Chapter Twenty-Three
Ally
Morning broke just as I smelled the magic aroma of fresh brewed coffee wafting through the air. Mmmm coffee. The healing elixir of the Gods. Well, at least to me it was. I reached out looking to find Jonah with my hand even though my eyes refused to open. I felt nothing but a cold wrinkled sheet. Disappointment blossomed in my stomach at realizing I had woken up alone. This was not how I pictured our morning after.
Just then another delicious odor floated to my nose. Could it be? Oh, not a single person on earth could mistake the mouthwatering smell of cooking bacon. Maybe I died and went to heaven after my fourth orgasm last night. Just when we thought we were spent, we would catnap and one of us woke the other in a different delectable way.
I decided to get up thanks to my screaming bladder and realized I didn’t have my crutches. Hell, I didn’t even remember Jonah carrying me to bed for that matter. Pondering my dilemma, I decided to try and hop over to the bathroom. Maybe if I scooted to the end of the bed it would shorten the distance. But crap, there wasn’t any furniture between the bed and the bathroom door. Screw it. I had get up and go now before I peed the bed. Scooting down to the end, I carefully stood up with one foot on the bed. Now or never, right? I gave it my best shot, almost lost my balance but remained upright. You got this. Looking down, I realized I only hopped a couple of inches. Just when I was about to try it again, Jonah caught me.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Ally?” he demanded.
I squealed and covered my breasts, not thinking about the rest of my fully naked body. Realizing that I had just exposed some of my mistakes, I tried to turn around and grab the sheet, but ended up flopping ungracefully on the bed. It was quiet. Too quiet. Drawing into myself, I snatched the sheet and wrapped it around myself, turning away from Jonah. He had seen them now. There was no going back. I had to tell him the truth and I had to do it now.
“Baby? What happened to your back? And the backsides of your arms?” Jonah asked in a quiet reserved tone. A reserved tone that for some reason scared the hell out of me.
“Jonah, can you get my crutches, so I can clean up? It won’t take me long and then, well, we need to talk. I need to tell you somethings about me and about Sam. About our past and about my mistakes.”
As I waited for him to reply, I noticed that he had come in with a tray of coffee and plates of food for us. But now with the anxiety balled in a knot in the middle of my chest, there would be no way for me to eat. The coffee would help steady me though.
He put the tray down on a small table by the window overlooking his beautiful backyard and then pointed by the head of the bed. Looking over my shoulder, I saw that he had thought ahead and had already brought my crutches up and set them by the bed. Such a wonderful man. He had thought of everything. It seemed like he always did. I grabbed the crutches and went to the bathroom and quietly closed the door, noticing he never replied other than to point at the crutches. That was not a good sign. I knew for years what my back looked like, not to mention my upper arms. After years of Tom burning me with cigarettes and lashing me with a wire extension cord, I was left with deep, relentless scars zigzagging across my back. I always kept it covered. Never even went swimming. But the meek scared girl who took the beatings was no more. I had tucked her away when we had to run and embraced the new me that I would become. Ms. Ally Lynn Black. Taking my time showering, I could have sworn I heard Jonah’s phone. But I couldn’t make out the conversation. Standing under the hot water for what seemed only moments, Jonah knocked on the door before opening it.
“Ally. Sorry something has come up and I need to run out for a bit. I am setting the full alarm, so please don’t open any doors or windows or the town of Wordly will be here in force,” he ordered.
I gazed at him through the shower’s glass enclosure with my back to the wall, hiding it. He stood there and stared at me for a minute and then he was gone. And I was free to release my tears of fear and disappointment. Maybe the scars had changed his mind about me. Sniffling, I decided to wash my hair and then my body. But I continued to stand there crying wondering what to do. I had no idea at this point. I was either all in or all out with this man. He deserved to know the truth.
Drying myself, I noticed Jonah had left a big fluffy white robe on the sink where I could reach it. Putting on the robe, I went to sit at the little table and drank the lukewarm coffee while peering out the window, the whole while I wondered how to tell him everything. After lord knew how long but long enough that both coffee cups where empty, I decided to go lay down for a while. As I lay there thinking of the possibility of losing Jonah, I cried myself to sleep.