I was fully expecting Rosy to bolt out the door as soon as the high of the orgasm subsided. The familiar trepidation of her running out on me only intensified when she started scooting away from me. But I wasn't ready to let her go yet. I didn't want her to leave.

So I wrapped my arm around her bare torso and pulled her right back into my side. Where she belonged.

Evelyn's brows furrowed adorably in question. "Stay," I mumbled.

She shook her head. "You know I can't... I shouldn't. The rules..."

Rules be damned. I needed her to stay.

I had been miserable for the two weeks we'd been apart. And now that she was here, I wanted nothing more than to hold her close and never let go. Even if it was just for a few more minutes.

My hold on her tightened. "Just a little while. Please."

That seemed to do it because a soft smile graced her lips. My heart skipped a beat. "Okay," she whispered. "Just a little while."

I kissed her forehead and tucked her under my chin, heaving a content sigh. Holding Evelyn like this felt right. Felt good. It was scary to think how much I'd craved being close to her.

We lay there for a while without speaking, just enjoying the presence of the other. I stroked her hair, ran my hand down her back to her hip, tracing her spine while Evelyn drew patterns on my chest with her fingers.

"I'm sorry," I said finally.

The guilt of yelling at her and letting her go that night had been eating me alive. I needed to get it off my chest and make things right. I also needed her not to break things off with me because I... I needed her.

She and hockey were the two good things in my otherwise dismal life.

The realization made me reel, but I pushed the thoughts aside. I'd dissect all that later. At the moment, fixing things between us was more important.

Evelyn's pretty hazel eyes met mine, round and full of questions. I cleared my throat. "I shouldn't have yelled at you. That night. I was overstepping. I'm sorry."

She ducked her head down. "I'm sorry too. I guess I... I overreacted. I shouldn't have said what I said. I just..." She shook her head again, as if dismissing a thought, and looked up at me. "I'm sorry."

I pressed a kiss to her head again and in return, Evelyn kissed my chest. We lapsed into a comfortable silence, the only sound in the room was the slight buzzing of the mini-fridge and the tick of the clock. Everything felt nice and peaceful, but there was this nagging feeling in my gut about the events of the past few days that urged me to inquire further.

There was something about Evelyn that I needed to know. Something that troubled her but she wasn't letting anyone see. Not even her friends. My chest ached at the thought of her suffering alone.

"Rosy," I said. She hummed in response. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

Evelyn furrowed her brows, her eyes roaming my face, searching, but then something clicked in her and she nodded. "Go ahead."

"That night when we got into the fight, you said something about your dad. And then you said you had no one to protect you... I just... Are you in some kind of trouble?"

I didn't know how to phrase the question. I didn't want to fuck this up again by probing her, but I also wanted her to know that she had people in her corner. "If there's anything, anything at all, please talk to me. I'll try my best to help."

The same smile she'd given me last night returned. Like she did not believe a word I said. "You cannot help me Atlas. It's just something that I'll have to bear with."

"What do you mean?"

She chuckled a little, but it lacked humor. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this, but I guess I owe you an explanation after the way I reacted."

"You don't owe me anything," I said quickly. "I don't want you to feel forced into talking. But if you want someone to listen, I'm here."

She flashed me another smile before nodding.

"My childhood wasn't exactly sunshine and rainbows. Not saying everyone else's is but..." She averted her gaze back to my chest and cleared her throat. "I had never seen my parents happy. They always fought. Sometimes it was about money, other times it was about my dad's drinking, and sometimes it was about me. I don't think they wanted me or even a child in general."

The way her voice wavered made my chest squeeze painfully. My arms tightened around her, hoping she'd know how much I wanted her. Needed her.

"My mom walked out on us when I was five. It was just the two of us at home that day and suddenly she started packing her bags. I remember following her around the house as she collected her clothes and belongings, asking her what she was doing and if we were going somewhere."

She took a steadying breath and I rubbed her back, letting her know I was still here. I was listening.

"But then I realized none of the two bags she'd packed had my clothes or toys. Still, I followed her to the front door, but she just shook me off. Said that she was going alone. That she was leaving me and my useless dad."

My heart cracked at the image of a tiny Evelyn with tear-filled eyes, watching her mom leave. I had seen her cry, and it always broke my heart. Imagining a younger version of her in that state was gut-wrenching.

"I told her to stop, to take me with her but she didn't listen. I cried and cried, and pulled at her hand but she didn't..." Evelyn gasped for breath, and I noticed how her breathing had quickened while tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Rosy, it's okay. You're okay. Breathe," I whispered.

She gulped and nodded, taking a few deep breaths before continuing.

"I cried so much that day that I fainted. Even when I was gasping for breath, she didn't look back at me. She kept walking out the door. Do you know what are the last words I remember from my mother?" She looked up at me, her face blank and gaze far away. "Don't be difficult Evelyn."

Realization washed over me as I remembered our conversation from our first night together when she'd insisted on going home. I'd said that to her. I'd told her to not be difficult. If I was feeling guilty before, now I just felt horrible. No wonder she'd shut down like that.

I gulped down the lump in my throat and continued to caress her back. "Did your mom contact you after that?"

Evelyn shook her head. "That was the last I'd seen of her. When I gained consciousness again, I was still lying in the foyer. The house was dark and I was alone."

"What about your dad?"

She chuckled darkly. "I don't know. Must have gone drinking with his friends. I ran to my grandma's house who lived a few blocks down. I had a fever for four days. But my dad didn't come for me. Once he heard that I was at his mom's house, he just didn't care anymore."

"His drinking got worse. He also started gambling. I didn't know for sure but I overheard my grandma's conversation with him. He had mortgaged our house for money and she had to buy it back." She suddenly looked up at me. "Have you ever lived in a small town?"

"No," I said truthfully. The only small towns I had seen were from the movies and the ones I'd see from the car when my family went on road trips.

"Word spreads fast there," she said. "By the time I was in middle school, my dad was basically non-existent in my life. Everyone in town knew about his drinking and gambling. He owed money to most of them."

Evelyn turned away from me, lying on her side. Her fingers absently tugged at the frilly edges of the pillow. I wanted to hold her but also knew that she probably needed some space. In the end, I decided to just be there. A little away from her but close enough that she could reach out to me whenever she wanted.

"Kids in school got wind of it. I became an easy target for the bullies. They knew even if they snatched my money or hit me, the most I could do was probably complain to the teacher, which got old fast. My grandma already had a lot on her plate with her illness."

Rage like none other gripped me as I joined the dots. "That's why you know how to throw a perfect punch," I concluded, my voice clipped.

Evelyn turned to face me again and smiled despite everything. "Practice makes perfect, right?"

I didn't have it in me to reciprocate her smile. All I felt was anger and sadness over how much she had to go through just because of her shitty parents. "I'm assuming it didn't work all the time."

Her face fell briefly, but she was quick to school her features. She took my hand and trailed it behind her ear, where I felt a little bump in her skin. "Summer before high school. Got in a fight with a bunch of neighborhood kids and lost. But things got better after that. As good as they could get, at least."

I turned on my side and brushed her hair away so I could look at the skin behind her ear. There was a thin pink scar running from the back of her ear to the hairline on her neck.

"I got stitches there. It was my last fight, and I kind of hate that I didn't win it," she said, laughing a little.

My throat burned with emotions as I traced the scar, imagining in my head how it had gotten there in the first place. Evelyn sucked in a breath when I leaned down and kissed it.

"Why is your dad calling you now?" I asked, getting back in my previous position with my arms around her.

"For money. He only remembers he has a daughter when he needs money," she said.

My brows furrowed. "You're a student. He thinks you have that much money to give him?"

She heaved a sigh. "My grandma passed away when I was a sophomore in high school. She probably knew her son more than I knew my dad and maybe that's why she locked away all her savings and made me her sole heir. I got her money when I turned eighteen. Dad was... less than pleased with it."

I couldn't help the indignant snort that left me. "Serves him right."

"My grandma's attorney, an old friend of hers, made sure I got a monthly allowance from another deposit she'd made for that reason. As soon as my dad came to know about it, he started staying home more to take care of me," she said, her tone turning bitter.

When she met my gaze again her eyes were glassy with tears. "I believed him, Atlas. I believed that he cared for me, but he returned to his old habits within a few weeks. He took the monthly allowances for himself and then when I started taking part-time jobs, he turned his eyes to my savings as well."

My blood ran cold at her words as new scenarios, bad scenarios, began to play in my head. "Did he ever..."

"No," Evelyn said immediately. "He never hit me."

Well, that was one saving grace. Because if he had, I would go break his bones until they were double the original number. Even though I had no idea where he lived or what he looked like. But those were measly details that could be worked out any day.

"The problem is, he thinks that my grandma was rich and that I received some huge trust fund," she said, rolling her eyes. "In reality, there was barely anything left after everything. Even the deposit I received when I turned eighteen had only enough money to help me move wherever I went to college. I bought my second-hand car and paid the security deposit for my current apartment with it."

"Have you told your dad about it?"

She sighed. "Countless times. He doesn't believe me. Thinks that I still have some of it and that I'm earning big bucks in the city. I send him money whenever I can because no matter what I can't look over the fact that he's my dad and I'm stupid enough to believe that he'll change."

I gathered her in my arms as I lay down on my back, pulling her on top of me. She buried her face in the crook of my neck and sighed when I kissed her temple.

"It's easier to not fall for his tricks when I don't pick up his phone," she mumbled against my skin.

Guilt sucker punched me ten times harder this time because I was the asshole shaming her for not picking up her dad's phone who had been nothing but horrible to her. I was in no position to judge her or her decisions and yet I went ahead to be a prick.

"I'm sorry," I repeated. "I'm so sorry."

Evelyn nodded but didn't say anything. We stayed in silence for a beat before she lifted her face from my neck and rested her chin on my chest, observing me. "Do I get to ask a personal question in return?"

I smiled at her. "Ask away."

She lowered her eyes, her fingers tracing my collarbone as she whispered her question. "Will you tell me what happened to your parents? After you said something about them last time I assumed they were..."

"Dead?" I said and her eyes snapped up to meet mine, bewildered. "You assumed correct."

Her expression softened. "I'm sorry."

"It's been years. I was ten then. I'm used to it now I guess."

I wasn't. But it was easier to lie than to wallow in self-hatred.

"What happened?" she asked, her tone gentle, calming.

"Car crash," I said. "They had gone on a business trip. It was right before my 10th birthday. I didn't want them to go and had thrown a fit right before they had to leave."

Words just tumbled out of my mouth, spilling out the secrets I had locked away in the deepest parts of my conscience.

"They'd said they would be back for my party but they didn't. The trip got extended and I was so mad at them. Only if I'd known..." I shut my eyes as that day flashed before my eyes. Everything I had done and said came back to haunt me, making it harder to breathe.

A soft touch to my cheek broke me free from the shackles of my mind and I blinked to see Evelyn leaning over me. She pecked my cheek. "You didn't know. You were a kid."

I shook my head. "The things I said..." a lump formed in my throat as their voices echoed in my ears. "They kept calling me throughout their trip but I refused to speak to them. Then when they didn't make it to my birthday party, I answered their call only to tell them how much I hated them and that I didn't want to see them ever again."

A lone tear escaped my eye which Evelyn was quick to brush off. "There was a storm the night they were returning home. Their car slipped and collided with an oncoming truck on the highway."

Embarrassingly, more tears cascaded down my face. Evelyn didn't say a word and wiped them away, pressing soft kisses to my cheek after every swipe of her fingers. "I was going to apologize to them," I said, looking at her through blurry eyes, hoping she'd see how much I regretted everything.

"When I saw my dad's ID flash on my uncle's phone, I immediately picked it up. But it wasn't my dad. It was the police officer who'd found them and he said..."

"I'm so sorry," Evelyn mumbled as she wrapped her arms around my neck, squeezing me tightly.

"I wanted to apologize," I repeated, my voice sounding hoarse even to me. "And tell them how much I love them."

She kissed my forehead, running her fingers through my hair in a soothing manner. "I'm sure they know. And they love you too."

I bit down on a retort dripping with self-loathing. I wasn't going to tell her how much I hated myself and how I would never forgive myself. I didn't want her to feel bad for me. Not when my misery was a result of my own actions. She was the one who received the shorter end of the stick in life and yet she was nice to everyone. Maybe too nice.

And I was the asshole who didn't deserve her niceness. I'd been nothing but horrible to her on numerous accounts and still, she hadn't shunned me. I didn't deserve her. I knew that. And yet, I couldn't bring myself to let her go.

"Will you stay with me tonight? Please?" I asked.

She smiled at me and pecked my cheek. "I will."

As I looked at her while she slept in my arms, a new fear bloomed in my chest. Fear of the day she'd realize I wasn't worth it and leave me. For good.