This is it. Welcome to the final chapter of Book One. It wraps up decently enough for the fic version, but it's definitely open-ended. I have two entire further books written that are 60k words (Book 2) and 70k (Book 3) that come out in December and February respectively :)
Information in the ending author's note.
*TRANSPARENCY: This is being self-published as an original work under the name Mariah L. Stevens (formerly Rae, my nickname). The story is entirely my own and contains pieces of my personal life in it. I wrote it so that all that needs be changed is names and descriptions of appearance. This story is completely nonmagical and takes place in America to a mixed Black woman. Because it is a depiction of my life.*
Trapped
Chapter Nineteen
O
Adrian kept Hermione with him for hours.
After the movie ended, he dragged her by the arm back to the restaurant and to his car. He made her wait while he went inside the restaurant to ensure that the bill had been paid.
Hermione felt bitter about that, wondering how someone with such polite manners could be such a demon.
When he got into the car with her, she asked if he would take her home. He took her to Portland instead. They made it into the city around 7:30PM.
Adrian drove to a liquor store and then home to his apartment. He spent the next hour pacing and drinking, raving to her in fanatical anger while she sat cross-legged on the couch and stared into space.
He ranted about how close they'd come to him getting caught for beating her on her bedroom floor. He laughed when he said he'd fucked her while she was unconscious, and he laughed again when he talked about how gullible her parents were. He snarled about how badly he'd wanted to beat Hannah, too. How badly he wanted to beat every woman who acted like they were better than him.
At one point, he told Hermione she reminded him so much of his mother that he wanted to slit her throat.
She cried, then, making sure to keep her sobs locked inside. Instead, she allowed the tears to fall one right after the other, splashing hot against her bruised chest and rolling down into the bodice of her dress.
Was this to be her forever?
He got so drunk that he stumbled and collapsed on the floor, spilling his bottle of tequila all over the tan carpet. The liquid spread outward and sank into the fabric immediately, destroying it.
Hermione thought it looked like blood.
When he began to snore, that was her opening. She had to leave now, before he woke and decided it was time to get out his switchblade again. She didn't know whether she was going to be able to stay strong come the morning, but she knew one thing.
She wanted to go home.
Hermione got up off of the couch and walked over to his prone form. Leaning down, she retrieved his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans and pulled three dollar bills out of it. With silent tears still coursing down her cheeks, she pulled the thin veil of courage she'd mustered up around her heart and shielded it from her terror. This would have consequences, she knew it, but she couldn't think about that right now.
She walked out into the warm, Summer night. It was 9:00, and darkness had just fallen. She walked through the quiet neighborhood and waited at the bus stop.
One two-hour transfer ticket would be enough.
When Hermione got the Max Station, she approached a teenage girl with dyed-blue hair who wore a Subway work uniform. The girl looked a little younger than her and even though Hermione was far away from Adrian now, it made her feel safe.
"Can I please use your phone?" Hermione asked, her voice trembling.
The girl looked at her as though she were covered in paint, and then nodded.
"Sure," she said. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," Hermione squeaked out, and she accepted the phone. Standing there with the girl openly studying her bruises, she dialed the only number she knew by heart.
Harry's.
"Hello?" he answered of the sixth ring, and he sounded confused. "Who's this?"
"It's me. I'll be at the Willow Creek Max Station in forty minutes," she said, her throat aching at the sound of her brother's voice. "Can you meet me there and pick me up?"
After a delay, Harry said, "Wait . . . Hermione? Hermione?!"
The moment her name left his lips, she heard several voices in the background. They blended together in a cacophony of noise, words of worry mingly with words of joy. She didn't know who was who, but she knew that they were family.
They cared.
The sheer excitement in his voice ripped her seams open and she dissolved into tears. The blue-haired girl stood up, looking like she didn't know what to do, but Hermione shook her head.
"I'm okay," she said, to both Harry and the girl. She sniffled and wiped her eyes. "I'm okay. Can you just - will you meet me there?"
"Hell yeah, I'll meet you there!" Harry yelled. "What happened? Where did you guys go? Did he hurt you?! Are you -"
Starting to feel overwhelmed, she hung up. She handed the phone back to the girl, who clutched it as though it were a lifeline. They stared at one another.
"Thank you," Hermione said.
The girl nodded. "Are you gonna be okay?"
"Maybe." Hermione's lips twitched upward into the ghost of a smile, but she couldn't feel it in her cloaked heart. "I hope so."
They waved good-bye to each other right as the Max pulled up. The girl got onto the second train car, and Hermione got on the first.
Her car was relatively empty, so she sat as far forward as she could. The air conditioning blasted around her, causing pebbles to ghost along her skin. Unable to pull her legs into the seat due to her short dress, she could only hug herself and settle in for a cold ride.
Harry was looking across the center console, waiting for Hermione's acknowledgment of his words.
They were parked outside of their family home, and there were lights on inside. Hermione could see that for some reason, Hannah's, Theo's, and Draco's cars were in the driveway. It made her heart swell.
Had they really been that worried about her?
"Did you hear me?" Harry said. "I said, you know that I love you, right?"
She returned his gaze and smiled. "Yeah, I do. I love you, too."
A serious look crossed his face and he held his hand out to her. "I'm your big brother, and I won't let anyone hurt you, okay?"
"Okay," she said with a bit of a laugh as she placed one of her hands in his own. She used her other hand to grab her opposite shoulder, feeling confused. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah."
"For real?" she said, a tiny hint of suspicion entering her disposition. She narrowed her eyes.
"Yeah, for real!" he said, laughing. "Come on. Let's go inside."
They walked up the footpath and to the front door. Harry stepped aside and gestured to her to open the door.
That was weird.
Why wouldn't he just open the door?
She pushed the front door inward, the familiar scent of her mother's cooking reaching her nostrils, and the cloak of courage around her heart dissipated. She didn't need it anymore.
At home, she was safe.
The front door closed behind Harry. Hermione looked around the living room.
She froze.
Her mother, father, Theo, and her friends were here. They were strewn about the living room, some sitting and some standing. Even Draco was there, his arms crossed over his chest while he leaned back against the wall beside the front door.
Her stomach twisted tight.
"What's going on?" she said, feeling Harry's presence looming behind her.
Hannah stood up from the couch and stepped forward, looking sad.
"We were wrong," she said. "Ginny and I - we were wrong to make you choose. We should have been the ones to choose, and we should have told someone what was happening. I'm sorry, Hermione."
Panic began to unfurl in the center of Hermione's chest.
"Momma?" Hermione saw her parents, still sitting on the couch. Her mother, weeping with her hands clasped before her. Her father, with his back straight and an expression of stoicism on his face. "Nna? What is this?"
"Your body can't put up with it much longer," Ginny said from where she was seated in the armchair. "It's only a matter of time before he strangles you and nobody comes to rescue me. And then you'll be dead."
The panic bloomed.
"Oh, and now you guys care?!" Hermione cried, her hands shaking so hard she had to clench them. "Now you finna step up and do something about it?!"
"I'm sorry, Hermione!" Ginny wailed, wiping her eyes again and again as her voice broke. "I didn't know what to do! Hannah didn't know what to do, either! You're over eighteen, you're - you're . . . It's not an excuse. I know. We should have told. But we're here now! We're -"
Hannah jumped in. "We're here to help you now, if you'll let us."
Hermione scoffed, looking around at the lot of them. Didn't they understand that it wasn't that simple? Didn't they understand that she'd tried to leave him? Did they not grasp that she was with him because he wouldn't let her go?
"Why are you all here now?" she asked, her teeth knocking together from the force of her nerves. "Why now?"
"This was planned, sweetheart," Jean said, her voice calm even though her face was streaked with tears. "Harry was supposed to talk to Adrian while Hannah and Ginny drove you home. We were all going to talk to you as soon as they did. Your father and I were going to leave work early, and everyone was supposed to meet here. We just want to help you. Right, honey?"
Ikeobi said nothing.
Hermione's brow furrowed, her mind trying to fit the puzzle pieces together.
"How did you . . . When did you plan this out?"
"While you were in the hospital," Hannah said. "We wanted to wait for you to get out, and find the right moment. But everything got messed up when you and Adrian went to that bathroom, and then I couldn't get you to come with me. We've been waiting for you to get home for hours. We were worried that he . . ."
She trailed off and turned her face downward.
"Hannah and I suspected what he was doing to you, but we figured if it were true, you wouldn't want to stay with him. We . . ." Ginny sobbed again. "We thought you'd choose us."
"We just didn't want to believe it," Hannah whispered.
It felt like air was rushing past Hermione's ears. The walls seemed to be creeping closer towards her from all sides. Her lungs began to squeeze, increasing the pace of her breaths. She furrowed her brow as she searched for the right words to say, chewing on her fingernails.
They wanted her to say something, but there wasn't anything to say that wouldn't make her look like an idiot for staying with him for so long. If they knew what had happened in her room, how Adrian had forced her back into a relationship with him after she attempted to leave him, would they think she was weak? Would they think she was stupid for not telling someone then?
"We all care about you," Theo said from the center of the living room, his voice breaking through the swirl of her stormy emotions. "We just want to know what's going on."
From behind her, Harry exploded.
"I'll tell you what the fuck's going on! That asshole's been beating the shit out of her for months, and ain't nobody doing nothing!" He clapped his hands to punctuate the last three words. "Why isn't everyone else fucking angry?!"
"Harry, calm down," Theo said, shooting him a nasty look. "We're all angry. We are, but that isn't helping anyone."
Hermione felt her defenses crumbling. Whether it was Harry's outburst or the fact that everyone was either crying or on the verge of it, she wasn't certain. She didn't know who had organized this intervention; she just knew that she couldn't breathe.
"There's nothing wrong," she said in a meek voice, feeling thousands of eyes scrutinizing her. "I'm good. Everything is fine. I'm good."
"Are you fucking . . . Nuts, bro?!"
Harry's green eyes burned as bright as a star as he lurched forward. He gestured to all of her bruises. She hugged herself, wishing she could hide.
She'd never felt more exposed.
"Then what the fuck are these? And these? Why don't you tell me, Hermione? Because I'm sure we'd all like to know what the fuck your explanation for him is going to be this time. Please. I want to hear your explanation for why the bruise around your throat looks worse."
"Stop yelling at me!" Hermione shrieked, bursting into tears. She smacked Harry's hands away. "Stop looking at my body! You don't know anything! You don't understand anything!"
The entire room seemed to hold its breath in the wake of her outburst.
This was it.
If her family and friends got involved, and they couldn't keep Adrian away from her, then she was fucked. If they confronted him or kept her away from him, and he came in through her window again?
There would be no mistakes, and there would be no hope that someone or something might save her. He would kill her this time.
And he wouldn't fail.
"You're not leaving me. Do you hear me?"
It was too hot in the house, too small and confined. There were too many people. The immense pressure of facing the possibility of making another mistake propelled her around to face the door.
She ran towards it.
Draco's eyes widened and he moved to the side, stepping into her path. He caught her by the elbows right as she smashed into him. She let out a cry of dismay. He wasn't going to let her go.
He held her there, dipping his head down by her ear so he could speak to her in a soft voice meant only for her to hear.
"Please stay, Pixie. For me."
A shiver ran down her spine, like a ghost trailing its finger along the length of her back. It was the comforting silence of a promise kept.
"You've been so strong, but I'm gonna take care of it."
If they planned this when she was in the hospital, then that meant that this intervention of sorts hadn't been Hannah and Ginny's doing. It hadn't been her parents', nor her brothers'.
Hermione placed her hands flat on his chest and shoved him backward. He barely flinched, but his brows knit together in confusion.
"You did this," she whispered, the betrayal making her blood boil inside of her body. "Of all people, you should know what he'll do to me. What he'll do to you if he finds out you did this."
Draco's eyes flashed and he balled his hands into fists at his sides.
"I don't give a flying fuck what he does to me, Hermione."
Hermione glared at him. "When you asked me to tell you the truth, I told you because I trusted you."
"And I told you I'd take care of it," he hissed. "This was me taking care of it the right way. Or would you rather I killed him?"
"That's not fair," she said, her voice breaking. "That's not fair!"
"I told you I was gonna end his life. Or did you forget that I said that?"
Hermione's mind swirled, taking her all the way back to the night of the party at Blaise's house. The night she'd first dropped her guard and let Draco see the side of her that feared taking up space.
Draco spoke again.
"It was him or you," he said, his tone a mixture of furious and emotional. "I chose you."
He chose her. He chose her because he cared about her and wanted to protect her. Because he wanted her to be free of the cage that Adrian had locked her in.
Because she mattered to him.
"We just want to make sure that fucker goes to prison," Harry said, sounding calmer. "I want to go to the police."
The police.
The police that Hermione had lied to.
The police who believed she'd tried to file a false police report.
She'd never be free of Adrian.
Hermione turned and tried to run for the kitchen. She wanted to get to the back door, and then she was gonna run. She didn't know where she was gonna go, but she was going to run and run and run until she couldn't stay upright. And then, she was going to scream herself hoarse.
Her escape was stopped by Harry throwing his arms around her from the side. She fought against him, pleading with him, but he only held her tighter. Her mother and father both jumped to their feet, and Hannah and Ginny crossed the room.
Everyone was talking to her, trying to calm her down. Even her father was trying, in spite of the fact that he'd been silent so far.
No one understood. No one understood how terrified she was. Adrian had complete control of her entire life. He would never let her leave him. He could talk his way out of anything. He could come in the window. He could follow her in his car.
He would always find her.
"Please, Hermione," Harry said, his voice jumping out at her amongst everyone else's. "We just want to help you."
"You can't help me," Hermione said in a weak voice, sobbing as she went limp in her brother's embrace. "Nobody can."
Someone's hands cupped her face and turned it up.
Draco.
"Hermione, I swear to you that now that we know what's going on, he will never hurt you again. I won't let him lay a hand on you. I told you I would take care of it. But what I should have said was that I'm gonna take care of you."
Hermione's lower lip trembled. His hands were soft against her skin, the brush of his touch promising her that what he said was true. Her heart felt like it was going to explode.
"We all are," Hannah said, moving closer.
"No one's going to let him get to you again," Ginny said from behind her. "I promise."
"If he tries," Theo said, "you have a lot of boys here who want to see him bleed."
"We'll pull up and jump him," said Harry. "Best believe that."
"We love you, sweetheart," Jean said, still weeping and replacing Harry at Hermione's left side. "And we want you to be safe."
And then Ikeobi came forward, and Draco stepped aside. Her father held his trembling hands outward to her.
There were tears streaming from his eyes.
"Nwa m nwanyị," he said, his voice broken and forlorn. "I'm so sorry."
"Nna," she whispered, and the dam broke. She began to weep, her sobs ripping through her frail, aching, bruised body. The body that she'd been holding together with cobwebs. The body that she'd abused from the inside to cope with the fact that it was being abused on the outside.
Everyone was here. They cared.
She was loved.
Ikeobi took Hermione into his arms for the first time in months. It felt like everyone else in the room had disappeared, even if just for a moment. A shaky breath escaped her, and her eyelids fell shut as his affection washed over her. No one could hurt her while she was in her father's arms. Nobody.
This was safety.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to see that you were in pain," he said into the curls at the top of her head. She could feel his tears on her scalp, but she didn't care. She was destroying his shirt with her own tears, anyway. "I was too wrapped up in myself to notice that he was hurting you. I should have been a better father. I should have protected you, my family, nwa m nwanyị."
"I love you," Hermione said, because it was all she had the strength to say. "I love you."
And then she felt everyone's arms around her. Harry's, Theo's, Hannah's, Jean's . . . Even Draco's. Everyone embraced her.
They stood there in the living room, all of the women and Ikeobi weeping in one big group hug. Hermione had never felt so held in her entire life, and she regretted every second of every day of the past year. She regretted not trusting that her friends and family loved her. She regretted not being honest.
Her heart grew as big as the moon.
They spent the next hour in the living room, talking.
Hermione sat down in the center of the couch, her mother on one side and her father on the other, both holding her hands. Hannah, Ginny, and her brothers were littered about the room in various places close to them. Draco sat on the coffee table in front of them, his hands on her shaking knees.
Everyone listened.
Hermione told them all as much as she felt comfortable with. She told them about when the abuse had started and why she had chosen to hide it. She told them about the pregnancy lie, explaining the origin of the "Hermione throws herself down staircases" lie. She explained to them how Adrian hadn't been this cruel in the beginning, and that even though his personality change had been rapid, she hadn't thought that it could happen to her. Thus, her acquiescence to his control was gradual and absolute.
Then, she told them about the window, and about how it was the major reason why she hadn't been able to break up with him safely. Because he'd come into her window multiple times. She also told them the truth about what happened that had landed her in the hospital. She told them she'd tried to keep him out, but he'd threatened to break the glass.
When she said that, Ikeobi let out a growl in the depths of his chest, and Draco's hands tightened around her knees.
She didn't tell them about how Adrian had violated her multiple times. She said nothing about the way he'd used her body, nor the fact that he'd told her multiple times that she was "supposed" to be hypersexual because she was Black. Neither did she tell them about how Adrian had brought her around his racist friends, called her "colored," and cut her hair to get rid of her natural curls. She didn't want her father and Harry to feel hurt by having to hear that, and she didn't want to have to relive any of it.
Somehow, those parts shamed her worse than the rest of violence.
"I want you to break up with him as soon as possible," Harry said, calmer than he had been earlier. He sat down beside Draco on the coffee table. "As soon as possible. It's best if he knows it's over. We can deal with the rest after."
"But what if he finds her somewhere?" Hannah asked with concern from the other side of Jean on the couch. "Then what?"
"Well," Ikeobi said, wrapping a gentle arm around Hermione's bruised shoulders, "then someone will always need to be with her."
"I will," Draco said, nearly blurting the words out. Then, he lowered his gaze. "At least, I'll try."
Hermione shot a glance in his direction, smiling through her tears. He smiled back.
"And she can stay with us as often as she wants," Theo said.
"Yeah," Harry said with an enthusiastic nod. "He won't try to pull up. Not if she's with us."
"And you can always come to my house if everyone's at work and your parents aren't home," Ginny said. "And I'm sure Hannah could give you rides so you don't have to take the bus to the cheerleading ? . . . There, see?"
"I think it's a good plan," Jean said, rubbing Hermione's back. "We love you, and we want you as far away from that boy as you can get."
Hermione couldn't speak. She felt overwhelmed by the amount of concern her friends and family had for her. She wished she would have asked for help sooner. Hannah and Ginny. Theo and Harry. Ikeobi and Jean.
And having Draco here with her was the cherry on top of the sundae.
"I knew there was something wrong with him from the beginning," Ikeobi said in a bitter voice, clenching his fist on his thigh. "I knew there was no way he wasn't full of bullshit."
"His money comes from a trust fund from his father's life insurance," Draco spat. "And he works for my father - his adoptive father. Everything he's 'accomplished' was given to him."
"Tch." Harry sneered and ran his hands through his messy hair. "Figures. With his lying ass."
Ikeobi frowned and pressed on with the conversation. "We're going to call the police and report what he's done to you first thing tomorrow, Hermione."
An imaginative vision of Adrian getting away with everything and coming after her materialized in the recesses of her mind. She felt the panic budding in her chest once again as she pulled her hands free of her parents' fingers.
"No," she said with a shake of her head. "No police. I don't want to press charges."
Everyone was silent for a second.
The other shoe dropped.
"Why not?" Harry growled, his eyes full of anger. "Why the fuck not?!"
Hermione flinched away and she felt Draco's hands tighten on her knees. He turned to look at Harry.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Don't talk to her like that, man."
"Are you not hearing the words coming out of her mouth?" Harry stood up and glowered down at him. "She's really gonna sit there and say 'no police.' Like, bruh. That guy belongs in prison!"
Jean, sensing the tension, waved her hands. "Boys, calm down. Harry, you lower your voice when you talk to your sister. Just sit down."
Harry huffed in annoyance and stomped over to the empty armchair, arms folded over his chest while he pouted and glared into the distance. Ginny went to join him, to offer him some comfort.
"Hermione, sweetheart, why don't you want to press charges?" Jean asked. "He could have killed you. He tried to kill you."
"He really does belong in prison, Hermione," Hannah said, sitting on Draco's other side. Hermione felt boxed in. "Honestly. I mean, he's crazy. He's beaten you, he's tried to murder you, he told everyone at school a lie that he got you pregnant and you got an abortion . . . He's insane!"
Hermione buried her fingers in her curls, hanging her head between her hands. She felt panicked and overwhelmed. Her throat and chest were closing up, and her breathing pace quickened.
This was too much, too fast.
"What's wrong with her?" Theo asked, alarmed. "Why is she breathing like that?"
She placed her hands on her chest, hyperventilating as yet another bout of panic assaulted her. Pitching forward, she ducked her head between her knees.
"Excuse me, sir," Draco said, a sense of urgency to her voice. "She's having a panic attack. I can help."
Ikeobi stood up, moving aside.
Draco took his place beside her on the couch. He placed his hands on her, one on her back and one on her forearm. He trailed his fingers along calming pathways from her wrist to the crease of her arm, and from the center of her spine up to the back of her neck.
"When did this start happening?" Ikeobi asked.
"I'm not sure," Draco said, keeping his face near hers as he continued to mollify her. "Hermione, it's okay. You're here with everyone. Everything is okay."
Hermione took deep, steady breaths, attempting to ground herself with the feeling of his touch. The walls were not closing in. The ground was steady. No one was trying to hurt her.
She was safe.
Falling against his side, she rested the side of her face against his chest, and relaxed. Borderline catatonic, she gazed at the floor without really seeing it, and then she felt her mother's hands on her back, too.
"We're all going to keep you safe," she said. "Everything is all right now. And maybe I should make you another appointment with Dr. Pomfrey."
"And we can discuss the police later," Ikeobi added.
They talked for another thirty minutes or so, trying to ease the coalesced tension by encouraging Draco to get to know her parents. Hermione laid against Draco's side the entire time, her legs curled up onto the couch with his arm around her.
She felt normal.
"Phone."
Hermione's gaze lowered to Draco's outstretched hand, and she hesitated.
"The last time I gave my phone to a guy, he installed a parenting app on it."
"I'm not that guy," Draco said. "Phone, please."
She reached for the phone on her bedside table. Her room was clean now, after the destruction that Adrian had caused, and she had a new lavender rug. They were sitting on the edge of her bed beside each other, so she turned to face him.
Again, she hesitated.
What would happen if she let Draco do this? She feared the consequences, and she wanted to run. She wanted to hide away until everything passed, somewhere safe where she knew Adrian couldn't get her.
He raised his eyebrows.
"Hermione," he said. "Phone."
With a reluctant sigh, she typed in the passcode and handed him the phone. His thumbs began to fly across the screen. Gripping her knees with her hands, trying not to shake, she took deep breaths.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to do it this way?" she said.
"I'm sure," he said, leaning closer to her. "Here. Read it."
She read the screen.
'You and Hermione are done. If you ever come near her again, or if I ever even see your face, I'll lay your ass out. Block her number. - Your little fucking brother.'
Hermione's stomach turned in her nervousness. The text would get the point across, but it would also make Adrian so angry that if she were to ever be in his presence again, she might not survive.
"See? I got you," Draco said, smiling down at her briefly before he blocked Adrian's number in her phone. "And now, he can't contact you."
"Thanks," Hermione said. "I could have done that myself, you know."
"I know," he said, his voice lowering an octave and drawing her to look up at him. "I wanted to do it, though."
Her heart skipped a beat. She remembered what they'd done together in his car, and it made her entire body flush with heat.
He handed her the phone and she set it down on the bedside table. Then, she turned back to face Draco, curling one leg beneath her on the mattress. Her fleece blanket was soft against her skin and they had closed the door.
Hermione's parents had never let her be in her room with the door closed, but they were still downstairs, watching a movie.
"You know you don't have to be afraid anymore, right?" Draco said.
"I know," she said, giving him a sad smile, "but I am."
"Why?"
"Because you guys can't be with me all the time. What happens if one day, everyone has to work? I don't want everyone calling out and taking sick time just to watch over me. I'm twenty-three, and I should be stronger than this."
"No," he said, reaching out to take her by the chin, "you shouldn't. You don't have to be strong for anyone if you don't want to be. You can be weak, and that's okay."
"What if I want to be strong?" Hermione searched his eyes, her heart beating a rapid pattern within her chest. "What if I feel safer when I'm strong?"
He gave her a lopsided smile, the kind that she'd always seen in the Snapchats he used to send her. The one that made him look adorable and mischievous at the same time. The smile that gave her butterflies.
"Then be strong. And I'll protect you when you want to take a break."
Hermione bit her lower lip, thinking carefully about what she wanted to say next. After everything that had happened, she wanted to make sure she told him how she felt. He told her he liked her. He'd made it clear that he wanted to be with her.
She was ready to tell him the last truth she held inside of her heart.
"Draco, remember how you told me to tell you when I was ready?"
He let go of her chin, an expression of surprise lifting his brows. "Yeah."
"Well, I'm ready to tell you the truth."
"Okay." He combed his fingers through his hair and leaned back on one hand. "Tell me."
Hermione turned her face to the right, sucking in her breath. She wanted to do this right. She wanted to make the right decisions. No more mistakes. No more lies.
No more letting herself be used.
"I made the wrong choice," she said, shyness lowering her voice. "When I met you, I liked you first, and I made the wrong choice. And I like you now. I like you so much that it scares me sometimes. I want you to know that every moment we've ever had together - the Snapchats, going to the school, going to lunch, the party at Blaise's - it all meant more to me than you understand."
He watched her, not saying anything.
"You were the only thing I had that made me happy," she said. "You're the only person that ever made me feel safe."
"Do I make you happy now?" he murmured, sitting up straight again. "Do you wanna be with me?"
"You make me . . . So happy," she breathed, and it felt like a release of pent-up air inside of her lungs to say it. "And one day, I do wanna be with you. But I'm scared to let myself fall for someone again, when I'm not even sure how I'm gonna get better."
He gave her a contemplative look, and then his face softened. "I'm not going anywhere, Pixie. Whatever you want. Whatever you need. I'm here."
"But I . . ." Hermione fidgeted with her fingernails for a moment, her heart fluttering and stomach roiling with nervousness. She couldn't look him in the eyes. "I liked what we did in the car."
Silence.
"Yeah?" he said.
She nodded, finally looking at him in spite of the blush that warmed her cheeks.
"I liked it, and I wouldn't mind if we did it again. Or did . . . More. I just . . ." She sighed. "God, this is so hard."
"It's okay," he said with a laugh. "Don't rush yourself to say something you're not ready to say, Hermione. I told you - I'm not going anywhere."
"What I'm trying to say is that I like you, I want to be with you someday, but I also want to be with you. I think. At least, right now I do, because I feel really close to you. And grateful that you, you know, organized an intervention for me. I don't know." She chewed on her lips for a moment, giving him a worried look. "I just don't want it to be a hook-up. I want it to be real."
He looked surprised for a moment and then he began to laugh. He covered his mouth with the back of his hand to stifle it.
"What?" she said in a stern voice. "Boy, you better tell me why you're laughing."
"Hermione, if you think I only want to hook-up with you, you're literally delusional. Dead-ass." He laughed harder. "Bruh, I sent you Snapchats of me doing TikTok dances. I don't do that for a hook-up. And for the record? I liked you first, too."
Draco placed his hand on her back, turning towards her, and she felt flames igniting where his fingers touched. His body leaned closer, but not too close.
He smelled like vanilla and freedom.
Hermione closed her eyes, her hand coming up to rest on his shoulder. Heart stuttering, she pulled him closer. His response was better than what she could have hoped to hear. It felt like everything she'd been through had come full circle. She had her friends back, her family was by her side, and now, she had the guy she liked in her arms.
And while she knew she was going to have a lot of things to work through when she woke up from this dream and remembered what Adrian had put her through, she knew that right now, she felt the same way she'd felt in Draco's car when they were listening to Dance Gavin Dance and kissing.
She was going to give him whatever he wanted, too.
"You're so beautiful," he said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Have I ever told you that?"
Hermione laughed, unable to stop the smile from spreading across her face. "You may have told me once. I can't remember."
"I guess I'll just have to tell you again." His smile faded and the expression on his face became serious. "You're beautiful, Hermione."
Hermione wasted no time.
She slid her hand from his shoulder up into his hair, her lips meeting his right as her fingertips grazed his scalp. He moaned into her mouth, turning his head to the side to pull her into a kiss that felt like the physical representation of everything he'd done for her today.
He'd said he was gonna take care of it, and he did.
The moment their tongues touched, the feelings that were crackling inside of Hermione's body intensified. She kissed him harder, pouring all of herself into him and not caring one iota that her family was downstairs.
It was easy to swing her leg over him and straddle him the same way she had in his car. It was even easier to kiss him while rolling her hips against his. She could feel his hands dragging along the outsides of her thighs, careful not to press on her bruises. They disappeared underneath her dress for a moment.
Suddenly, she felt him shuddering beneath her. He pulled away and looked up at her with a look of sincerity and contriteness so pure that it hurt her heart. He looked broken.
He looked like he blamed himself.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry that I didn't step in sooner. I should've -"
Hermione shook her head back and forth, holding a finger over his lips. Her other hand carded through his unruly blond hair and she lowered her face to his again.
This time, when they kissed, it was electrifying. It sizzled like a current along every vein inside of her body. She commanded it for as long as she could before his desire began to usurp hers, and then she found herself on her back beneath him on the mattress. It felt like she'd been swept up in a wind current; like he was carrying her away to another land entirely.
She wasn't scared to fly with him.
"Fuck," he breathed, trailing kisses all over her collarbones and neck. He tasted her bruises as though he could heal them with his lips. "I've got you. I've got you now."
He placed one hand on the bed beside her head, hovering over her on all fours as he traveled back up to her mouth. Right as their lips met again, his hand reached between them to touch her bare thigh.
Her heart skipped a beat.
The light was on. The bedroom door didn't lock. Her dress was pushed up almost to her hips.
And she wanted him to touch her.
She kissed him with renewed zeal, shoving her tongue into his mouth with desperation punctuated by her sighs. His hand slipped further up her thigh, sending delicious chills running wild through her. On instinct, she widened her legs as far as they could go, before they were stopped by his knees on either side of her.
Draco pulled back just enough to kiss a line along her jaw, his fingers moving even higher. They stopped millimetres away from the center of her panties, where she could feel her pulse pounding for him. His tongue curved around the shell of her ear and she arched her back.
A knock came at the door.
Draco tore his mouth away from hers and they stared at each other with wide eyes.
"Hermione?" Jean's voice came through the door, causing alarm bells to ring in Hermione's head. "It's time for Draco to go home, sweetheart."
"Shit!" Draco hissed. "Shit, shit, shit."
"Um, yes mom, he's leaving!" Hermione cried, and then they scrambled to their feet. Her eyes dropped to the front of Draco's jeans. "You're gonna need to -"
"Do you have a hoodie?" he said, adjusting himself as best he could. He was blushing, and it was cute.
She dashed into her closet, grabbing a black hoodie that she'd stolen from Adrian. It felt good to pass it over, to get it out of her closet.
If only ridding Adrian from her life could go that smoothly.
"Is this my brother's?" Draco asked as he pulled it on over his head. He watched her with an inscrutable expression from underneath the hood.
"Yes," she said, crossing the distance to reach into the hood and cup his cheeks. Pulling him down into a kiss, she spoke against his lips. "But I don't want it anymore."
"I'm - burning - it," he said between kisses, his hands sliding around to her lower back, and then down to grip her rear. "I'll have to - bring you - one of mine, hm?"
"Good, then I won't have to pretend to borrow it, and then steal it from you, will I?"
Their tongues met, and then Draco turned them around. Her back hit the dresser and the flames of need reared to life again. She kissed him as though he were giving her the air she needed to breathe, her heart swelling so full that it ached. Their bodies swayed back and forth, the passion ebbing and flowing like an ocean made of fire.
If she could kiss him forever, she would.
Knock, knock.
"Honey," Jean said with a warning in her tone. "Time for him to go home."
"Notice how she doesn't open the door?" he said, smirking.
"Shut up, head-ass," she said. On the tips of her toes, she gave him one last kiss, and then went to her door to open it. "Sorry, momma. He was just leaving."
Jean eyed her. "No boys in your room with the door closed. You know the rules."
Hermione could only give her a meek smile.
"Hey, Mrs. Okeke," Draco said, coming to stand behind Hermione. She felt him behind her, tall and imposing. "I'll head out now."
"Thank you so much for coming to our home," Jean said, smiling. "I think Hermione should get some rest now. First thing in the morning, we'll head to the police station, and then you're free to come back over. She'll need someone to stay with her while we're at work anyway."
"Yeah," Hermione said. "Come back tomorrow."
"All right, bet," Draco said, and he leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. His eyes lingered on hers, his knuckles caressing her jaw for a moment before he stood up straight. "Good night, Mrs. Okeke. Night, Pixie."
He disappeared down the stairs.
Jean crossed her arms. "A nickname?"
"He calls me Pixie," Hermione replied, holding one hand to her cheek where he'd kissed it. "Because of my hair."
"I like him," Jean said. "He's kind, respectful, and he has a good job. I think he's exactly the type of man that your father and I would want for you. And everything that happened tonight was all thanks to him. He came to us while you were in the hospital so he could orchestrate the entire thing. You're very lucky to have him as a friend, sweetheart."
"Yeah," Hermione said, the butterflies dancing inside of her abdomen as she imagined Draco talking with her parents, doing whatever he could to help her. "I am."
"Okay, time for bed," Jean said, waving her hands towards Hermione's room. "And Hermione?"
"Yeah, momma?"
"Take it slow with him. He's not going anywhere."
"How do you know?"
"Because I'm your mom. Good night, sweetheart. I love you."
She leaned down to give Hermione one last hug, and then she was alone in her room.
The moment her door closed, the silence and quiet settled over her like a lonely blanket.
Turning, she stared at her window and wondered how something so common could be so dangerous for her. How something as harmless as glass panes in the wall could be used to manipulate and terrorize her into believing that she was trapped.
Draco couldn't be there all the time, and neither could her other friends. Her parents worked. Her brothers worked. Everyone had lives.
What if during a small lapse in time, Adrian broke in and attacked her? Would anyone be able to save her then?
Hermione was exhausted. She was tired of fighting. Tired of suffering for Adrian's sake, hoping that someday, she'd find a magical way out. She was in pain every day, going to sleep with tears in her eyes as her body throbbed and protested her every movement, waiting for someone to reach up and pluck her star out of Adrian's sky.
But at least now, she had a whole slew of people in her corner who wanted to keep her safe.
Hermione wasn't a lonely, dead star, singing into a void of distant galaxies. She wasn't a pulsar, spinning desperate patterns to keep the dark from seeming so quiet. She wasn't a prisoner, wrapped in iron chains and held in the hands of a monster.
Not anymore.
No matter which direction she looked, there were millions of stars watching over her, always within reach.
Thank you so, so much for your feedback and support. It was very special for me to share this dramatization of different parts of my life with everyone, and it means the world to me that you came along for the ride. Thank you for all of your kindness in your comments, too. I always read every single one, and knowing that many of you have experienced an abusive relationship (or like me, multiple) before makes me sad, but it also renewed my sense of determination to complete this trilogy.
By the end of Book 3, I hope to have inspired some of you to choose recovery :)
If you are interested in coming with me further to complete the whole trilogy, please head to my website and subscribe to receive e-mails from me. The book cover reveal is TODAY! So if you wanted to see how my photos turned out, you can see them on my YouTube. Just type in honeysweetcutie!
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