blind - owen teague | ✔️

13. You Have To Crawl...

I could have sobbed his name. I was chained to him and he had absolute control over me. I was the puppet to his control. I could have worshipped him.

I could feel his body hovered over mine like an electric current between us. My pulse was ransacked against my chest, straight-wired to my narcotic level. I was overstimulated.

"Owen..."

I could feel his hot breath over my face, warm and fanned against my cool skin.

"I'm sorry." This time it was rawer, as if he was struggling to say the words. I swallowed back my words at the emotion in his. My chest rose and fell quickly as my hand was lifted again.

"I know." I could barely whisper it as he put my palm back on his chest. Warm. My body buzzed again, as if purring in response. I was absolutely nothing to his touch. My control diminished as if he burned it and I turned to ashes.

"I know something too." His tone was sort of thick with something I couldn't explain. Sadness? Regret? Redemption?

"What?" I whispered as my fingers curled into the soft fabric of his shirt. It was softer than a T-shirt. It was thinner, too. It wasn't a tanktop. It was like a shirt you got at a Walmart. Faded Glory! There it was.

"I know you're not in that much pain to require Oxycontin." His words chilled me to the bone, my body stilling as the panic crawled up the back of my neck, through the high.

"What?" My tone had dropped further than a whisper.

"I did that to you." I felt a warmth on the tip of my nose and his warm breath fanned over my lips. His nose nestled mine. My heart fluttered. An Eskimo kiss.

"No..."

"[F/n]. Don't lie to me."

"It wasn't you." I insisted as my fingers crawled across his smooth skin and up the ridges of his throat I felt. I needed to calm down and my fingers touched his hair and immediately felt his head nestle into my touch.

My heart skipped a beat. He wanted my touch. He wanted it.

"Then what was it?"

"I couldn't handle it. Too much pressure."

"What was too much pressure? You're... Never mind. You told me I didn't understand."

I paused. He was trying to understand. He was throwing out his assumptions to understand for me.

"I can't control anything. So anything you do affects me." He kept nestling and nuzzling his hair into my hand. "So I kept getting hurt. I didn't mean to. I just... It's hard to explain." I managed softly.

I couldn't think about the subject any further when I heard approaching clicks. Anisa's shoes.

"Please, Owen." I whispered urgently. "Here comes your mom. Move so you don't get in trouble again." As much as I didn't want him to move, he did. I heard him flop down in the recliner beside me and Anisa entered, my body cold at the loss of heat.

-

Owen was made to leave once more, but less harshly this time. I don't know why Anisa was so against it - well, I did and I understood her protective nature, but I knew I was in a loop, depending on Owen, and I didn't even know him.

Anisa's cold hands lifted me and shifted me into a sitting position. "Now, we're gonna give you a bit of freedom." She spoke to me.

Freedom?

"Owen is out in the hall. We're going to allow him to walk behind you while you walk down the hall of the hospital." My feet found the purchase on the cold tile through my fuzzy socks.

"Why?"

"Well, the long term side effects of staying in bed are sore muscles, bed sores, and even back problems. I assume it'd be best for all of us to get you walking again."

I gave a small nod and soon, pushed myself up to my feet, allowing her to slip a long coat onto me that felt fuzzy, like the fleece blanket that Owen had lent me. I could feel it cinch at the waist so I assume she tied it.

Her cold hands put my smaller hand on my metal IV bag stand and soon, she led me out into the hall. My legs were cold from the cool air of the hospital and loss of warmth of my hospital bed and blankets.

Each step I took was tentative, even if she was leading me. I was scared to hit something. My grip on the IV stand was tight, I imagine. I couldn't feel anything around me, unlike I was used to - usually I felt my bed railings or the wall. Now it was like I was in the middle of a black hole, a sensory deprivation tank once again.

A shock ran through me and my skin lit up at the warmth of Owen's hands on my shoulders. I immediately knew who it was and I smiled softly before I felt his face in the back of my hair.

"Look. I'm gonna walk right behind you to make sure nothing bad happens." His voice was warm, like warm honey, sultry and sweet. It wasn't thick, like earlier.

"Okay." I mumbled and his hands left, but I felt a bit more confident. Taking a small step, I felt my chest tighten with anxiety. I was scared, even if Owen was right behind me.

Each step was tiny and I wanted something other than my IV bag to hold onto, like the wall. My other hand outstretched and the abraded wall met my fingertips, before warmth surged through me when I felt Owen's hand grab mine.

"That wall has so many germs." A laugh bubbled out my lips at Owen's murmur and I continued my tentative little steps with Owen as my shadow.

"And your hand doesn't?"

"I've only been touching you today." He murmured right next to my ear and another little giggle formed out my lips. I could hear the smile in his voice that mirrored mine.

"That's a joyous sound, [F/n]."

I smiled warmly before his hand left mine as Anisa got his attention, but I kept stepping before something cold caught my foot. My heart dropped as did my body and I heard my metal roller hit the floor with a clatter.

My body was in freefall before my knee caught my fall and with a crack, my body was limp into the cold tile. A sob escaped my throat as my knee felt detached.

"Ohh..." The word fell from my lips before I could stop it. The pain wasn't that bad, it was just sore on the sides of my knee. I pushed myself up on my hands and because I could hear both Anisa and Owen chattering anxiously, I said, "I'm fine."

Attempting to stand, my sore knee gave out beneath me, buckling under me and fire spread through me, a panicked sob leaving my lips. "I can't do this. Owen-"

Warmth spread through me as an arm was before my knees and under my arms and I was in his hold. I was warm and a calmed spell ran over my body. I melted down into his chest as tears streamed down my face.

"You're okay, [F/n]... I'm so sorry." His nose nestled my hair and I could only cry. "I'm so sorry."