I've just turned down the road that leads to Christian's house —- and eventually mine —- when the sky opens up above me. I'm not surprised honestly, mother nature has been threatening to flood us in her tears for days. I sigh and pull my hood over my head, but my efforts are wasted with in mere minutes as I feel the cold fingers of water soak through my hoodie and trickle over my skin. By the time I reach Christian's front door, I won't be surprised if I look like a half-drowned cat.

My fingers begin to ache as I uncurl them to press the doorbell, and then I huddle back into my wet and unprotective clothing as I wait for someone to answer the door. Thankfully I don't have to wait long, and after another moment or so, someone pulls the door open. My heart skips a beat when the door opens to reveal Christian standing on the other side, wearing a loose fitting pair of sweatpants and a gray hoodie. I gulp at the sight of him —- so cute and cozy looking in his pajamas —- that I completely forget that I'm standing in the pouring rain, that is, until Christian gasps and reaches out to grab me.

His skin is warm when he wraps his hand around my wrist, and pulls me inside as he cries, "Beau! Why did you walk here in the rain? You could get sick!" Christian says as he immediately beings to pull me into the house, through the living room and upstairs. "Beau, your crazy for walking in this...." Christian mutters as he leads me into his room, and shifts through his draws to find me something clean and dry for me to wear. He tosses the clothes he found for me onto his bed, and then he leaves the room and returns a moment later holding a towel.

I don't complain or say anything as he takes my backpack off my shoulders and lifts my hoodie over my head, leaving me in my T-shirt. I just stand there still and cold, as he frets and vigorously rubs the towel through my hair and over my shoulders in his desperate attempt to warm me up from walking in the ice cold rain.

"You should get out of these clothes," Christian mutters as he cups my hands in his and blows on them.

I still don't say anything in response as I just stare into his concerned filled eyes, silently fascinated by his caring nature. A small smile tugs at my lips as I finally open my mouth, and say, "I think I'm warm now, Christian . . ."

"No, not until you take off these clothes," Christian says, obvious to the meaning behind my words as he grabs the dry bundle of clothes and shoves them into my arms. "You can change in the bathroom."

I take the clothes with a sigh, and leave the room to quickly change before returning. Christian gave me a pair of thin sweatpants that hang loosely off my waist, and a long-sleeved T-shirt. The clothes are infused with his comforting, sweet, and heady scent, that I deeply inhale a breath of before leaving the bathroom to return to his room. When I close the door behind me and turn around to face Christian's bedroom, I find him sitting on his bed with a pile of books spread out around him.

I sigh and lean my back against the door as I admire him, in rare moments like this, where he's sitting and doing his homework he looks so small, sweet, and innocent. But then he always senses me watching him, and his gaze flickers up to mine and the image in my head crumbles, giving away to a strong, stubble jawed masterpiece of hard muscle.

Christian glances up at me, and arches a perfect eyebrow as he asks, "Are you going to join me?"

I gulp and feel heat rise to my cheeks as Christian clears away the space beside him, before he invitingly pats the bed. I bite my bottom lip and walk forward, and slowly crawl onto the bed with one leg beneath me. We don't say anything for a long moment, and then Christian breaks the silence as he asks, "Are you doing to tell me why you showed up in the pouring rain on my doorstep? Or are we just going to sit here for awhile longer?"

I purse my lips at the hint of edginess I hear in Christian's voice, and bite my lip as I twist my hands together as I think of how to start. "I, um.... I found Garrett," I mutter as I play with my hands.

Christian maintains his gaze on his homework, his pencil unmoving as he asks, "What did you do?"

The blood has begun to pool anyway from my fingertips, the pressure of holding them together so hard beings to hurt, and I reply, "I threatened to expose his . . . relationship with Smith, and I...." I trail off and sniffle back a sob as I whisper, "You were right, if I had hurt him like that . . . I-I-I'm so sorry, Christian!" I cry as I collapse onto his shoulder, my arms wind around his waist as I bury my face into his shoulder and weep.

I was an idiot to think I could hurt Garrett, but at least I have finally gotten him to leave me alone after all this time. That has to count for something....

I continue to quietly cry into Christian's shoulder as he soothingly rubs my back and murmurs, "It's okay, you didn't expose them. You did the right thing and walked away, Beau, like I knew you would."

I sniffle and wipe my face as I glance up at Christian, and mumble, "But I still went after him...."

Christian sighs and gently brushes the back of his hand over my cheek, and softly says, "If it hadn't been you, someone else would have gone after him, Beau. Garrett makes enemies just by walking into a room because he thinks he's better than everyone else. But you were able to show him he has weakness too, and he isn't the person everyone believes him to be. If you would have exposed those pictures, you would have shattered that illusion and who knows what would have happened. You did the right thing, Beau, even if it feels somewhat wrong." Christian gently says as he brushes strands of hair behind my ear, before delicately kissing my nose.

I close my eyes, and slowly open them as I whisper, "So . . . does this mean you aren't mad at me?"

Christian continues to caress my cheek as he softly replies, "I was never mad at you. I was disappointed and hurt, but never mad."

I sigh and lean my cheek against Christian's chest as I softly mutter, "Sorry, but when everything happened I knew you would talk me out of my idea, and I didn't want you too so I pretended things were fine . . ." I release a shaky breath and burrow my face into Christian's shirt as I murmur, "I promise never to do that again."

I can hear the smile in Christian's voice as he softly replies, "Thank you."

I smile with a small nod, and then I pull out of Christian's arms as I mutter, "We should probably do our homework now . . ."

Christian chuckles and kisses my cheek. "Yeah, you're probably right," he agrees.

Word count: 1,250

~ 🌸 ~

A/N: Hello, lovelies! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thank you so much for reading, and please, don't forget to leave love and comments. Have an amazing day/night!

Love from,
BunnyBaekkiee ❤️