A Change of View

It's kinda short but here is Chapter 5! Let me know what you think! Please review!

Chapter 5

My own room, finally! Riley was glad to be out of the hospital. Cale had never left her alone. When she woke up from the nightmares, he was there holding her hand. Riley didn’t think she could get through the time in the hospital without him. He sat by her the whole time during the police statement, only speaking when he was addressed, but Riley knew he saw every expression on her face. One of the officers insisted on getting every detail out of her. Not just the knife, but where he grabbed her and what he said. When she didn’t think she could continue, Cale would squeeze her hand in reassurance and Riley would continue on with the details the officers wanted.

When Riley walked into her room she froze. Pink? What were Kate and Emily thinking? Her entire room was decorated in pink “we missed you” and “welcome home” signs. She shook her head and went to sit down on her bed. Kate and Emily were both in class because they weren’t expecting Riley to be back that early in the day, but they should be back soon so Cale was in the living room hoping to intercept them. All Riley wanted was a few hours peace. There had been nonstop visitors in her room since she woke up: first Kate, Emily, Nate, and Tony, and then her parents. Between the six of them, Riley was never alone for more than twenty minutes—not including Cale, she needed him.

Riley mentally went over her to-do list that she needed to get done throughout the day. She needed to email all of her teachers about missing three days of school; hopefully she wasn’t dropped yet from her photography or history classes since she was a no show for the first two days. The bruise on her cheek was starting to yellow but it was still very pronounced and she had to keep gauze around her wrists until the stitches came out. She thought she could cover the bruising on her face with make-up but the butterfly bandages directly below the bruising from the knife made that idea problematic.

She carefully lay back on her head as to not trigger the throbbing pain that occurred when she moved her head too quickly. It felt good to be in lying in her bed and not in the hospital, there was a comfort in the familiar—even with all the pink. She was so tired she hoped she could finally doze off dreamlessly.

Closing her eyes, Riley listened to Cale moving around in the other room. Walking from window to window, sitting in the chair, getting up, pacing into the kitchen, back into the living-room, sitting on the couch, getting up and pacing from window to window again. Riley got up to see why he was so restless, all he had to do was wait for Emily and Kate, couldn’t he just watch TV or something? She sat up slowly as to not hurt her head and crept out of her room. When she reached the living-room she smelled a familiar smell that made her instantly nauseous. She didn’t think she would ever be able to be around the smell of alcohol again. When she didn’t see Cale in the living-room she started making her way toward the kitchen.

“Now what, ish an angel doin’ way out here?”

Riley screamed and shot up in bed causing pain to explode in her head. Could she never sleep without it creeping up on her? She wanted to forget about what happened; she wanted to have a normal life and sleep whenever she wanted. When she heard someone running up the stairs, Riley bit back a sob.

Cale came running up the stairs and was about to run into Riley’s room but hesitated. He didn’t know what scared her but didn’t want to make it worse.

“Riley? Riley its Cale.” He waited but didn’t hear a response. “Riley, are you okay?” From the other side of the door he could hear her walking toward the door. He waited for her to open it but she never did. “Riley, will you let me in? Please?”

Riley hesitated with her hand hovering over the door knob. Was she awake? Her head hurt and there wasn’t supposed to be pain in a dream. “Cale?” she whispered.

“It’s me Riley. I just want to make sure you are okay.” He waited patiently, it was her choice to open the door or not. When the door opened, he released the breath he wasn’t aware he was holding. The look in her eyes sent a chill down Cale’s spine. It was like she had just woken up again in the hospital for the first time. “Riley? Look at me…”

Riley was shaking, she couldn’t breathe and her head throbbed. She looked at Cale and sobbed. She would have collapsed on the floor but Cale caught her. He picked her up as if she were a doll and carried her to the bed. He sat down with her and let the tears flow. The only other time she showed any emotion over being attacked was when she first woke up and the struggle of talking with the police. Cale knew she was trying to be strong and not let it bring her down but he also knew she needed time.

Neither of them heard the front door open then close again but Cale did hear Kate and Emily running up the stairs. They were talking too loud about the paper due in their English class they had together. When they walked past Riley’s door Emily glanced in and froze. Riley’s sobs had died down so she was no longer shaking but the tears were still streaming down her face. For once neither of the girls said anything, they just walked into the room and sat on the floor at their friends feet and waited for the tears to end.

When they finally ended, Riley sat up slowly, careful of the ever growing pain in her head and looked down at Emily and Kate. She knew they were upset and hated the fact they were. It seemed to make the situation worse.

When the front door slammed open, Riley cowered into Cale and held her breath. “Emily!” Riley relaxed marginally when she recognized Tony’s voice. “Emily, what gives? You guys said ten minutes tops and it’s been fifteen.” He said as he made his way up the stairs. “We need to go pick up… Hey Riley…” Tony hesitated in front of Riley’s door. He could tell by the scowl on Emily and Kate’s faces and the way Riley was tucked into Cale she was upset. “Right… Okay… I’m just… gonna go get Nate out of the car…” Emily shook her head as Tony made his hasty retreat and Kate laughed under her breath. When Tony slammed the front door again Riley flinched.

“We’re going to stop the boys from coming up here. You get some rest Riley,” Emily said as she grabbed Kate to drag her from the room.

“Why doesn’t Cale have to leave?” Kate whispered too loudly to Emily before Emily had the chance to close the door. Riley didn’t hear Emily’s response and she didn’t want to. She needed Cale.

“Don’t leave.” Riley whispered quietly.

“I’m not going anywhere, don’t worry.” Cale answered softly then kissed her hair. Riley sighed in contentment. Slowly she began to doze off, but she woke up again. She didn’t want the dreams to return. The last one was in her home and it terrified her.

Cale knew she was tired so he just continued rocking her and stroking her hair. He was there every time she fell asleep and every time she fell asleep, within an hour the nightmares would awaken her. The one time she slept for six hours was when the doctor gave her some drugs to help with the pain she was in. Riley awoke the same way: screaming and shaking in fear. Cale wanted to help but didn’t know how to do that without either drugging her or scaring her.

Cale pressed a kiss to her forehead making Riley sigh in contentment. He kissed her temple, then her cheek. He traced kisses all over her face and Riley wrapped her arms around his neck. Cale’s lips hovered over Riley’s but he never closed the distance in fear of hurting her. When Riley had wrapped her arms around his neck, Cale moved his hands away from her hair afraid of triggering the pain in her head.

Riley whispered his name before closing the distance between them. Cale was careful and gentle with her. It was so sweet and quiet that a shudder ran through her body. Cale pulled back slightly, afraid the shudder was from another reason besides pleasure but Riley just closed the distance between them again and slid her tongue into his mouth. He groaned and her sweet taste and pulled her closer. He ran his fingertips down her arms and back up, felling the shudders that followed the movement.

Cale pulled back again, but before Riley could close the distance again he nipped her neck causing her to gasp in surprise. His teeth nipped her ear turning her gasps into a moan. That moan seemed to sing in his blood and he reached up to fist his hands in her hair for more access to her throat.

The second her started to pull her head back she cried out in pain. Cale released her hair and paled, he felt ill. Riley bit her lip against the pain and tried to look into Cale’s eyes but ducked his head in shame. He never wanted to hurt her—ever.

“Cale, look at me.” Riley pleaded. Cale just shook his head, he never wanted to cause her any pain and he went too far again. It seemed like every time he kissed her he caused some type of pain. Riley grabbed his chin and forced in up. “Please don’t.” She whispered.

“Riley, I don’t want to hurt—“ Riley pressed her lips to his in order to silence him.

“Cale, please don’t turn away from me. I can’t stand it.” She pressed her lips back to his and he kissed her gently. It was so soft she could feel her toes curl. She pulled back and laid her head in the crook of his neck and sighed in contentment. His arms wrapped around her and they sat there listening to their friends down stairs, content in each other’s silent company.


***************************************************************************

Hope you enjoyed it!!! Let me know!