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Before I can open my mouth, the damn dog brushes past me and goes straight for the bed.
Okay, then.
Penelope giggles as the dog jumps on the bed and goes straight for her face, licking her cheek and marking his territory.Asshole.
She turns around, utterly unfazed by her nakedness, and rubs behind his ears. “C’mon, settle down.”
“He usually sleeps here?” I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, he was in bed with us when I woke up today.
Closing the door behind me, I join her on the bed.
“If by here you mean in my bed, then yes,” she sighs. “I know I shouldn’t have, but I felt bad for him. Plus, it’s nice to have somebody sleep with you. You okay with that? He has his bed, but—”
Sharing a bed with the dog?
I watch as he gives me a smug smile, and goes to the bottom of the bed, right in the middle, and makes three circles before settling down.
“I don’t mind, that is, if you don’t kick me to the dog bed instead.”
Yes, I’m that desperate to hold her. I’d even willingly share the bed with the dog.
“No sleeping in the dog bed.” She pats the mattress next to her. “C’mon.”
Crossing the room, I kneel on the bed. “I brought a towel.”
“Why would I need…”
“To help you clean up.”
“Clean… Oh.”
A blush spreads over her cheeks and down her neck, coloring her cleavage a pale shade of pink.
“I can…” She tries to sit upright, but I grab her ankles and pull her to me, running my hand over the outside of her leg.
“Spread those thighs for me, Birdy.”
That rosy hue turns a darker shade of pink, but she does as I ask. So fucking responsive. So fucking willing.
Slowly, her legs fall apart, and I wipe her between them, cleaning any trace of blood between her thighs before dropping the towel on the floor. Lying down, I pull her to me and tug the covers over our naked bodies.
“Good?”
She nods her head, her leg slipping between mine. “Good.”
Sliding my hand down, I slowly run my finger over her thigh, feeling her silky skin. Up and down, down and up, until a soft shudder shakes her body. Stopping the movement, I let my hand rest on her leg, my fingers touching her inner thigh.
Her body goes impossibly still as I skim over the thin lines marring her skin. There are half a dozen of them, made in a neat row, one below the other. Just like the scar she’s hiding under her bracelet. Inwardly cursing at myself, I start to pull my hand back, but Penelope stops me.
“Don’t.”
“I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”
“I’m not. It’s just…” She huffs a sigh, her hand wrapping around my waist as she nuzzles her head deeper into my chest. A strand of her hair falls in her face, tickling my abs, but I don’t move a muscle as I wait to hear what she has to say.
“When I was in middle school, I was bullied by people who I thought were my friends,” Penelope confesses softly, and I can feel my whole body turn stiff. “There was a moment when I lost all hope, and the only thing I wanted to do was for my brain to shut down, so I focused on physical pain instead. I was cutting myself for a few weeks when my sister found out. I didn’t want to tell her. I felt so ashamed. So weak.”
“You’re not weak,” I mutter, trying to stifle the rage boiling inside of me, so I wouldn’t scare her. “What happened was on them. They must have been so fucking miserable in their own small lives that the best they could come up with was to bully another person in order to feel some kind of joy.”
