Chapter 25: How We Protect Ourselves

Taking a cold shower and blasting his hair dry did nothing to help Richard rid his mind of Samantha.

He kept thinking about the way she had looked up at him that day when he had comforted her during the thunderstorms.

She had been so afraid to the point of shaking, and all she did when she looked up at him was stare at him with a love that he had never known someone was capable of feeling for another person.

He felt it, too, in his chest that day. An indescribable sort of love; that was the first time he knew without a doubt that, if she had asked him in that moment, he would have said or done anything she wanted.

Hell, he was not so sure, even years later, that he was out of that trance.

He kept asking himself why he still cared for her. Why she still had such a control over him and his actions despite not even being directly involved in his life anymore. He already knew the answer to that question, however, but was unable to admit it to himself.

At least out loud, anyway.