Turn Away | c.h

Chapter 13 - When Everything Was New

Continuation of chapter 12❤️

"Where do you keep bandaids?" Calum asked, his hands grazing my hips as I began to move towards my bed. I looked up at him, noticing the way his features glowed under the light of the lamp. He looked so beautiful in this light.

"The bathroom- third drawer down from the left."

He nodded, eyebrows furrowed as he made his way to the door. I watched as he left, feeling my body relax without his presence here- it's not that I feared having him close (rather, the complete opposite), I'd just been looking for and escape that entire situation.

I just couldn't put into words, how thankful I was for Calum. The way he didn't disregard all my insecurities, the way he listened to how I felt and didn't make me feel completely uncomfortable. God, I truly adored this man far too much than i normally should.

I just hope he feels the same.

Calum returned to me with a the green box which held the first aid equipment. He sat beside me on the bed, placing the box beside him. He patted his thighs, gesturing for me to move my legs over him. I did as requested, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and moving closer to him, so that my knees rested over his thighs. Calum gently rolled up the bottom of my pyjama pants, making sure to keep the fabric off my freshly grazed skin.

He carefully pushed the fabric up, letting it rest bunched up, around my thighs. Calum tensed as he looked down at my bloody knees, the blood still slowly seeping out from the grazes. I watched him closely, as his jaw clenched and unclenched, the muscle flickering repeatably.

"Cal, you don't have to do this, I know how you feel about blood."

"It's fine." He said, shaking his head as he continued to grab the cotton pad and the betadine.

"Are you sure..?" I quietly asked, feeling bad for allowing him to do this. He nodded, looking up at me. I noticed his eyes had changed colour slightly, his usual brown eyes were slightly lighter, almost glowing under the light of my lamp. Our eyes lingered for a few more seconds, before he broke eye contact.

I didn't protest as he looked back down at my knees, lowering the cotton pad onto my graze. He gently wiped the spot, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he carefully handled me.

"Calum, can I ask you something?" I said, my voice coming out quieter than expected. Calum glanced up at me, obviously noticing the concern I'd suddenly grown.

"Yeah... Is everything okay?" He asked, gently wiping away the blood from my knee, wiping it clean from my skin. I softly nodded, running a hand through my hair and letting it fall down my shoulders.

The thought had been bugging me all day; particularly tonight. So many unexplainable events had happened in the past 24 hours, and I hated not having any explanation whatsoever. The scene vividly unravelled in my mind once again as I remembered the way the mans grip on my ankles was so forceful, he pulled me to the ground effortlessly. The way his teeth extended a few more centimetres- what got me was how crazy his stare was, and how feverishly he looked at me. I couldn't shake the memory from my body.

"Stella?" Calum softly said, his fingers skimming up to my lower thigh. I looked up at him again, watching as he moved my legs down after applying the bandaid and moving my pyjama pants back down my legs. He moved beside me, tugging the blanket over our legs as I shifted closer to him.