Hell's Smitten (Gordon Ramsay x Reader)

Chapter 67- Crash

Saturday, July 13th, 2013

I jerk my head up from the warm glass surface of the window it had been resting against. The glow of the afternoon sun streams through the window of the brand-new Jeep Wrangler, outlining Mom and Dad's bodies in a ghostly silhouette. They sit at the front, their hands held together on the console.

The back seat has a few wrapped gifts scattered about. A red balloon bops the side of my head as I relax in the back seat. I push it away with a wave of my hand.

Mom sings along to the radio while the sun highlights the side of her face in radiant gold. She looks like an angel.

Dad looks over and beams. He's always telling everyone how perfect his wife is, and it's times like these that I see exactly what he means. They're perfect for each other.

The balloon hits me in the face again and I swat it away, giving it an angry glare. It's then that I notice a flicker of flames through the red tint of the balloon. I rip the balloon to the side and my breath catches in my throat. A slick oil fire on the road ahead sends plumes of black smoke into the air, peppering the blue sky with inky black clouds.

Mom is singing, serenading Dad by replacing the words to the song with her own words of how much she adores him. I reach out to grab Dad's arm and direct his attention to the fire, but my hand slips through his arm like it's made of smoke. I try to scream for him to look, but no sound comes out. My eyes well with frustrated tears as I desperately reach out to Mom, only to have my hand pass through her as well.

The sound of tires squealing finally grabs my parent's attention. We jerk our heads to the right at the same moment that a car rams into the Jeep's passenger side. Mom's head whips back, her terrified eyes locking onto mine as if she can finally see me before the car turns over with a sickening lurch.

I wake up, gasping and in a pool of my own sweat. My knuckles turn white as I dig my fingers into the sheets, somehow thinking that I can stop the car from flipping if I hold on tight enough.

Tears roll down my face as I unclench my hands.

An agonizing sob spills from my throat. I stifle it by squeezing my pillow against my face.

Every year I dream of my parents and every year I see them get taken away right before my eyes. It kills me to watch them die over and over again.

I hear a sputtering sound and remember I'm not alone.

I move the pillow away and glance around the room to see if I've woken up any of the ladies. Bella makes a second sputtering noise followed by a grunt, then goes back to snoring. I glance over at the glow of my alarm clock. It reads 4:27 am.

I force myself from the bed. I've got to do something to take my mind off my nightmare, and I'm risking waking up the other women the longer I stick around. It's useless for me to try to sleep in these drenched sheets, anyways.

The door to the dorms creaks as I push it open. I stagger out and close the door behind me, probably looking like death. My t-shirt is drowned in sweat, my body trembles from the aftershock of adrenaline coursing through my system, and my puffy eyes struggle to see anything in the dim light.

A heavy book snaps closed. Footsteps approach.

A moment later, I'm wrapped in a warm embrace.

It's the first time I've felt genuine comfort following this nightmare that has been torturing me for years.

This is new. It has to be Abel, but when did he get comfortable enough around me to hug me? My guess is confirmed as I hesitantly return the embrace and feel the warm skin of a bare torso under my fingertips. My cheeks flush red. He's shirtless?