Chapter 6. Two AM.

I sighed softly to myself, laying on my back, in the dark of my room, alone. The tears rolled down the sides of my face, drying in the heat, it'd finally reached summer.

Wasn't summer meant to be all happiness? Love, romance, blah blah blah? Well, tonight I was alone, and so much had built up to get the better of me.

I rolled onto my side, memories of hundreds of nights just like this, buried far in my past, flooding to the surface. I didn't want to remember, not that, not now, not ever. I let my eyes shut, honestly, I was exhausted, so over dealing with my flooding emotions and the constant harsh headache, and I let myself drift to sleep.

It wasn't till many hours later, the early hours of the morning, when I was woken by a gentle hand wiping away tears that I'd cried through my sleep. I blinked tiredly, looking up into equally sad eyes.

"Mistress," I whispered, voice cracked and hoarse from disuse and screaming.

She pulled me upright, into her arms.

"You can't keep doing this to yourself, he can't keep doing this to you," She murmured, fingers running through my hair.

"Em... He's my father, what else am I meant to do? He was meant to be there for me, support me, walk me down the aisle when the time came..." My quiet words broke off at the end, another wave of tears assaulting me as I fiddled with the silver ring around my finger.

"Oh baby... He'll come around; he'll understand eventually... You should have called me; I would have come home to you."

I shook my head, sighing.

"You had to work, you were managing tonight anyway... Besides, it's so repetitive, I should be used to his petty arguments by now."

I smiled at her softly, and she smiled sadly back.

"Rest love, I need to go shower."

As she stood, I quickly reached out to grab onto her shirt, meeting her eyes when she looked down at me questioningly.

"Can I...?"

She smiled, properly this time, pulling me up with her and leading me to the spa instead of the shower.

I was already undressed, we had a habit of sleeping naked, and once she had the water running right, I watched as she slowly stripped off her work gear from the long night.

To be honest, I needed a distraction, I needed her.

Once the spa bath was ready, Em lit a few candles, turning out the main lights before stepping into the water and sitting, settling me on her lap.

It was nice, the skin contact I longed to have with her, the dim lights, the calm, just us.

I knew she could read my body and my emotions, so I let her take charge, running a wet cloth over my body, moving my position to straddle her so I could relax as she cleansed every inch of me.

"You've been having sleepless nights and nightmares again."

"It's fine... I just have to adjust more to you being on night shift, you were always on day shift before so it's a little odd."

She trailed her nails down my back in response, and I resisted arching into the touch, it was one of those nights.

One of those nights where she would take her time, slowly work me up, take me apart and wash my worries away. I could feel it in her fingertips, running over my skin, rubbing the sensitive patches of skin on my hips and neck, trailing her lips over mine softly. Like butterflies, her kisses, or maybe angel wings, slowly growing in force, candle flames flickering lowly, making our skin shine from the water sliding over it.

It was all perfect, always so perfect, she's always so perfect. She knew what to do, she loved me and I loved her. How I ever deserved such a woman, I would never know, but I was thankful, every day and every moment.