Playing Princess

17. Ponder my existence

Conner's pov

We walk down to the coffee shop in town. I went here every single day for a while, it was my favourite place and still is. They sell the best donuts here. I could eat 1000 of them. 

Mateo opens up the door for me and as soon as he does the little bell on top of the door goes off. 

I walk in and Mateo follows behind me. The smell of fresh baked goods fill my nose. 

We find an empty table and sit down. Not long afterwards, the waiter comes over. 

"What can I get you guys today" She smiles as she pulls out her little notebook and pen. 

"I will take 2 of your donuts and a coffee with extra sugar please" I tell her and she writes it down. Then she turns to Mateo. 

"Ill just get a regular coffee" He tell her and she writes it down before walking away. 

"One of those donuts better be for me" He smirks, running his hand through his light brown hair. "Fudge no" I tell him and his mouth drops a bit. "Rude" He mumbles. 

The waiter comes back and sets down all the things. 

As soon as she leaves I dig into one of the donuts. Mateo just takes a sip of his coffee and looks at me like I have 3 heads. Which I kind of wish I did, I could even more donuts. 

I'm gonna have to talk to my doctor about that and see if it's possible. 

I take the last bite of the first donut and before I can grab the other one, Mateo snatches it off the plate.

"You did not just do that" I utter with my mouth still full of the donut. He takes a bite of his while keeping eye contact with me. 

"Butthole" He kick his leg under the table gently. He just chuckles and continues to eat my donut. 

I finish my coffee and so does he. 

I leave a tip for the waiter since she was nice and we make our way to the front desk to pay. 

Before I can even pull out some money, Mateo hands them his credit card. I give him a quick glare but his attention is on paying. 

The bell above the door rings as we turn around to head home. 

My heart drops when I see who it is.

Liam. 

My ex. My abusive ex to be exact. 

I swallow hard when we lock eyes. He smirks when he recognises me. 

"Conner, it's good to see you" He smiles, walking close to me. I take a couple of steps back, away from him, and accidentally bump into Mateo. 

All the memories of his fists pounding my face into the floor flood my mind. His belt hitting my back, his knee hitting nose. Everything. 

My eyes become blurred from tears and one of Mateo's hand come up to my hip. 

"How are you Conner. I miss you a lot" He gives me a 'nice' smile. I know that smile all to well, that's the smile that drove me back to him each time I finally got away. That's the smile that led me to have scars on my body from him. 

I snap out of my trance and go to walk beside him and out the door but he grabs my arm, pulling me back. I lock eyes with him and I see that mean look in his eyes. It quickly goes away once he realises what he is doing. 

He gently lets go off my arm and bolt out the door. Tears start flooding down my cheeks. 

I hear the door open and close behind me and some footsteps following me. 

"Conner" Mateo calls after me. 

He catches up to me and steps in front of me so I stop walking. He doesn't say anything and just pulls me into his chest. I start to sob into him. 

I wrap my arms around him tightly, not letting him go. He wraps his arms around me in return. 

We stand there for quiet awhile before he takes his hand and puts it on my chin, making me look at him. 

"I will never let that man hurt you. You are safe with me, I promise" He says before placing a soft kiss on my lips. When we pulls away his hand comes up to rest on the side of my face and his thumb rubs away the tears under my eyes. 

"How do you know that he was my ex" I question him softly. "I could tell by the way you acted. You don't act that way around somebody for no reason" He replies softly. 

"Lets go home" He almost whispers and I nod in return. He takes my hand and starts leading me back home. I cling to him the entire time. 

I don't dare let go.