Loving Lisbeth Salander (XIV Series #1)

The Scarred Girl V

Leaning this close… my eyes darted to her lips and my heart raced. I looked away before my temptation eats me up and I’m no longer a decent man.

“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”

I’m a guy and no guy would be able to control themselves if girls started acting like this especially when it’s the girl you actually like this. Only a few would be decent enough to be able to control a situation like this. “Not when you’re drunk.” I looked at her and she seemed unamused, disappointed even. I slid away from her trap, and took a deep breath from the pressure that felt in my chest.

“Well, you’re no fun.” She said collapsing down the ground, leaning her head over the wall like she was about to sleep.

“Hey,” I walked closer to her and gave her a small shake but she doesn’t budge. She seemed lifeless that it was impossible to get any response from her. She groaned, shoving my hands off. “Forest?” I called but she just sat there comfortably with her eyes closed. Is she asleep? Did she fell asleep already? “Forest…” I lightly poked her by the shoulder and she still wasn’t budging from her position. That makes her my obligation to take care of considering I’m the one she was last seen with.

That’s okay. I plan to have her as my obligation ever since I met her after all.

I sighed. “Come on. Let’s get you home.” I pulled her up from the ground and she was surprisingly a lot more light weight than I would have expected. She looked like she was about a hundred pounds heavy but she feels like a fifty pound. I always thought she’d be heavier because of her alcohol in-take but I guess not. Maybe she doesn’t really drink that much. And it was just an image I falsely thought of her of.

“Wait. Is it night already? Shit.” I heard her mumble as she fell down to my arms. I instantly wrapped her arms around my shoulders so she wouldn’t fall off the ground. “I can’t be absent today. Fuck.” Absent? I wrinkled my forehead in wonder. It was too late to be thinking of school. And I don’t think she attended anything else other than school for her to think of being absent of anything. Absent where? I asked myself as I escorted her all the way to the nearest bus stop. If I had my car, it would have been less problematic. But I had to go around without my car today and meet her in this state.

She suddenly grabbed my hair, pulling it away. “Take me to bed! My head hurts…” she mumbled as she rested her head over my shoulder, her breaths tickling my neck as we continued to move, and she kept leaning her face over my neck.

Am I really taking her to my place? Am I allowed? But I don’t know where she lives and she’s not telling me anything. What should I do? Should I just leave her in the arms of the school authorities? But what if they take advantage of her there?

There were so many thoughts I had in my head, and only one I was sure of and was certain of doing.

I sighed. “Forest?” I said but she was dozing off soundly.

For the past thirty minutes, I couldn’t help but feel fascinated of how Forest was acting. I’ve never seen her like this and I’m partly glad that I got to bump my way into her before going home. I wouldn’t ever have the chance to have her lay her head over my shoulder on a night trip bus or I wouldn’t ever have the chance to hold her the way I have for the past minutes. So intimate yet so wrong at the same time.

When we reached my condominium, I was still hesitant of whether or not I should push through this or not. I was afraid that her parents might look for her and I was afraid that if she wakes up tomorrow and finds out that I took her to my place that she’d end up hating me for the rest of her life. But I can’t leave her outside nor can I force her to tell me where she lives. This was my only option.

“Getting in too late, Mr. Lee?”

I looked up and faked a chuckle, facing Wayne, the night shift security standing by the lobby of the estate I was staying at. “I had to pick up this friend of mine. She’s very wasted.” I tried not to lose her balance as I kept taking steps further away from him.

“Well, have a good night, sir.” He politely flashed a smile, and saluted so I smiled back and returned his words.

The moment we reached my unit, my back never felt so relaxed as soon as I dropped Forest down my bed. I wasn’t wrong when I chose my bed for giving me the sense of comfort I needed after a long day. Forest turned around grabbing my other pillow and hugged them like a child.

I smiled. Who would have thought that I’d have Forest Young lying down my bed drunk and acting like a child? I chuckled at the thought.

I stepped out of my room stretching my arms in the air. My muscles never felt this sore. I opened my fridge to look for a snack I can eat so when I laid my eyes on the ice cream sandwich, I grabbed it and ate. After I finished eating it, I went back to my room and headed towards the wardrobe to find something I can change into.

When I got back from the shower, I looked over at Forest and found her cuddling with my comforter. I let out a small chuckle as I dried my hair with a towel.

Before I leave Forest in my room to sleep for the rest of the night, I sat by the edge of my bed to stare at her. I don’t know when this was going to happen again so I wanted to remember every single detail of this moment.

“Forest?” I shook her a little by the shoulder. “Are you sleeping now?”

She turned away from me and mumbled inaudibly.

I sighed and stared at her for a brief moment slowly flashing a thin smile. I frowned when I realized she was still on her warm leather jacket. Should I take them off? Would it be inappropriate if I took it off without her consent? It’s not like I’m going to remove all her clothes. It’s just het jacket and I didn’t want to let her sleep uncomfortably so I decided I would.

I slowly lifted her up to my arms to take her jacket off – one arm at a time. I was worried I might wake her up so I was very careful at taking one sleeve off. When I was successful at removing one sleeve, I was surprised when I saw bruise marks all over her arms. I immediately, slowly, took the other off and was more shocked when it was in the same state as the other, if not worse.

Unconsciously, I ran my fingers over her terribly wounded arms. The way they felt under my skin, lumpy and rough, made my heart ache. How did this— I leaned closer to the scars unsure if I was even seeing things right because it was already almost one in the morning. I was starting to question my sanity at this point.

My heart pounded fast – it felt so heavy. There were straight cuts lined up over her wrist and bruises that looked like they were fresh and some healing ones. My fingers trembled as they brushed through her wrist that were full of cuts. I glanced at Forest with so much questions in my head that I was sure I couldn’t ask her even if I tried.

Before I wake her up, I laid her back to my bed, pulling my sheets up to her chest to keep her warm. Why does she have bruises like she just attempted to kill herself? Why are her arms covered with bruise marks that look this horrendous? Is this why she always wore her jacket?