Roman sighed as he stood in the doorway with his arms crossed and stared into the darkness of his living room. He could see Eden sitting on the couch. The light from her phone lit up the room. Someone was calling and he knew who it was. Seth had been calling and texting non stop since he realized Eden was gone. At least she hadn't answered any of the calls or texts.
"Block his number," he said.
She jumped startled on the couch before turning her head to face him. He uncrossed his arms and walked over to her.
"You should block him. He'll never stop," he said.
"I thought the right thing to do would be to talk to him once I'm ready. You know, as adults," she said.
"Adults?" He raised his eye brows. "Tell me again how it's the adult thing to hurt your girlfriend. How it's the right thing to do."
He pointed at the bruise on her upper arm that had turned into an ugly green shade. It would fade soon enough, and he would make damn sure Seth never got close enough to her to leave another bruise on her.
"It's hard, Roman," she said.
"I know. A breakup is never easy. It doesn't matter that you're done with the other person. There's still a past there that you have to work through. It's not leaving him behind that's the scary part. It's being on your own. That's why so many people choose to stay in shitty relationships. They're scared of the unknown. At least they know the devil they're with," he said.
"You sure like to refer to him as a demonic creature," she smiled sadly.
"That's what he is in my mind," he smiled back.
Her phone started ringing again. It was on mute but the light lit up her face. He could see she was sad and scared, but at least no tears had spilled. He grabbed the phone from her hand and placed it upside down on the coffee table.
"Okay, come on," he said.
He grabbed her and pulled her up from the couch. He gently pushed her towards the door.
"Where am I going?" She asked.
"To the bedroom," he answered.
"What?" She asked.
"To sleep," he said. "You're not ready to block him and that's okay. So new rules. No phones in the bedroom, and you're not allowed to sleep in my living room. That's the only way I can make sure that you actually get to sleep, and you need to sleep."
"Fine," she said.
"And that word is still forbidden," he chuckled.
They walked to the bedroom and she stared at his king size bed. They should be able to share that without touching each other. It would be awkward at first but it would be doable.
"What side to you prefer?" She asked.
"I don't care as long as you sleep, so choose the side you're most comfortable with," he said.
She walked over to the bed and laid down on the left side. He smiled as he crawled down on the right side. He turned his back towards her to make sure she knew all they would be doing was sleeping. He was not going to take advantage of her. She laid on her back for a couple of minutes. She rolled over on her side, and he felt her eyes burn into his back through the darkness.
"Roman?" She whispered.
"I'm still awake," he yawned. "Kinda."
"Thank you," she said.
"You're welcome," he said.
"No, you don't understand. If you hadn't come, I don't know what I would have done. I was so scared that I thought jumping was my only option to get away from him," she said.
He rolled over on his other side and found her eyes in the darkness.
"I only did what any sane person would do," he said.
"Seth wouldn't have done that," she said.
"But Seth isn't sane," he said.
He took both her hands and held on to them.
"Give it time. You'll heal soon enough," he said.
"At the end I was with him out of fear. Not out of love," she said.
"It breaks my heart to know that's what was going on," he said.
"I miss the old days. Back when all four of us were driving from town to town and making fun of each other. There was so much love and happiness among us," she said.
"I miss that too," he sighed. "I still got Dean, and now I got you back. We don't need Seth. And most importantly, you don't need Seth."
He pulled her hands to his lips and kissed her fingers.
"You got your job, your friends and a place to be. Take all the time in the world you need to heal your heart and move forward. One day you'll wake up, and everything will seem a little brighter," he said.
"You're always so smart, aren't you?" She smirked.
"Yeah, I'd like to think so," he smirked back. "Now sleep, Eden. You need it."
He closed his eyes and hoped that she did the same. After a few minutes her breathing changed. It got more slow and heavy. He opened his eyes again and watched her sleep. He still had her hands in his. He stroked them with his thumbs and watched her for a little while.
He would never understand how Seth could do what he had done. Seth had everything. Two loyal friends and the best damn girlfriend he could have wished for. He threw it all away for a power trip. He broke hearts and spirits, and he hurt people without a care in the world.
Despite Roman hurting himself, he knew he didn't hurt as much as Eden did. She shared a whole other past with Seth. A man who was supposed to love and protect her had instead hurt her and scared her enough to make her consider suicide as the only option to get away from him. It was all so fucked up.
He didn't know what to do or where to go from there. All he knew was that he would do whatever he could to keep Seth away from Eden. Seth hadn't been there for her, so Roman would. Seth hadn't protected her, so Roman would. Seth hadn't loved her like he was supposed to. Not like Roman had always done in secret. And his love would remain a secret. The last thing she needed on her hands was a love sick puppy thinking he could worm his way in now that Seth was sidelined.
