Cherry

Chapter 23

Cherry

"I really am sorry for all of this," I tell Ethan as I soak a washrag in warm water. While I face the mirror, I look at his reflection and stare at the pain I've caused. His cheek is inflamed, and the dry blood on his face adds a sad color to his skin. I'm glad it isn't worse; like him having a black eye or fallen teeth from his mouth. If it was much worse than it is now, I don't know how I'd react.

"Cherry, it isn't your fault," he explains as he looks into my eyes through the mirror.

Once the rag is soaked enough, I shut the water off and turn around to face him. "Come here," I tell him.

He steps closer to me, only leaving the tiniest bit of space between us. "This might hurt a bit," I say as I raise the rag to his face.

"Hit me," he slightly smiles. I don't know how even after getting punched in the face by his best friend he can still make a smile appear on his face. That's just how Ethan is.

Whenever the warm rag meets his cheek, he winces a little and pinches his eyes shut. "I'm sorry," I grimace, not wanting him to endure any more pain than he already has.

"It's fine," he says through his teeth.

I rub his face as delicately as I can, making sure to not apply too much pressure. There's a lot of blood, mainly on the corner of his mouth and some on the side of his face. However, the more I clean, the more the blood slowly disappears.

"I think I got it all," I tell him as I turn around and place the rag in the sink. Whenever I look into the mirror for a split second, I find a bloodless Ethan's eyes planted on me. How long has he been looking at me?

I turn back around and place my back against the hardness of the sink. While facing him, my eyes go back and forth from his pupils to the bathroom's wall, because the eye contact is making me nervous for some odd reason, like I wasn't just begging him to have sex with me before he left this morning. I don't know if it's because he's so close to me, or because he's looking deep into me. Ethan Wright just makes me nervous, and it doesn't help whenever his eyes cut through me.

I watch as his eyes leave mine finally and into the mirror, analyzing each part of his face, searching for any leftover blood.

Ethan then places both of his hands on each side of my hips, and closest the tiny gap that was once between us. With my back resting against the sink, he looks down at me, once again, and says, "Thank you, my love."

My love. "Of course," I tell him, my eyes switching their focus from his eyes to his soft lips.

It's like there's constantly a magnetic pull following us around, as our bodies guide each other closer once again. As we lean into one another, with our lips now almost connected, he whispers, "Are you still up for that offer we agreed on before I left?" making goosebumps appear all throughout my body.

"I want to," I tell him quietly as I sit on top of the bathroom counter, allowing me to wrap my legs around his waist. I rest my arms atop his shoulders and pull him in even closer than before. "But, Cora's home now. She's in her room and she'll be able to hear us."

Ethan rests his forehead against mine and places his hand on my thigh. He whispers, "I guess you'll just have to be quiet, baby. Can you do that for me?"

I hesitate at first, but find myself nodding my head up and down, not risking talking in case Cora can by some chance hear. I feel flames rush to my center as Ethan squeezes my thigh and says, "Let's test it out and see if you can handle it."

He raises my oversized shirt up over my thighs slowly, revealing only my underwear. He grabs ahold of each side, pulls it down over my thighs and down my legs, then throws them off me with ease. With one hand softly grazing my skin and making its way between my legs, and the other on my waist, his fingers collide with my center in a slow, circular motion.