Ace Huxley's Daughter

38

"Let me grab you some dry clothes Pop. Don't move."

"Are you kidding? You need it more than me." She shook her hands out of my jacket, hanging it over my door. The dress clung to her, practically see through. Her tattoos were still there, thank god. "Sonny, you're turning blue." I dug out one of my hoodies, holding it out to her.

"Change. I'm going to get towels." I left the room, going to the airing cupboard and returning wrapped in one and another in my hand. "Coming back in Pops."

"Oh, come on Sonny. We slept naked for 5 weeks."

"Yeah well. It's just polite. What did I tell you about consent?" She huffed.

"Come in Emerson." She was in fact dressed when I came back in, my hoodie coming well over her knees. "I texted my mum. That I'm at my dad's. So uh, if anyone asks. That's where I am."

"Bed." I nodded my head back at the bed in the corner, grabbing my own pyjama pants and pulling them on, drying my hair quickly before I jumped in beside her. I pulled all of the blankets up around us, wrapping our bodies together just to keep her warm. "You're shivering."

"You're like an ice block." I chuckled, moving her wet hair off her face. "Don't you dare pass out on me."

"Why not? I think giving you a panic attack might make up for your dad pinning me against a wall."

"He what?"

"He thought I'd hurt you Pops. Before I even knew you were gone. He was banging on the door. I was talking to you. I was against the wall and I didn't even know what was wrong. He told me you were in London and I actually laughed and told him you were in bed. Zeb and Hannah stopped him murdering me on the spot." She swallowed, looking away. "I'm just happy you're okay Pops. When we've warmed up, I can drive you-"

"I don't think so."

"What?"

"Only way I'm leaving this bed tonight is if you're kicking me out." I raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay, here we go. Sonny. I'm really sorry. Beyond sorry. I messed up. I was, am, terrified of a lot more than I think I was letting myself even know about. Those 5 weeks with you were the best of my life and the past 3 have been the worst and I hate that I know I hurt you. I can see it in your face and I wouldn't put it past you to hate me beyond-"

"Hate you?"

"Can you let me-"

"You think I ha-" I smiled, cupping her cheeks with both hands. "Callie. I don't know if you realized babe. But I saw you arguing with another guy in the pissing down rain. If I hated you, I could have walked away. I could have caused drama. Is that what I did?"

"No."

"No. I made sure you were dry. I stopped him speaking to you like shit on the bottom of his shoe. I nearly knocked the guy out. I then brought you home, put you in my hoodie, wrapped myself around you in my bed and I'm having to fight back every urge in my body to kiss you right now. If this is what hate is, then I've had my knowledge mixed up and I am actually head over heels in love with Conrad and Blake and whatever the guy who hurt you was before." She tried to look away and I tugged on her face until she looked back at me. "Don't run when you're scared of something like this with me Pops. I don't expect you to feel the same. I know it was early. I knew for weeks but couldn't tell you because I knew that was too soon. Paris just felt right to me. I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable."

"You didn't."

"Then why did you run? You said you were happy."

"I was."

"I'm sorry, it's not making sense Pops." She sighed.

"Every time I've known happiness Sonny, it's gone. Before I can properly embrace it, it's gone. I guess I was worried something was going to fuck it up and I had a week to make a decision about everything else too. I guess I was panicking about making the wrong choice and disappointing another person. I know what to expect with guys like Conrad. I know they want marriage first, kids second, love last. But then you keep throwing these curveballs that knock me off centre and I don't know what's coming next and whilst we were away that was so exciting. When I know none of it really matters. You saying that you loved me made me think about what happens next and when we got back here and uni and then dealing with my mum and the proposal and it was just so unpredictable and unpredictable scares me."

"You don't seem scared right now."

"What?"

"You went out with him tonight. I don't think you walking through London in the rain, bumping into me, him getting a punch to the face and coming back here was what you were expecting to happen. Was it?"

"No."

"But you're not scared."

"Well no. It's you." I ran my thumb over her cheek bone, waiting for it to kick in. She's never been scared of me. Not for even a second. Everything I know about Olive Huxley tells me that I am not how she is with everyone else. "I've never been scared of you."

"So why did you leave?" She stared into my eyes. The colour slowly returning to her cheeks, turning them a shade of pink from the cold. We sat in the silence, looking into each other's eyes as she figured it out. She needed to do this. She had to work out why she really ran. Because it wasn't fear.

"Because I love you too." Of course, you do Pop. I know you love me. I knew it the second you ran. I knew why you ran. I knew why you didn't give me an explanation. Her hands grabbed for mine as the realization shot across her pale face. "I'm sorry Sonny. I love you. Please don't be mad." I rolled my eyes at her, gently laying her onto her back, holding my lips so close I could smell her lip gloss. Peach and Mango. Always the same Peach and Mango.

"You have driven me insane from the second you stepped into that stadium. You're my girl. I told you that. You know that. I've loved you from the moment you called me Bubbles. Everything since me telling you is unimportant. I love you. You love me. Nothing else matters. Got it?"

"Got it." She nodded quickly. "Kiss me Sonny. Please."

"I'm going to do a fuck tonne more than kiss you Pops. But I want to know-" I took her lip between my teeth, pulling until her hips shifted in the bed, a whimper leaving her lips. "Are we being a little brat tonight or are we going to be good and do as we're told?"

"Good. I'm going to be so fucking good. I promise." I kissed her, hard and deep until I could feel her brain quaking, the moans she was trying hard to not let out fading into thin air. I pulled back, immediately making my way to her ear.

"That's my good girl."