<b>Chapter </b><b>357 </b>
I nod silently without looking up at her.
“Cole, take the water<b>.</b>”
I finally look up from the floor and reach out to take the bottle from her.
“Now, you have two options. I can open it in front of you and drink enough of it that your tremors won’t cause it to spill or I can open it and set it on the dresser until you’re ready to drink from it.”
For some reason these options create a major conflict within me increasing my steadily growing
panic. All I can manage is to hand it back to her, shaking my head as I drop it in submission again.
“Cole, what are you mostfortable with?”
Her voice is patient and kind but all I can do is whine, like the immature pup my father constantly
tells me I am. I hear her ce the bottle down with a sigh. Her feete into my field of view
briefly before shees down onto her knees. She leans her arms across my knees, forcing me to <b>sit </b>
up off them and look at her face. She slowly moves her hand towards my head, speaking to me
calmly as she does.
“Why is it hard for you to answer my question?”
My eyes are darting around fast enough to make me dizzy and cause a migraine to form but I can’t stop myself, not when my mind is inplete chaos.
“There’s no correct answer.” I whisper. “If I have you drink it first then ites across as checking to see if something is in it. If you set it down in front of me ites across as verifying you’re not adding to it. You’re my mate. I’m supposed to trust you. I want you. Goddess do I want you but I
don’t know how to do this. You deserve so much more.”
She stands silently as I finish. As much as I want her to stay I know she’s going to leave. I’m caughtpletely off guard when I feel her step between my legs and pull me into her. I’m stiff with uncertainty as she holds me gently. I want to wrap my arms around her, touch her soft skin but I hold back. I know she’s been mistreated too and I don’t want to trigger her memories, cause her the
same pain I suffer every day and night.
“I never meant to cause you conflict.” I hear her whisper. “This is about yourfort. You te…e what would make youfortable taking medication from me. Neither answer is a show <b>of </b>
mistrust.”
I close my eyes, trying hard to rx with the unfamiliar feelings I get from her touch.
“Am I hurting you?” She whispers as I twitch from her touch.
<b>Chapter </b><b>357 </b>
<b>“</b><b>No</b>”
<b>“</b><b>Talk </b>to me Cole, I know you’re ufortable with what <b>I’m </b>doing.”
“It’s unfamiliar.” 1 manage to exin not wanting her to stop.
“Are you ready to try and take some medicine? I noticed you already pulled the Effexor <b>out</b>. <b>What </b>else do you need?”
“Ativan, some Zofran for my stomach.”
I whine quietly as she steps away and finds the Ativan among the pile <b>of </b>pill bottles <b>on </b><b>the </b>dresser. <b>I </b>watch her closely as she opens it, takes one out and steps back over to me. I will myself <b>to </b><b>open </b><b>my </b>mouth, desperately trying to prove I trust her as she ces it into my mouth. <b>It </b>takes <b>everything </b><b>I </b>have not to spit it out despite seeing everything that she’s doing.
I watch silently as she goes through my medication and pulls the different pills out before <b>cing </b>them in my shaking hands. She opens the bottle of water and takes a long drink before <b>handing </b><b>it </b>straight to me. Something about her drinking from the bottle settles my anxiety of drinking <b>from </b><b>it </b>when I wasn’t the one to open it.
I pop the handful of pills in my mouth before finishing the water but my calmness <b>is </b>only a temporary reprieve as my mind continues into its downward spiral.
<b>Chapter </b><b>Comments </b>
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