Chasing Love

Chapter 24

I'm sorry. Please forgive me.

-Charlie 

Chapter 24

Warning this chapter may be triggering 

Charlotte for the third night in a row woke up gasping for air. Her restless nights were plagued by dream of Landon and her unborn daughter where she stood and watched as Landon did to her daughter what he did to her.  

Charlotte tried to get her bearings, but the unlit room increased her fear that she was back with Landon. Chase wasn't in the room as she scrambled to find some source of light despite the pain still radiating through her body. Reaching over with her good hand, Charlotte sobbed as she found her phone and fumbled to turn on her flashlight and scan it around the room to make sure she was still with Chase.

Despite letting out a sigh of relief, her body was still shaking as adrenaline coursed through her body. Charlotte carefully swung her legs off the side of the bed, grabbing a hold of her ribs that felt like a knife was sliding in and out. She carefully stood up and turned on the lamp by the bedside table to see the empty glass of water had fallen to the floor in her struggle to light up the room.

Turning off her flashlight, she saw it was 8 pm, but she didn't feel like eating dinner. She had been in and out of sleep the last 3 days waking up to pain only to go back to sleep after taking some pain killers. Chase made sure she ate and drank, but even moving her jaw was a struggle.

Pain blossomed throughout her entire body and there wasn't a part of her that didn't ache. Her bones ached, her muscles ached, her heart ached and every time she was reminded of the pain, she remembered that she deserved it.

Charlotte slowly made her way into the bathroom and for the first time in 3 days finally got a look at herself in the mirror. Her face was distinct shades of black, blue, green and purple. Her eyes will still heavily swollen but when she opened them blood red stared back in her left eye from a burst blood vessel. Her lip was puffy and red from the stitches holding the deep wound together.

Tears fell down her face, and it surprised her she could even cry. She slowly reached out with her left hand, sobbing as she hovered over the various bruises on her face. There was hardly any skin left untouched and deep emotional turmoil stirred inside of her.

Turning away from the mirror in disgust, Charlotte quickly went bathroom before leaving it and found a jumper of Chase's with a hood she could use to cover her face. She dried her tears and took some pain relief before leaving the room she had been holed up in for 3 days to find Chase.

She checked his office first, but when she heard soft music coming from the kitchen Charlotte slowly made there.

When Charlotte entered the kitchen, Chase had his back to her dressed in jeans and a black shirt. His laptop was open on the island bench where the soft sounds of Sam Smith flowed through the room. He was stirring something on the stove as he hummed along with the music. Not wanting to disturb him, Charlotte quietly sat down next to his laptop at the island bench and pulled the jumper sleeves down to cover her hands.

She watched him reach for the salt and start singing into it at the chorus for Latch in a high pitch voice that made Charlotte chuckle and clutch her ribs as blinding hot pain shot through them. She watched as Chase stopped and turned around to face her and blinked a few times before smiling at her.

"I'm making soup for dinner. I was going to bring it up to you. You didn't have to come down." He turned back around and poured the salt into the pot, giving it a stir before leaving on the island bench across from her with a frown on his face.