Tamed

Chapter Thirteen: No Excuses

Oliver

(Present Day)

My face hurts. It's probably because I passed out on the bedroom floor in the guest house last night, but I'm not willing to open my eyes yet. The room spun last time I did.

The pounding in my head is amplified by a door slamming and I flinch. With a groan, I attempt to push myself up from the floor, but my hand is stuck somewhere. I peek one eye open and sputter a laugh when I see the reason. It's resting comfortably in a pizza box next to the bed. I forgot about my late night snack.

I pull my hand out and curl back into the fetal position, draping my arm over my eyes. Whoever is coming for me will more than likely open the blinds and I'm not ready for light of any kind.

Heels click loudly on the hardwood floors in the hallway and I brace myself for what's about to come.

"Ollie?"

Elliot's voice is laced with concern, but it fills me with relief. Thank God it's her. She won't yell at me. She loves me too much.

The clicking ends and then I hear her gasp. "Oh my God, Oliver. This has got to stop."

I squint up when she steps over me and walks directly to the fucking window, shoving the curtains back and allowing painful rays to sear into my retinas. I cringe away, reaching for a blanket and pulling it around me as I sit up.

"Jesus, Elliot. Could you give me a minute to adjust? Fuck."

She stands above me with her hands planted on her hips. Her current attire is more formal than usual and it confuses me. Was I supposed to be somewhere?

"You missed church."

Oh, yeah. I laugh. "I think I'm beyond saving at this point."

"What's going on with you? I've never seen you like this."

I shrug and she eyes the pizza box on the floor next to the bed with disgust. "Seriously, Ollie. What can I do?"

While I admire her concern for me, I doubt she can help. No one can. The girl that I love is fifty feet away from me and it doesn't matter what I do, she's going to leave. My current plan is to drink myself stupid until I can forget that she ever existed. To be honest, it didn't work last time I tried, but I'm willing to give it another shot.

Elliot kicks a T-shirt out of the way and sits down on the floor beside me. She smoothes out her skirt and crosses her legs with an exaggerated sigh. We stay silent for a moment, resting back against the bedframe. When she turns to me, her eyes are weary.

"I don't know what to do," she says in a small voice. "You're the one who helps me. I'm not used to seeing you this way."

The pain she feels for me makes it worse. I don't want Elliot to worry. This isn't the first time I've felt this way, but it is the first time I've allowed it to hit me this hard.

I ruffle my hair with my hand and sigh. "I'm sorry, okay? I wish I could explain it to you better, but I really don't want to talk about it."

"It's about Charlie though, right? She's the girl you loved."

My throat closes up when she mentions her name so I just nod.

"Does she know that?"

I shake my head. There's no point in defending why she doesn't. It doesn't even make sense to me.