The Sweetest Temptation
Chapter 178: Erase memories

Chapter 178: Erase memories

If someone had told Beatrix that behind the smirks and sneaky comments that Rhys made was a broken man she would have laughed at the person.

She couldn’t believe that Rhys had to go through something so traumatic at such a young age. Her heart ached for him and tears welled up in her eyes.

She had always seen Rhys as the life of the party, the one who never took anything seriously, but now she realized that it was all a facade. He was just trying to hide the pain and hurt that he carried within himself.

She knew he had his demons but never in her wildest dream did she think it was this bad.

God he was beyond broken. Who could do such a heartless thing to a kid still mourning the death of his parents.

He was so emotionally drained by the time they got back to his place, but she didn’t expect him to talk.

She could see that he was still finding it difficult to look into her eyes. The shame he felt was too much to bear and she didn’t force him.

After urging him to take a shower with her they came to lie on the bed.

Her body was slotted back against his, covered in his shirt and sweatpants he offered for her to sleep in while his bare chest radiated heat against her shoulders and his arm was wrapped firm around her waist.

His leg had nudged between her own and tangled with hers, while his face nuzzled itself against her hair and she felt a relaxing ripple enveloping her whole body at how content she felt.

"Rhys."

He made a small noise, indicating that he was listening.

"Do you want to accompany me to visit my mother’s grave tomorrow? Tomorrow is her anniversary."

She felt him tense, "Tomorrow?"

Beatrix nodded, "Hmm. It’s always a little depressing each year.

My dad becomes a drinking mess and Remo disappears all day. After all, she died right in front of him. She was shot."

She cleared her throat before he spoke, pushing her words out and keeping her voice soft, "Uh, you know, after everything today - - It’s okay if you don’t want to."

She felt Rhys’ fingers pause their movements that were tracing patterns against her arms where she had them curled against his chest with her hands tucked under her chin; and his voice was quick to ask, "Do you not want me to go with you?"

She frowned at his question, shaking her head "Huh? No, No I would like you to go with me -- I just meant it’s okay if you don’t want to because you know-today has been tough."

"There’s nothing else I’d rather do, babe" he cut her off, moving his hand of the arm wrapped around her waist up to steal one of her hands that were tucked under her chin and thread his fingers between her own, holding it against her chest and hugging her closer to him," I would love to meet your mother."

Beatrix bit down hard on the inside of her cheeks, feeling her stomach leap inside her and her heart smack against her ribcage.

There’s that falling that felt like a flying feeling again. It was so much better than butterflies.

******

Beatrix stirred in her sleep and slowly opened her eyes. It was the middle of the night, and everything was dark and quiet around her. She was lying in bed, and she felt Rhys’ warm body beside her.

But something was wrong.

Rhys was tossing and turning in his sleep, his face contorted in pain. Beatrix sat up and reached out to touch his shoulder. "Rhys, wake up," she whispered.

"Rhys!Rhys!"

He moaned and whimpered her name.

"Rhys," she said one more time, louder, and he shot straight up, his chest heaving and his skin dotted with sweat.

He gasped for air like he hadn’t been breathing, and then his eyes fell on her.

Beatrix put her hand on his back, trying to calm him down. "It’s okay, Rhys. You were having a nightmare," she said softly.

Rhys nodded, still trying to catch his breath. Beatrix could feel the sweat on his skin, and she knew that he was shaken up by whatever he had dreamt.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, her voice gentle.

Rhys shook his head, his eyes downcast. "No, it’s fine. It was just a stupid dream," he said, his voice hoarse.

Beatrix knew that Rhys was lying, but she didn’t push him. Instead, she leaned in and wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. Rhys buried his face in her hair, taking comfort from her presence.

They stayed like that for a while, just holding each other. Beatrix could feel Rhys’ heartbeat slowly returning to normal, and she knew that he was starting to relax.

Eventually, Rhys pulled away and lay back down in bed. Beatrix lay down beside him,

"Take back your power," she suddenly said, keeping her gaze on the ceiling.

"Use me to do it."

She could feel his stare on her skin and it seemed to stretch on forever. "Beatrix," he said roughly.

"I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere. No matter what."

He stayed still for so long that she thought for sure he was going to refuse her . Then he turned to look at her.

Beatrix didn’t know why she suddenly felt shy, when she was the one who had initiated this.

She just like him, a lot. He made her stomach feel weird and it makes her shy when she looked at him now.

Rhys ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it away from his forehead before tucking some loose strands behind his ear as his eyes darted over her face.

He swallowed, slipping his tongue out to dampen his lower lip and took a deep breath.

He had her heart. He and his brothers owned every piece of her.

But he obviously didn’t know that, because right then, he looked nervous. An emotion that didn’t she rarely seen on his face but had seen a lot in the past 24 hours.

"Are you sure about this ?" he asked with his voice quiet, stroking his thumbs her lips.

Beatrix raised a brow at him as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, "Yes. I wanna erase those memories Rhys. I want to replace them with mine. "