𝘾𝙍𝘼𝙎𝙃𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙄𝙉𝙏𝙊 𝙔𝙊𝙐 ↣ 𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝘿𝙄𝙍𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉

STOCKHOLM SYNDROME

I woke up with an aching body.

My cheek was pressed against Louis' bare chest. In the middle of the night, I managed to move all the way on top of him.

Both of his hands were under my shirt, resting on my back. His thumbs were stroking the scarred skin gently, telling me he was awake.

I hummed.

"Hey, love," Louis said softly.

"Lou," I mumbled.

"Hm?"

"Nothing, it's just nice to know you're here," I said. His hands slipped from under the t-shirt and tugged the hem down, covering the thong I was wearing from the night before.

I didn't have the energy to care about how exposed I was to him. After all, it wasn't like he hadn't seen me fully naked before.

"Do you want to go down and talk to the boys?" Louis asked.

"Can I take a shower first?"

"Yeah, of course, lovie," Louis said. He rolled us over so he was on top of me and I was on my back, before pulling away from me completely.

He disappeared into my closet and came back with clothes, that were definitely his at one point.

He pulled me up and I winced at the way my head throbbed. Louis gave me a concerned look and wrapped an arm around me.

He helped me into the bathroom and turned on the shower water. Then he took it upon himself to remove my prosthetic leg that I had slept in the night before.

"Are you-? Can you-?" Louis asked, looking between the shower and I. He wanted to know if I could shower alone.

"Yeah, um, I'll be okay," I said. He nodded and turned to leave. "Hey, actually, can you stay?"

"Stay?" Louis asked.

"I don't want to be alone," I mumbled. "Wait, no, this is weird. This crosses the line into things we can't do, doesn't it?"

"The line doesn't matter right now," Louis said. He sat down against the sink with his back to the shower, offering me privacy.

I stripped out of my clothes and carefully got myself into the shower, before gasping and turning up the temperature of the water.

"Jesus, Lou!"

"You didn't check it before you got in?" Louis asked. I couldn't see him, but I knew he was smirking like a fool.

"I didn't think it was going to be ice water!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was that cold," Louis laughed softly.

I finished my shower without any problems. I turned the water off and reached out to grab my towel, wrapping it around myself snugly. I hopped out of the shower and started getting dressed, avoiding my reflection.

I didn't want to see what Donte had done to me.

I pulled Louis' clothes over my smaller frame and whispered an okay to let him know he could stop staring at the wall in front of him.

Louis stood up from his spot on the floor and studied me. He stepped closer and gently tapped my chin so I would look up into his eyes. He frowned.

"You look upset," I said.

"I am upset," Louis said. My face must have given away the fact that him saying that made me upset. He instantly backtracked. "Not upset with you, lovie, never with you. Just with Donte. I could beat him to a pulp for doing this to you."