Her Villian

ELEVEN

Amara

The light.

Way too bright.

I squint my eyes open, and I'm immediately greeted by bright sunlight and a headache from hell.

Did I leave my curtains open?

Once my vision focuses, I see that I'm in an unfamiliar bed. I slowly look around the room and to my surprise, I'm not on my own.

What the fuck happen?

I bring my hand up, but I feel a cotton bandage.

Before I can even process that Jackson walks into the room.

"Good, you're awake. How are you feeling?" He asks with a cup of water in his hand. He walks over and hands it to me. I eyed him suspiciously.

"Oh, right." He mumbles as he crouches down beside me. "You probably don't remember much from last night."

I remember being drunk.

I immediately feel my cheeks blush as a wave of embarrassment falls over me. "Did we...?" I ask, fearing the worst.

He eyes me before smirking slightly. "No darling. We did not have sex."

Thank God

Jackson is not ugly...I mean he's actually sort of handsome. No one can deny that. But I'm with Cody. As much of an asshole he is, I'm still a taken woman and won't be unfaithful.

"So, what happen?"

"I was out late; running some errands and heard you scream. When I found you.... there was a guy."

I notice Jacksons jaw tightens as he remembers this part.

"He was trying to assault you, Amara. Thankfully, he was not able to. I jumped in and.... sent him on his way with a black eye. After that, I brought you here. You hit your head, so I bandaged it up. You passed out shortly after. I slept in the guest room."

I take in his words as he looks at me with soft eyes but I can still see a hint of fury in them. I am not even sure what to think. I start to remember pieces of before all that. Getting to the club. Drinking way too much. Going to the bathroom. A guy grinding up on me. Me saying no. Him grabbing me. Me calling for Amanda.

I said no.

I didn't even notice a tear had slipped out until I felt Jackson's finger lightly brush the salty liquid away from my cheek.

"Do you want me to give you some space?" he asks in a whisper.

I slightly shake my head. "I don't want to be alone." I say as I bring my knees up to my chest.

Jackson saved me.

I look up to him and quickly wrap my arms around his neck. "Thank you, Jackson." I say into his ear. He slowly hugged me back.

I pulled away and looked at him. "You are a good person. There are not many people left like you. I could have had an awful fate last night. But you stopped that. I will forever be grateful."

He stares at me intensely. As if he has never been thanked before. I tilted my head and then stood up; he follows my motion so that we are both standing. I have to look up a little. But we are mere inches from each other.

I laugh nervously as I step to the side of him.

"Uhm, I should go. Thank you again."

"Do you need me to drive you?" he asks, turning to face my direction as I walk towards the door.

"Nope, I can uber, you've already done so much. Just need you to show me to the door."

He nods. "Of course."

He walks me to the door, and as I call up an Uber Jackson refuses to leave me waiting for it alone outside. Once it arrives I slide in and stare out the window, trying to make sense of anything that has happened.

Once the Uber pulls up to Codys, I thank him and walk up to the door.

A few knocks later he opens up. "Mara, hey." He says.

"Hi. Can I come in?" I ask and he nods.

Once I'm inside he closes the door and turns to me. "So, what's up?"

I raise an eyebrow. "What's up? What's up is that you blew me off!"

He sighs and rolls his eyes. "I'm sorry alright? I had something important come up."

I scoff. "Yeah, it's always something important. Am I even a priority to you? Is this relationship a priority?"

He looks as if I have offended him. "of course, it is." He whispers. He walks up to me and brings his hand up to my head and gently strokes the bandage. "What happens love?"

I look down and take a deep breath. "I went out last night. Hit my head is all." I mumble.

I do not want to give him another reason to be upset. Or even worried. I am not sure how I am processing everything yet. So, I decide to keep most things about last night to myself.

He furrows his brows. "You went out? Like drinking?" He asks.

"Yeah, Cody. I did. You blew me off. What was I supposed to do? Sit at the house and mope around waiting for when I was important enough for you to answer me?"

He shakes his head. "Mara, you are so important to me." Tears well in his eyes. "It's just. I have so much on my mind, on my plate right now. I am so stressed and I... I am not doing a good job of managing everything. And you are the one thing in my life that feels normal. I just want things to stay that way. But I'm going to be honest Mara. I don't know what I'm doing. I feel horrible and I am so so sorry..."

I look at him and instantly feel bad. He seems broken. Empty inside. I sigh and wrap my arms around him. "Its okay." I whispered in his ear.

"I forgive you."