The Bad and The Broken

Chapter 73

The ride home was silent.

Ryder ended up leaving school after the fiasco during lunch, then came back to get us.

I was currently laying in my bed, curled into a ball. I was exhausted.

Jesse went out with a friend of his. Seeing as we can have somewhat normal lives now, he's been socializing a lot more lately outside of school. As long as he isn't going out into public with the chance of seeing father, I never say no when he asks to go out.

My attention turns to my phone when I hear it beep.

I flip it open to read the message I got from Ryder. We're in the same house, yet he texted me.

He tried letting me allow him to get me a new phone, but I couldn't let him. I'm living in his house, I was not going to let him spend a huge amount of money on the latest iPhone. Although it would be nice, I'm fine with this one.

I sigh as I read his text asking me to come to his room. Pulling my hair up into a messy bun, I make my way to his door and enter the room.

He sat on the edge of his bed, his head hung down into his hands.

"Dawn, I'm so sorry," he says guiltily.

"Ryder it's-"

"Don't day it's fine, Dawn," he interrupted.

I make my way over to him, and pull his head up.

"Really, it's okay, Ryder," I say.

Surprising both him, and myself, I pull his head into me. Hugging him around his neck as he nestled his head into my stomach, his arms wrapping around my legs.

We stayed like that for a few minutes before letting go.

We decided not to talk about it anymore after that.

———

"Dawn, honey, it's time to change your bandages!" I heard a call from the kitchen. Mrs. Daniels emerged to the living room with all the ointments and bandages.

"Kendall, baby, can you go to your room for a little while?" She asks sweetly. The three of us were chilling on the couch watching princess movies with her.

"Yes, mommy," she says as she gets up from Ryder's lap.

Once she was upstairs, I start taking off my shirt. Ryder turns away quickly until he realized I was wearing a sports bra.

I used to be self conscious when it came to him seeing my battered body, but he's done this for me plenty of times when his mom wasn't home, and he likes to see that I've made progress with my healing and my weight. He doesn't look at my body in a weird way, he looks in a happy way when he sees the bruises fading and the gashes healing. He even has my write down my weight progress, and the new things I'm able to keep down when I eat in a journal. At the moment it consisted of sugary foods. Like brownies, donuts, Oreos.

It was really sweet how supportive he is.

She unwraps my torso and back, giving full view of my new body.

"Look, Dawn!" He says excitedly, "the huge on on the side is almost gone!"

I giggle a little bit at his excitement. He's so cute.

"Sweetie, I found this cream," his mother says as she cleans the gashes that are nothing more than scratches now, "it's for scaring. Yours are severe, unfortunately they may not go away. But it can help with the discoloration. Make them a little less noticeable." She says.

"Really?" I ask hopefully.

I would give anything to take them off my body, but they're so horrible that it probably won't happen. However, making them just a little less noticeable would be nice. I'll take what I can get.

"Yes. I'll order it for you if you're interested," she says as she grabs my hips to turn me around, my back facing both of them.

I nod my head and mutter a please and thank you. I'm so grateful for this woman.

I feel warm hands on my back, and know that they belong to Ryder.

I traces a few, and I don't have to look to know there's tears in his eyes. It happens every time he sees them. They're not out of pity, though. It's simply just because they're there.

With that thought in mind, I started to feel self conscious like I did the first time he saw them.

A little while later, I was all wrapped up and cover again.

"Ryder," I found myself saying.

He looks at me, waiting for me to continue. I look away from him, as focus on my hands that suddenly became very interesting.

"Um.." I furrow my eyebrows, trying to form the stupid question I wanted to ask him. Why did I even care? Why am I asking his this? "Do you think that my body– the scars and everything– are, erm.." I stutter, not wanting to finish.

"Ugly?" He finishes, causing my heart to fall in my stomach. Does he? Oh my, why did I even ask?

"No, Dawn," he says, making my head snap up, "I do not think they're ugly. Not in the slightest." He put his hand on my cheek, caressing it with his thumb. Smiling at the fact that I didn't flinch.

"Everything about you is beautiful," he stares into my eyes, and I see nothing but sincerity, "everything."

A small smile takes over my face.

"Okay," I whisper, putting my hand over his that was still resting on my cheek.

I could stay like this forever.