Cocky (WWBM)

Chapter 17

Terrence's POV

The sweet smell of her lavender scented shampoo tickled my nostrils as Natalie nestled into my arms, my hands wrapped around her tightly.

We had both just woken up, and neither of us had yet to leave the bed for fear of the bubble we had created bursting. After last night, she's spent as she leans against me, her nakedness covered by the duvet although I would love nothing more than to see her naked all day long.

Natalie lets out a laugh, her hand coming up to my chest to rub softly.

"What?" I ask, looking down at her.

She bites her lips, shaking her head lightly. "Nothing. It's just this...this is nice."

"It is." I agree in a gruff voice.

I felt a pang of guilt lingering in my chest, the same feeling I've been experiencing ever since we arrived here. I remember my promise to myself to tell her the truth, however it's one of those things that's easier said than done.

Some part of me fears that she'll look at me differently and I don't want that. The possibility that she won't forgive me doesn't escape my mind either, the mere thought holding me back from just getting the truth out there.

This, being with Natalie, has all been too good to be true. And I fear that like most things in my life, she'll be taken away from me too.

You'll drive her away if you don't tell her the truth, a voice in my head speaks and I clench my teeth at the undeniable truth.

"Tell me something about you." Natalie says suddenly, shifting from where she laid to look up at me.

I smiled at her, brushing her hair out of her face as I stared into her beautiful blue eyes. "What do you want to know?"

She shrugs. "Your background. I mean, you've met my parents and my closest family and friends, I think it's only fair that I know something about yours too." She says playfully and I nod in agreement.

"Okay. Well, unlike your family, I wasn't raised in a stable home. And like I told your mother, I did grow up in Houston, Texas, along with my younger brother Tremaine." She listened attentively, hanging on to my every word. "My father was...a brute. He drank too much, gambled too much, but my mother put up with it. She put up with a lot, including his constant beatings. All for my brother and I, she would say but I knew better. She just didn't know how to leave him, didn't want to."

Talking about my childhood out loud brought back so many dark memories. My past is something I don't particularly enjoy speaking about and sensing that, Natalie sends me an encouraging smile as she takes ahold of my hand.

Releasing a deep breath, I continue. "We didn't have much growing up. After having his small business taken as collateral for a debt he couldn't pay, my father never got another job and most of the money my mother made from doing manual labor, he spent on drinks and gambling like he'll actually make it back. I loathed him, I still do. But I couldn't take my brother and run, I couldn't leave my mother alone with him. Although, looking back now, I wish I had dragged her to go with us. Maybe it would have saved her life."

Natalie tensed up at my words as she stared up at me. "She's dead?"

I nod. "It was one of those nights, except this one was stormy. Come rain come shine that man never missed a day at the local beer parlor and that day was no different. He got into a fight with someone there after losing a lot of money on a bet and when he came home he was angry, drunk and searching for who to take his anger out on. His focus shifted from my mother, to Trey. He had never hit on Trey before that day. It was just my mother, and sometimes, me." The words coming out left a bad taste in my mouth but Natalie's grip tightened around my hand, willing me to keep speaking.