Uncompromising (Age Gap, gxg)

Chapter 49

My heart was beating a mile a minute as I opened up the front door to see Zee marching towards me with her big duffel bag over her shoulder. She stopped in shock, then she rushed forward and almost tackled me into the house. "Demi. Fuck, Demi, I'm so happy to see you." She was already sobbing, and I just spun her around a little to get her out of the doorway so I could close and lock the door with one hand while keeping her in place with the other.

"I'm happy to see you too," I admitted softly. "I was worried about you driving all night."

I felt her hum softly, her mouth dangerously close to my neck as she kept holding me. "This made it worth it. I know I fucked up, but I really want to talk to you about everything. I need to explain it all, please?"

"We'll talk after we get some sleep. I promise I'll give you a chance to tell me what is going on, okay? But you've been on the road all day, and you need rest."

"No! No, no, no. Please let me tell you now. There is no way I'll be able to sleep if I can't tell you everything. I need you to understand. I have to get it off my chest, and then I'll be able to rest."

She knew I wouldn't say no to her. How could I? She'd driven all day and night to get here, and I understood that this meant a lot to her. It didn't mean that we'd be together, but it might help heal some of the hurt. "Fine. Let's go down to your room, and you can tell me there."

"Thanks, Demi. I owe you again." I followed her down to the basement, and into her room where she dropped the duffel in front of the dresser. Hopefully she'd be able to unpack and stay here for a while and not need that duffel again any time soon. "It would be wrong for us to talk while I shower, huh?" she flashed me a nervous grin, but I had a feeling that she was probably dying for a shower after being on the motorcycle for so many hours.

Fuck it. "Yeah, go ahead. You shower and I'll just stand outside and talk."

Her mouth dropped open in shock. "Seriously? You're going to watch me?"

Was I about to make a stupid mistake? I could control myself, right? Obviously, it wasn't anything I hadn't seen before, and maybe it was better to see her with a wall of glass between us rather than sitting on her bed only inches from one another. Naked. Touching. Slippery, soapy skin. Yep, this was stupid. "Yeah, I can handle it if you can." Where the fuck did that come from? Thanks, mouth!

To her credit though, Zee didn't do anything to tease me. Well, not more than seeing her in the shower was going to be teasing already, but I'd done that to myself. She just turned on the water, and then stripped while waiting for it to warm up. I couldn't help but notice that she was trembling, though if it was from the nerves, the cool air, or exhaustion, I wasn't sure. She also looked thinner too, just like Hollie had mentioned, and I assumed that she wasn't eating much either. It might not be the best way for us to have this talk, but we certainly needed it. We were both a mess. I watched her step in the shower, her little Cuban flag tattoo waving at me from her ass cheek, and grinned to myself. I missed that flag. The water was steaming, and fogging up the glass, which was a good thing as I could only see a dim outline of her in there as she stood under the spray with a relieved sigh.

"This feels good," she said in a low voice. "You're welcome to join me if you like."

I actually took half a step towards the shower before I forcibly yanked myself back. No! "You just relax, and we can start talking any time you like."

I could see the shadow of her head nodding, but she stayed quiet for a few minutes while gathering her courage. "When I told you about my life after I got kicked out by my parents, I left some things out. Things I didn't want to think about again. I didn't want you to think any less of me, and I should have been more open since I really wanted to make things work with you. Once I got off the streets back home, I was able to live with a couple of friends and their families for maybe a year. But they weren't exactly rich, and after that their parents couldn't afford to feed another mouth, so I had to find a new place. I got the brass knuckles when I was on the streets, because it wasn't fun sleeping with one eye open, and I didn't want to risk it again. One of the girls on the volleyball team that I used to play on said I could stay with her, but I'd have to be her girlfriend if I did. At the time, I didn't have much of a choice if I didn't want to be back to sleeping outside on park benches and under overpasses, so I went with it. For the next four years, I bounced from girl to girl, being their girlfriend and staying with them until things got too toxic. They would tell their parents that we were dating and in love, but really, I was just their toy. Every one of them knew I would give it up to them because I had nowhere else to go but the streets. After a while I would get desperate to escape their crap and go back to the streets anyway, especially when the weather wasn't too hot, until I found a better place. At school, I got a reputation as a player because I was with so many girls, which is what Raquel had obviously heard, when really, I was the one being taken advantage of. If my friends could have kept me at their place longer, none of that would have ever happened. But they did their best, and I finally made it out of there."