Love Me Anyways

Chapter Eleven

I pull the car Tony left for us into Raya's house. I look over at Raya, her stunning green eyes drift into mine, I'll never get used to these moments with her. Her hand laces itself with mine, it sends chills down my arm.

I almost forgot that my sisters are here right now, I feel a smile spread across my face. "I love you," I gush. Raya squeezes my hand, "I love you too." I don't think I could ever get used to hearing her beautiful voice say those words, or get used to saying them myself.

I study Raya's bruised face for a moment, she's beautiful even with the bruises. I think in my eyes, Raya will always look absolutely stunning.

All the bad thoughts from Tuesday flow into my mind, what would I do if Raya had gotten hurt even worse than she already is? What if they had killed her? I couldn't live without her.

I lay my hand on Raya's cheek, I feel like crying because this is all my fault. "Ray I'm so sorry, this shouldn't have happened to you," I confess. Raya gives me a sad smile, "You shouldn't have had to deal with that every time you went home, all I did was pay a small price to get you out."

I feel my heart melt, I still can't believe she risked her life to save mine. I want nothing more than to just spend the rest of the day cuddled up to Raya, that's probably how we'll spend it.

"We should go inside, your sisters will be happy to see you," Raya changes the subject. I nodded my head in response and get out of the vehicle, Raya and I entered her house.

I'm instantly greeted by my little sister Christa jumping into my arms, I almost fell backwards because of the size difference between us. Christas arms wrap tightly around my neck and her legs wrap around my torso, I believe she is crying.

"Thank you so much," Christa whispers into my ear. I wrap my arms tighter around her, "Don't thank me Chris, thank Raya and Tony."

I hold onto Christa for another moment before setting her down. I study her face, she has a black eye and nothing more. "Who hit you?" I question. Raya has a look of guilt in her eyes, this can't be good. "A kid from day camp, I got into a fight," Chris confesses. I wrap her in a quick hug, "It's okay, I understand." Christa lets a breath of relief escape her lungs.

My older sister Britt appears beside Christa, I wrap her in a tight hug. Britt tenses only for a moment before relaxing into my arms, she may be the oldest but she scares easy. I don't know if she's going to talk to me, she is usually a talker but she hasn't seemed to do a lot of talking in the past year or so.

Out of all my sisters and I'm the one that protects them, I would do literally anything to make sure they are safe. I will go as far to say that I would die for either of them at any given moment.

"I love you guys," I state as Britt pulls away from the hug. "I love you too," Chris gushes. Britt only nods in response, at some point I'm going to have to find help for her.

I jump as a hand lies itself on my shoulder, I jerked my head around to see that it was only Raya. I give her a small smile, I feel bad for being jumpy. "I'm going to go take a nap," She whispers. I slowly nod in response, I'm a little overwhelmed by everyone. Raya walks to her room, I follow behind her.

Raya plops down on her bed, I lay beside her. We stare into each others eyes, her eyes are the most gorgeous eyes that I've ever seen. "Jay, are you okay?" Raya asks.

If I'm going to be honest, I'm not okay at all. I would talk about it but I don't think I want to, I just want Raya. I shake my head in response to her question, I think she already knew the answer before I spoke.

My entire body is sore, and it literally hurts to think at the moment. I just want to feel safe, I mean don't get me wrong, I think I'm safe right now. I just don't know how long it'll last, the feeling of safety.

As if she can read my mind, Raya wraps her arms around my body, I'll forever feel secure with her. She allows my vulnerable side to show itself, but she makes me feel safe when I need it.

I just want to be closer to her, but I don't know if that's even possible. I want to be able to protect her like she has done for me, there is nobody in the entire world that I'd rather be with than her. "I love you Raya," I whisper.

Raya holds me tighter than before, this makes me very tense. "Jayla, I love you more than you could ever imagine," Raya responds, she half yawned when she spoke. I am just realizing now how exhausted I truly am, I can't imagine the exhaustion Raya is experiencing at the moment.

I watch as Rayas eyes grow heavy from pure tiredness, I can feel mine fighting to stay open; I try everything in my power to stay awake, I just want to admire my now sleeping girlfriend. I fail to stay awake and soon doze off into the abyss.