Turn Away | c.h

Chapter 57 - Sweet Creature*

literally so jealous of this dog ^ lol. actually strangle me

ALSO SMUT

Stella shut the large doors behind us, slowly walking after me as I moved to the kitchen. She tugged her jumper off, placing it on the couch without breaking her gaze on me.

I stopped by the island bench, leaning my palms against the bench as I stared out the window. A calm sense of anger still surrounded my body but I tried to hold it in. I kept having to remind myself that this wasn't Stella's fault- she had no choice in the imprinting.

She didn't chose her soul to belong to Michael.

"Here," she sweetly said, breaking the long awaited silence. "Let me help you."

I turned my head slightly, glancing at her. Stella looked partly broken, her blue eyes searching mine for a sense of security. But I offered her nothing.

"I'm fine." I mumbled back, returning my gaze back to the window. She persistently touched me. No matter how hard I tried to fight it, her touch successfully calmed me down. I felt reassured by her hands and it irritated me to my core. She truly had me wrapped around her little finger.

"You're not, let me help you, Cal."

I defeatedly turned around, looking away from her. Stella moved in front of me, standing on her tippy toes to inspect the cuts that covered my face.

"Usually you'd be healed by now." She observed, running her fingertips across the marks. I nodded in response, knowing that my healing time was slowing down significantly. And it caned me to think she was the reason why.

I watched as she struggled to reach my face, swaying slightly as Stella tried her hardest to appear taller. Her tongue slightly poked out from the side of her mouth, hands tilting my head down. I couldn't help the smile that formed on my lips- she was so absentmindedly adorable in everything she did.

Stella looked down at me, softly smiling in return.

"What?" She hummed.

"You're just incredibly short." I quietly mumbled back, trying to fight the smile off. She let out a small laugh, placing her hands on my cheeks and looking me in the eyes. Her smile slowly faded as she saw the state I was in, blue eyes drowning in guilt. All the happiness I just felt subdued and I was back to my stone cold self. I couldn't even look her in the eyes.

"Calum, what happened?" She asked, running her thumb across my cheek. I shook my head, pulling away from her touch. Stella watched as I moved away from her, walking to the other side of the bench.

"You need to rest, Stella. We're leaving first thing in the morning-"

"Calum," she interrupted, her voice slightly sterner than before. "What happened?"

I let out a sigh, running my hand across my head, scratching at the back of my neck. I didn't even know where to begin; what would I say first? How do I even explain to her the depth of this entire situation. Stella wouldn't be able to process it completely for a few days- I knew her more than anyone else. She would want to hide from me until she was ready, and we couldn't afford to be apart right now.

"I'll explain it to you tomorrow."

"No, I want to know now." She said, staring at me pleadingly.

"I don't want to talk about it-"

"Well you have to. You told me no more secrets."

I stared at her before gently shaking my head, straightening out my back as I broke the eye contact. Stella walked over to me, gently holding onto my shirt as I tried to pull away.