Read Online The Loss (Heartache series #1) by Vicki Green - Free Book Online Page B

cushion and see that she’s asleep. Her head is resting on her arm that’s on the couch facing me. Her beer bottle is on the floor with her hand still around it, and her legs are curled up around her. I study her face for a bit, taking in her smooth skin, her perfect nose and how her bottom lip is a little fuller than the upper one. My heart races as I see my sweatshirt on her, oversized and the material falling off her shoulder a little, enough that I can see her unblemished skin of her neck fully. Shit, even drunk she makes my cock hard.
    I set my beer on the coffee table and push myself up until I’m steady on my feet. I take her beer out of her grasp and set it down by mine and then put my arm under her legs and around her back, lifting her in my arms with ease. Her head lolls onto my shoulder, but she doesn’t stir. I walk her back to my room and lay her gently on my bed, covering her up with my sheet and blanket and then head back out to the living room to clean up. I hate waking up in the morning to a mess, and I have a feeling I won’t feel like cleaning it then. When I walk back into the living room, her phone is vibrating on the coffee table. I shouldn’t look. I should leave it alone but curiosity gets the better of me, and I walk over and pick it up.

    Alena, darling. Where r u?
    I said I was sorry. Please come home.
    I’m getting really worried now.
    Your mom said u were probably with Hailey. I miss you.
    Motherfucker. Something tells me that’s where her bruise came from. I wonder what else he’s done to her. She doesn’t seem as self-assured as she used to, and I bet he’s the reason. I need to talk with Hailey and form a plan. I already have one of my own. I’m tired of being alone. Tired of not having my best friend anymore. And I’m tired of not moving on from friendship to a relationship with her. Scared of losing her or not, I need her and fuck, I want her so bad.
    I practically drop her phone back onto the table, like touching it with his words to her scorched my hand. When I walk back into my bedroom, I lean against the door frame, crossing my arms and just look at her in my bed. My bed. Her hands are tucked under the side of her face on my pillow. Her hair is fanned out, wavy and soft across the pillow behind her. She looks like an angel in the moonlight streaming in through the blinds on the far window. So many nights I’ve tossed and turned in this bed, so many times the horror of the accident has played over and over again. Seeing her there, sleeping peacefully, makes me only think of her.
    I quickly remove my shirt and jeans, grabbing a pair of my pajama pants and putting them on. I quietly walk to the other side of my bed, pulling down the covers and climb in under them. I lay on my back, my arm under my head and stare up at the ceiling, feeling her presence, smelling her. She mumbles something and moves towards me. My arm moves from beneath my head and raises into the air as her head lays on my chest. Her arm wraps around my stomach and moves under the covers until it’s laying on my bare skin. I slowly lower my arm until it’s around her shoulders and when I tighten my hold, her arm squeezes around me. God, I love the feel of her, her warmth against me. I lean down and take a sniff of her hair. Coconuts. I never liked the taste of coconut, but the smell on her is luscious. She settles more against me, getting closer still. Soon she’ll be on top of me if she moves anymore, and then I won’t be held responsible for my actions, but I need to go slow with her. I need to help her get her self-esteem back, the way it was before, then maybe I’ll have a chance. Maybe Hailey and I can get her to see that she needs to get away from that asshat and move back home. Home, where she belongs and to me.
    After laying with her, smelling her, feeling her, for I don’t know how long, I finally close my eyes and dream of her.
    Sunlight streams into my room. I can feel the warmth on my face and