Her eyes

Chapter 47

I was livid, my blood was boiling. If I was a cartoon, steam would be coming out of my ears. I was going to ruin their lives, just as I had done to Cherry. I was going to get them fired and then blacklisted in whatever career they had. To the point that they would be better off packing their shit and fleeing the country.

I was pacing in my bedroom, waiting for Layla to come out. She had been in there for a while, and I was getting increasingly worried. Not only had she barely reacted to what had been done to her. But she had also not even reacted to the alcohol I had cleaned her wounds with, not even a wince.

Perhaps she had gone into shock. As soon as I thought those words the bathroom door opened. She turned the lights off after her and walked passed me towards the bed as if this was any normal night. She removed the extra pillows before pulling the covers down, she settled in on her side, her back to me. And she looked so small laying there curled up.

I swallowed my closing throat and approached the bed slowly to the side she was facing. Her eyes were glued to the window and skyscrapers in the distance, I squatted down so that our faces were facing each other and she still didn't look at me. It was like she was a world away.

"Layla..." I started softly, "please, talk to me."

She still didn't react, it was like that day I had knocked on her apartment door, when she hadn't responded even as I entered calling out her name, she hadn't even realized that I was there.

"Baby please," I tried again my voice cracking with emotion, her eyes finally broke out of their trance.

"Im tired." She said bluntly and turned to the other side facing away from me again.

Neither one of us slept that night. Her breaths never evened out, her back was to me the entire night. But I knew she didn't sleep. I let the curtains stay up so that she could watch the buildings and the sun rise, hoping that seeing a new day arrive would lift her spirits in some way.

I tried to give her as much space as I could but I spent most of the night watching the back of her head thinking about what to do. What my next steps were. In truth the scratches on her face weren't as deep as I first thought, I think with ointments they would heal leaving no scars behind. However it's the fact that someone had tried to maim her that made me want to hunt them down.

At around 9am Layla got up and went to the bathroom locking the door. I heard the shower running and decided to go to the drugstore and buy her some ointments and freshly baked pastries. I also decided to call my dad and see if he could get something on June and Poppy, it would obviously be hard without a surname. But hopefully my description and the CCTV, and when he asked me what happened I told him about last night.

He was obviously fuming and would look into it as soon as he could. When I got back home Layla was showered and was laying on the couch. Her wounds looked deeper now that they'd had time to settle.

"Hi" her curly head popped up from behind the couch, and she was wearing a small smile. My eyebrows raised a little and my eyes glanced around the room in suspicion.

I approached her much as I had last night and squatted in front of her. I cupped her cheek and rubbed the undisturbed skin with the pad of my thumb. "How are you feeling ?" I asked softly.

"I'm okay, how are you?" She replied as if I was the one that was attacked.

I answered anyways hoping to maybe jumpstart the conversation, "I'm fine, thank you baby. I got some ointments for you. That's why I left."

She cleared her throat, "Thanks, do you want to watch a movie with me?"

"I would, but first. You know we have to talk about what happened." I stated.

"There's not much to talk about, it happened and there's nothing we can do about it. Can we just move on, please?" She sighed.

"It happened, yes. But there is something we can do about it," I said exasperated over the fact that she just wanted to drop it.

"Well, I don't want to do anything about it." She was starting to get annoyed. Good. As long as it wasn't her far away eyes or pretending that everything was fine.

"That girl maimed your face for absolutely nothing." I started only to get cut off,

"It'll heal they're not that deep." She said abruptly.

"The issue isn't if they will fucking heal. You shouldn't even have gotten them in the first place. That's the issue. She deserved to pay for what she did to you!" I said in frustration.

Layla swallowed, now looking at the floor. "Don't swear at me please." She whispered.

I sighed, "I'm sorry. You're right, I shouldn't have." I stroked her cheek again. "I'm just frustrated and I feel like you're not even angry or have any type of feelings about the whole situation."

"I know you're frustrated Archer, and that's okay. But I just want to forget it, and I'm not angry because she didn't owe me anything. We weren't friends, o-or family. She doesn't have an obligation to treat me well." She shrugged completely unfazed.

"She doesn't have to be your anything to keep her filthy paws to herself and not go around attacking people when she feels like it." I said the words pouring out of me now that I was getting pissed again. "She doesn't get to do this and then move on with her life as if nothing happened. Can't you see that?"

She quickly got of the couch and headed for the stairs and I followed her. "Layla please, talk to me. I don't underst-"

She spun around so fast her hair almost slapped me in the face, "Exactly you don't understand, so keep your judgement to yourself." She closed the door to Kimberly's room in my face. And I stood there confused. Wondering what the fuck just happened.