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Chapter 24

Once we got up to Eric's room he went to the bathroom leaving me alone.

I slip the jogging bottoms off but keep on the boxers and the shirt. It's not very revealing though so I can easily get away with it.

When Eric walks out of the bathroom he's only wearing a set of boxers. I can't help but check him out taking in every defined muscle and tattoo on his body.

"Err.. I usually just sleep in boxers.. sorry"

"Trust me I'm not complaining" I think

"Really now muppet?"

Shit. Shit. Shit. I said that out loud. I feel the blush spread across my cheeks. Suddenly Eric's face grows serious.

"Well you know my secret now" he looks down.

"What do you mean?"

"Come" Eric gestures for me to move towards him.

He sits on his bed leaning against the headboard. I move towards him crawling up the bed so that I'm sat between his legs with my back leaning on his chest. Our hands interlock in front of me as Eric rests his head on top of mine. I can tell that he's struggling.

"Xavier. He... he's one of the reasons I went to prison"

Eric pauses and inhales a deep breathe. I squeeze his hand giving him the reassurance he needs.

"When Xavier was little he got really ill. He had meningitis really badly and he wasn't getting better. The doctors said that he needed to have his legs amputated to save him"

"The surgery was so expensive and we had nothing left to sell to pay for his treatment so doing so would have put us in serious debt"

"Xavier was allowed to come home from the hospital for a few days on special request. While at he was home the man we should call father came home drunk. He said that in the last they would get rid of the runt and that's what he was going to do"

"My mother tried to stop him but he beat her senseless. When he got up to Xavier's and my room he stood there and tried to kill Xavier in front of me. I couldn't let him hurt Xavier. I... I grabbed the closet thing to me and I hit him. I can't remember what it was now I only remember the blood"

"I didn't kill him but I was charged with grievous bodily harm. I... I just couldn't let him hurt Xavier"

I could feel how tense he had gone just talking about it. His memories seemed to float around the room.

" Jason's mum just happens to be one of the best lawyers in the area. I was friends with Jason even then. She helped me only get a few months in prison and then lent my mum the money for Xavier's treatment"

I turned around to face him making him close his legs so I could straddle his lap. His eyes filled with misery and sorrow at the painful memories.

"Eric you did what anyone would do. I don't think any less of you for what you did. If anything I'm proud of you" I smile

"I... I'm going to trust you with something now" I take a deep breathe "I'm going to tell you how I lost my leg"

"Muppet you've already told me how it happened about the fire"

"Yeah..." I run the back of my neck "I may have left out some details"

Eric looks at me intently. I take a few deep breathes to calm myself. I hate reliving it. It haunted my nightmares until I started sleeping with Eric.

"My dad... well biologically at least. He was an evil man"

Deep breathes Tavi. Deep breathes. I think.

"He enjoyed beating us all. No one was safe he would beat my mother until she couldn't take it anymore or either Zekie or I would step in. Then he'd move on and beat us. Sometimes beating us all black and blue before he tired"

"One day we finally convinced my mum to leave him. Just as we were packing are stuff up to leave he returned home early"

I felt the tears start to slip down my face. Eric pulled me into his chest as I continues the story.

"The last thing I remember is being smacked round the back of the head. When I woke up I was sat in the car with Zekie but our mum was missing. When we looked out the window we saw him standing outside a barn that was on fire just starring at it with this sick smile across his face"

"Zekie was the first one out of the car quickly followed by me. As Zekie got closer my father turned around and smacked him across the face with an iron bar he was holding. It knocked him unconscious and destroyed his cornea which is why he has the eye patch. It destroyed his eye"

"I had seen the blow so when I got close I removed the bar from his hand and knocked him unconscious. I ran straight into the barn needing to find my mum. He tied he right in the middle of the barn and set it on fire from the outside in so she would have to wait in fear"

"Thankfully the fire hasn't got to her yet so I managed to get her out... or so I thought. As we were about to exit the barn I heard cracking so I threw her out the door just as a beam snapped and landed on my leg"

"Id like to say I was brace but I wasn't. I screamed. I screamed so much I couldn't speak for weeks afterwards"

"When I woke up in hospital my leg was gone. Mum was different and Zekie was all I really had left"

I clutched to Eric desperately. The tears freely falling down my face as I relived one of my worst memories.

"Oh muppet" he lifted my head so that I was looking him directly in the eye.

"You are safe with me muppet. No one will ever hurt you again. I will die before I see it happen"

I can't help but smile at the sincerity in his eyes. Eric places a scorching kiss to my lips reaffirming everything he's just told me.

"I love you Eric"

I start to fall into a deep sleep on Eric's chest. Happy that everything from my past is now out in the open. Just before I let oblivion take over I hear Eric whisper.

"I love you too muppet. More than life itself"