Mercy

Chapter 16

-LIAM'S POV-

My heart ached just looking at the fear on her face. What had she been through because normal girls did not look at me like she did? Carefully, not to scare her anymore than I already had, I wrapped my arms tightly around her and rested my chin on her head. "Oh Doll face, I didn't mean to scare you. I would never put my hands on you like that." I whispered. I could feel her body still trembling in my arms. "Come on, we need to talk." There was something I was missing and I needed to know what it was. There was something about this girl that had managed to hook me and now I had this urge to protect her.

We walked quietly to the parking lot and I opened up the passenger side door for her. She hesitated then slowly climbed in; I shut her door then climbed in the drivers seat. "What happened back there? Did you really think I was going to hurt you?" She didn't look up at me, she rubbed her hands over her thighs slowly before shrugging her shoulders. "Sam, please look I me..." I pleaded, scooting a little closer to her. She slowly lifted her head and let our eyes meet. The usual light that her eyes gave was now dark and sad. "Sam...has someone hurt you? Have they put their hands on you?" I could feel my blood start to boil at the thought of someone hurting her. Man, she had some effect on me and I hadn't even known her that long. I watched as tears poured down her cheeks, her trembling fingers wiping them away quickly. "No...no I am fine." She lied. There was nothing fine about her right now, she looked so vulnerable and sad. Part of me was dying to know who hurt her so I could personally track them down and put a bullet between their eyes but the other half of me just wanted to comfort her.

"Can I...?" I whispered as I leaned in slowly. I waited to see if she would protest, but her big brown eyes just stared at me with overwhelming sadness. My hands gently cupped her cheeks and I placed soft kisses to her damp cheeks. "Ay, no one will ever hurt you again." I promised before pulling her back into my arms.

We sat there in silence until I could feel her trembling stop and the tears were now dried. "Come on...let's get you to the house." She opened her mouth to protest but I just shook my head and pulled out of the parking lot.

We sat in silence for the whole drive. Even if I wanted to talk to her I honestly didn't think she was in the mood for small talk. I rested my hand on her thigh, squeezing it slightly as if to remind her that I was still there. When we finally got to the house I jumped out of the car and rushed over to her door. Carefully, I helped her out of the car and held her close as we made our way inside. "Why don't you take a bath and rest a while?" I suggested, closing the bedroom door behind us. "I don't have clothes with me...and you don't have to do this..." Her voice was soft and sweet. You could hear the sadness still lurking in the background. "Doll face, I'd do anything for you. Trust me." I moved over to my dresser and pulled out some sweats for her and guided her to the bathroom. "Shower or bath?" I asked as I pulled out a large white towel from the cabinet and laid it out of the counter. "Bath." She whispered and I nodded and began to run her a bath. "Do you need anything else?" She shook her head slowly before running over and wrapping her arms around me tightly. "Thank you..." Her voice was muted against my chest. She didn't move, she just stood there clinging to me. I tightly wrapped my arms around her, hugging her to my chest. After a few seconds I pulled away slowly and turned the bath water off. "If you need me just text me. I will be down stairs so you can have some privacy." I gave her a soft smile before exiting the bathroom and closing the door behind me.

The image of her face when I grabbed her wrist was locked into my brain. Did I really frighten her that much or had someone made it easy for someone to scare her? I couldn't shake this feeling that she was hiding a lot. I grabbed a beer and headed out back to see if the guys had starting setting up for movie night.

Trenton was sitting out back with a couple of the other guys. They weren't doing much work unless you consider all the empty beer bottles work. I grabbed myself another beer and flopped down in one of the chairs beside them. "Hey." I sighed, popping open the bottle and taking a big drink. "So man..what happened between you and Brice today?" Trenton asked, leaning back in the chair. "Brice was being a dick. I've had it with him pushing his luck with me. It's been a long time coming and if it wasn't for Sam being there then he probably would have been worse off." Just thinking of him pissed me off. Brice has had a mouth on him for awhile now. Usually he isn't so bold but the way he spoke about Sam today really pushed me over the edge. "Wait...Sam?" Trenton asked, shifting in his seat to look at me. "Yeah?" I asked, I knew what he was thinking but I didn't want to admit it to him. "Dude, what's going on with you two? Are you fucking? Just friends? What?" He continued and I just blankly looked at the sky. To be honest, I didn't have any clue what I was doing with her. She made me feel things that I wasn't sure I could feel.

My relationships with girls had been pretty straight forward. Hell, you couldn't even call them relationships. I was a jerk, they ate it up, we would sleep together and then I would kick them to the curb. I never hooked up with girls I actually liked because it made it so easy to drop them afterwords. I had never wanted to date or be attached to anyone. This lifestyle made my life a lot easier. With Sam though it was the exact opposite. From day one I couldn't get my mind off of her. I wanted to warship every bit of her and protect her from everyone.

Trenton continued to stare at me as I sat there looking straight up at the sky. He didn't say anything but I could sense him. "She's different. Let's just leave it at that, ok?" Without another word I threw back the rest of my beer and headed back inside. When I made it to the bedroom door I gave a warning knock before walking in. She was curled up on my bed in the sweats I had given her. She looked so tiny. Every inch of me wanted to climb in that bed with her, to make love to her, to hold her, but something told me that she wasn't quiet ready for all of that. Instead, I climbed into the bed beside her and wrapped my arms around her. "Hey..how are you feeling now?" My lips brushed against her ear and I could feel her body press up against mine. "Why are you being so nice to me?" She responded as she looked over her shoulder at me.

Those words defiantly took me by surprise, not only because she had asked but because I didn't even know the answer. She was like a puzzle to me. "To be 100% honest...I'm not sure...I just really like being with you." The answer flew from my mouth before it had registered in my head. I could feel her push her body harder against me and I let my arms pull her as tight to me as I could. "I like being with you too." She whispered softly and closed her eyes. I laid there holding her until her breathing had evened out and she was fast asleep. My whole body was so relaxed and having her there made me feel so happy. I hadn't felt this type of happy since I was a kid. Soon I could feel myself slowly drifting off to sleep my my face buried into her neck.