Life & Love of the Tormented

Chapter Twenty Eight

Author's Note: I have tried something different with this chapter and have written it in Carter's Point of View. Please leave comments and let me know what your thoughts are. If you like the change up please vote :) Thank you and thank you all for the reads! BM xo

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CARTER'S POV

  I'm draped over Amelia, trying to catch my breath, my cheek is gently resting against the damp skin of her back.

I pull out of her slowly and watch her shudder beneath me.

Fuck she's beautiful.

Rolling off and moving up the bed to lay on the pillows beside her, I call for her to join me,

  "Amelia?... Babe?".

"Hmm", she replies, her voice laced with sleep.

"Come here?" I ask.

Keeping her front glued to the bed she shuffles her body up into my arms. I reach behind myself and pick up one of our towels from the floor. I drape it over her, pushing part of it between her legs, partially to clean her up and also to cover her exposed frame.

  I curl myself around her back, covering her stomach with my arm and pulling her closer to me. My face nestles into her inky hair as the jasmine and sandalwood scent from her body wash fills my nostrils. She smells feminine and seductive. I draw in a deep breathe through my nose, filling my senses. I could never get enough of her.

  I can hear Amelia's breathing has shallowed and her body has become heavy and relaxed under my hold, just as it did last night when she begged me to stay with her. I think the exhaustion from her alcohol consumption last night, the nightmares, sharing those horrible memories with me and what just did has taken over her body. After such an intense 24hrs, she is finally resting peacefully and fast asleep against me.

  As I lay here, I take a moment to admire Amelia's bedroom. I couldn't imagine she would bring many of her 'friends' or the strangers she spoke of, the ones she spent meaningless nights with, here. This is so obviously her safe space and I believe not many people would be allowed in it. Not that she's said anything like that but the way she has her things strategically placed around the room, things you can see she cherishes and clearly doesn't share with many people, gives me the impression she hides here when the world gets to loud.

I didn't even know she liked to read until now but going by the copious amounts of books she has in this room, on the shelves of her bookcase, on top of her dresser and the stack by the bed on the side table suggests she does... a lot.

  She has piles of CD's aswell, more than Ben owns by the looks. I've never known anyone to collect CD's like him, not these days anyway... well not until Amelia... They are stacked perfectly on the three lowest shelves of her bookcase and a small few are resting against her stereo. I already knew she liked music though. The band tees, the gigs she gets so excited about, the lyric tattoo down her spin and the fact that I can hear the sound of angry metal music pour from her car whenever she's in it, is all a dead give away.

There is a piece of artwork that hangs above Amelia's bed, it's a beach scene. It's not your typical beach scene though. There's a storm brewing out at sea in this one. It looks dark and angry but where the water meets the sand it is calm and bright. I'm not sure what would draw someone to purchase such a piece but it doesn't surprise me that it was Amelia who did. It's beautiful with all it's chaos.

Just like her...

There's a few photo frames littered perfectly on small open spaces around the room. There is a photo of Amelia and a blonde woman, who I already know is Taya, in a small black frame and next to it, in an identical frame is one of Amelia with her heavily tattooed friend, the one I met at Starbucks, Colton I think his name is. A group photo at a nightclub sits in a silver frame below the others, and there is a photo of Amelia and a purple, dreadlock haired woman in a white frame next to that. But there's one photo in particular that really catches my attention. It's larger than the others and looks so picturesque against the rest.

I gently slide my arm out from underneath Amelia and roll myself off the bed to get a closer look at it. While pulling on my boxers I approach the bookcase where the frame sits. In this photo Amelia looks a little younger than she is now, of course just as beautiful, but she is stood with a woman who looks to be in her forties as-well as a 10 or 11 year old girl. They all look different but have similarities at the same time. She's laughing, her dark hair falling behind her so her whole face is in view. Her smile is so big that it reaches her eyes and in this photo there is no darkness haunting her features... No anger or pain... She looks calm amongst her laughter and doesn't look jaded at all...

  "So beautiful", I say out loud, running my finger along the edge of the frame.

  Because she really is...

  "That's my Mum and my sister, Ria. It was taken when they lived down here", Amelia says from the bed behind me, tiredness hanging off of every word.

  She must have woken when I moved.

  "Sorry if I woke you", I say quietly while crawling back onto the bed and finding my spot behind her again.

  "You looked so happy then", I whisper to her, mentioning the photo as I pull her into my embrace.

  "Mmm...", she says as she closes her eyes again, letting sleep take over, "I was...".

Laying here with Amelia in my arms feels a lot more comfortable than it probably should after only a week of knowing her. I can't help but have everything inside me hope she feels the same...

I try to read her but every time I get close she builds her wall just that little bit higher. Well except for this morning. She shared with me things she's not shared with anyone else and that gives me a sliver of hope... I know she must trust me... A little at least...

The combination of her body against mine, her smell drowning my senses and the gentle snores escaping her lips is completely intoxicating.

  I know in this very moment this woman will either complete me or completely destroy me or maybe a mixture of the both...