At last | Editing

Chapter 13

I don't like lying to him but I'm afraid that he'll run off if he knew the truth. I didn't want to lose him when I didn't have him...yet. So, I lied some more.
"I overheard a conversation that he was having with his girlfriend, he thought I was sleep but I wasn't. She didn't agree with the fact that he was constantly lying to me just to keep me away from the real world." I fight back my tears.

"He believed that he was doing it for my own good, protecting me from the pain that this world has to offer." my eyes were dilated as they started to water.

"So, I tried not to let it be known that I knew but I couldn't do that. I couldn't stand to be around him or even look at him for more than a second. So, I started to do change....doing that he doesn't tolerate."

"Things like what?" Amarillo asks concerned.

Tears started to run down my cheeks.

"I started skipping school. Smoking weed. Drinking. Popping pills. Having friends who were a bad influence on me. I started talking to a boy that my father didn't approve of at all."

These things I actually did do. I was telling a truth and a lie.

"That boy who was all on your bumper the other day?" Amarillo interrupts.

"Yes. Christian."

{clears throat } "Did you love him?" Amarillo purses his lips up.

I shake my head no as I bite down on my bottom lip. "No, I didn't. At first, it was all a game. A joke. Just to piss my father off." I sniffle. "I never anticipated falling in love with him."

Amarillo eyes are glued to Naomi's face. He never takes his eyes off her as she speaks.

"My father found out about us a year later and he was heated, but so was at him. He gave me an ultimatum to either stop seeing him or get out. I chose him over family and I was living with him and his family. At first, it was good living with him we were happy, but then everything my father was saying was true." I started to cry again.

Amarillo grabs Naomi's hand. Naomi turns to gaze in his eyes.

He leans in closer and says "It's okay. I got you." I smile from ear to ear.

"You don't have to fin-"

"No.  I have to!" I correct him. "I've been holding these feelings in for forever and if I don't let them out now I'm going to explode!"

"Okay. But I'm right here and I'm not letting your hand go."

I smirk. "I like that."

He smiles.

"He kicked my ass multiple times for "not doing as I'm told".  I screamed and cried out for someone to help me, but nobody ever came,
not even his mother who was also scared of him." I say.

"How are you going to be scared of somebody that you birth? I don't get it." I say tearfully.

Tears run down Amarillo's cheeks as he just continues to listen.

"One time he beat me so bad that I fell into a coma. I had to get a metal plate in my eye. I had a few broken ribs. I lost a lot of blood in my head due to...due to an ugh... ugh... Blunt force trauma to my head. I was left to drown in my own pool of blood. I was hooked to breathing tubes for a month and then I escape to come here with a new name and everything."

"What was your name before it was Naomi?"

I sigh deeply.

"My name was Charisma Michaels, Michaels was my father's last name."

Amarillo sniffles. Wipes he tears away. He sits up to look me in my eyes and say "I'm sorry that you had to go through that alone. I wish I met you months ago to prevent all of this. I'm sorry I haven't come into your life sooner."

I grab his hand.

"No. No. No. It's not your fault. God removes useless people from your life to make space for people who are meant to be in your life at his own time for a reason. And you are that person Amarillo."

Amarillo smiles from ear to ear. He grabs my hand and brings it up to his mouth to kiss it.  He never let go of my hand as he sits there and stares into my eyes. Oh my gosh, he has me blushing right now.

I really like him a lot. He's more genuine than he comes off to be. I wanted him to ask on a second date but I couldn't allow it because I knew it wasn't safe.

My smile faded as I released my hand from his touch.

"What's wrong Naomi?" he asked concerns.

"We can't do this it's not safe."

"What are you talking about?"

"Christian found me. He knows that we are into each other. He will kill you. He will kill us both and I can' allow that. I can't!" I cry.

Amarillo chuckles.

"Listen, I am not worried about that punk."

"But I am." I say tearfully.

"And you shouldn't be either." he says.

He takes his hand and wipes the tear away from my cheek.

"I got you. I'm not going to let your past be the story of your future I won't." he assures.

I shake my head no.

"No. You don't know him as I do. He is crazy. If he wants to get to you he will! He doesn't care about how many bodies he has to drop to fulfill his goal."

"Then let him come."

I growl.

"You just don't get it."

"NO! You don't get it." he says. "Everybody you come in contact with isn't like him. I am not going to hurt you! How many times will I have to tell you that for you to get that through your head that I care about you and won't let anything happen to you!"

"He said the exact same thing! So, what makes you different from him?" I snapped.

He gets up and walks out and I follow. We didn't even eat our food hopefully they eat the food they cooked for us.

The car ride home was so awkward and silently. Ugh.  I'm just so ready for this night to be over.