What Hurts the Most

Chapter 7

She begins to stir just as the sun rises. Reluctantly, he decides to get out of the bed to avoid startling her. He doesn't want to push things with her until he can see she's on the same page as he is. For whatever reason, she has stubbornly decided they shouldn't be together. He's going to have to be a bit stealthy to get around her defenses. He smiles a little at the thought. He's going to go on full blown charm mode. She won't know what hit her.

As he's carefully untangling himself from her, she begins to fidget restlessly. He checks to see if she's awake, but notices she's still asleep with a deep frown spreading across her face.

"No," she mutters in her sleep, her head tossing back and forth on the pillow. "I'm not leaving him. Don't make me."

"Reyhan?" he says gently, shaking her shoulder to try to wake her. "Wake up now. It's just a dream."

Or is it, he wonders to himself. Who is she fighting with?

"No ... no ... Emir!"

She shoots up to a sitting position, shaking like a leaf. Her breathing is so hard, he's afraid she's going to make herself pass out. He grabs her face and turns her head until she's looking directly into his eyes.

"Hey, it's okay. You're okay. Calm down. Breathe with me."

She takes a few shaky breaths before she finally comes back to her senses.

"Emir?" She pulls away enough to look around to see where she is. "What are you doing here? You can't be here with me like this. No one can see us!"

She starts to panic, looking around the room with wild eyes that are still a bit unclear and unfocused.

"Hold on," he says gently, trying to calm her down. "Just relax. You're going to hurt yourself. You're still a bit unsteady from yesterday."

She continues to panic and is borderline about to hyperventilate.

"What's happening? Why am I here? Why are you here?"

"Shhh!" he says, cupping her face in his hands. "I'll explain everything. But you need to breathe, Canım. You're about to pass out."

"Emir," she whimpers. She closes her eyes and for a moment, allows herself to soak in his presence. To just feel him. Smell him. Hold him. His touch meant everything to her and she's had to live without it for too long. Right now, it's as necessary to her as her next breath. It calms and soothes her. Clears her head. So when she just barely stops herself from purring in delight, that's when she realizes what she's doing and tries to push him away. "We can't do this."

"Just a minute," he pleads. "Let me have just this one minute. We both need this."

Unable to deny what he's saying, or resist him, she gives in. She'll take this one minute with him. She closes her eyes when he rests his forehead against hers and just breathes him in.

"What are we doing?" she asks, knowing she shouldn't want this. But also understanding that she needs it.

"Minute's not over," he whispers, pulling her into a hug that she's helpless to resist. But he squeezes a bit too hard and the pain of her ribs brings her back to her senses. She gasps, and this time when she pushes him away, he sets her free.

"Are you okay? Melike abla said there was some bruising."

"It's fine," she says sharply, pulling the rest of the way away from him and getting out of the bed. She wraps her own arms around herself to stop the slight shivers, cold from his sudden absence. "You should leave now."

Emir just stares at her and frowns. But he eventually nods, not wanting to push her.

"I won't ask you anything now," he says. "But we need to have a long talk eventually, Reyhan. A very long talk. You being back here has shown me that we're not over yet. I don't know why you left, but I'm going to figure it out. And then I'm going to fix it. I'm going to fix us."