The Forbidden Mark (Book 1)

Chapter 15

Word count: 4439

DEIDRE

I cried myself to sleep that night. I cried the whole damn night.

I didn't even go to school the next day because of how much it hurt. I felt as if my heart was breaking into tiny pieces and there was nothing that I could do about it.

Every time an image of Thomas and Ursula would flash in my mind, from that janitor's closet, my heart would clench so painfully in my chest.

And as I finally stepped inside the class the day after, once I had finally arrived back, it hurt so bad. Especially when I spotted Thomas sitting there, right at our regular seat. And I could feel my heart beat faster at the thought of sitting next to me.

And even though my body yearned for his touch, to feel the comfort from him, it pained more. It pained a whole lot more so I knew that I could not do that.

I knew that I would not be able to handle being by his side.

And as his eyes flashed up, when he eventually looked up, and I saw his eyes fill with something I could not recognize at the moment, I immediately looked away from him.

But deep down I knew what that look was, because it was the same one that I had carried with me since the day I found out about him and Ursula. Pain. That is exactly what it was.

And immediately, I looked at Robert, hurrying there when I saw that the seat next to him was still empty. But of course, all throughout the lessons, I could feel Thomas's stare on me.

And when every class would be over then I would be the first one out of there, or the last, depending on if he wasn't. I didn't want to face him, I knew that I would not be able to handle that.

Mostly because I probably would have done something crazy.

But as the days grew by, it grew harder and harder to stay away from him. I didn't speak a word to him, not even when he stood in line one day, behind me. But of course, my body would still be going crazy with him being that close to me. Instinctively I would accidentally brush against his front, only since my body craved for him. Or how I would breathe in his intoxicating cologne that seemed to destroy every other smell.

It was all I could smell and it drove me insane.

And finally a week had passed and I was going absolutely crazy.

I stared at Thomas, feeling sympathy fill my insides.

"Deidre, you have got to stop staring at him," I heard Erin speak up.

"I know, but I just... I feel sorry for him. He looks so sad," I whispered.

Thomas was sitting at the pavement of the school, his shoulders slumped forward, arms resting on his knees, head between his hands.

He looked as if he was grieving.

Of course, every time I would see him then he would be the epitome of a wreck. And although he would be wearing dark sunglasses, I knew that he had been crying. I knew because one time I had seen a tear slip down his cheek.

And I knew that he had not gotten much sleep. I knew that he did not sleep. I just somehow deep down knew it.

Erin scoffed. "He did it himself. Everything would be alright if he had not done what he did. If he had not done the freaking nasty with Ur—"

"Can you just not talk about her?" I muttered, my heart clenching in my chest at the memory.

The disgusting memory of Thomas and Ursula.