothing better than a special piggy back ride from my favorite person in the world.

"Ally, Gray," I said looking around Pierce's head as he held me up on his back, "I'm sorry for all the drama I cause. I was never like this at my old school. The only drama I had was kids picking on me. I hate that I've become this girl I used to hate at my old school. I never meant to cause either of you any pain. I hope one day both of you can forgive me and this idiot." I kissed the side of Pierce's head.

"We know Charlee girl. Now go will ya?" Grayson shot a smile at me as Pierce left the bathroom.