Glass in Bubble Wrap

CHAPTER 14

"You're still shaking." 

I hadn't even noticed, but now that Easton mentioned it I could feel myself trembling all over still.

I didn't know how to answer. Nodding against Easton's chest, I curled myself further into his arms. It was hard to get comfortable on the floor and at some point Easton leaned his back against the wall of the hallway, settling me in between his legs with our torsos flush together. 

Our position wasn't at the forefront of my mind, though. I was just desperate for the comfort Easton provided. His scent was slowly starting to ease the fast pace of my heart. 

All that went through my head was images of the hunters ransacking my home and now knowing where I lived. I didn't think I would ever feel safe there again. 

But, my lease hadn't yet ended and I didn't have the money to go anywhere else. 

"Finn?" A hand dragging through my hair snapped my attention back to the present. 

"Hm?" I mumbled into the collar of Easton's t-shirt. 

"What happened?"

Where did I even begin? Nothing to say came to mind, so I just slowly got up from our cramped spot on the floor and waited for Easton to silently follow my lead. Then, I opened the door to my apartment. 

Easton's eyes widened as they fell on the inside of my home. I stayed outside this time, wanting nothing more than to never see the place again. 

"What the fuck?!"

Jumping at the anger in his tone, my brows furrowed at Easton's reaction. The officer usually stayed level headed and, if nothing else, tried to keep everything light hearted. Seeing him angry was not expected in the slightest. 

The black haired man walked further into the apartment and my gaze followed him. His response was so intense that I pushed the urge to never look at my place again away simply to keep my eyes on Easton. 

It was unsettling to see him look so tense. His eyes jumped from the plants on the ground to the scratches on the couch and didn't stop there. It seemed like everything he looked at only made him more irritated. 

When his eyes landed on the words above the TV stand, I was almost positive I could see smoke coming out of his ears.

"Call the police. We need to make a formal report so they can figure out who in the hell did this." His words were even and didn't match the absolute fury in his eyes as he glanced back at me to make sure I agreed. 

Gulping, I had to remind myself that it wasn't directed toward me. For whatever reason, Easton was just furious that people ransacked my home. I could handle a police report, just another thing that was kept curt and to the point. 

I gave a shaky nod and Easton's gaze instantly softened. 

"I'm sorry, I'll call them. Let's go sit back down, hm?" 

I hated feeling fragile, but for once I didn't have it in me to fight against being treated like glass in bubble wrap. 

"Okay."

Morbidly, I found comfort in the repetition of giving my statement to the officers. They asked about my history and if I had any inkling of who could've done this and I was glad to have told Easton to step aside for a while. His anger hadn't subsided, so stepping out of the building would do him some good. 

The officers present all sort of cleared their throats and sniffed, trying to cover up their shock—to no avail—when I told them to just look at my file. 

I knew my history was ghastly, but if I had to live through it why on Earth would I try and sugar coat it for a bunch of police officers? They should have been able to handle it just fine and use the information I provided to catch the people that destroyed my apartment. Besides, telling them to just read my file would prove far more accurate of a debriefing than however I could have summarized the events of my past by mouth. And I had yet to be able to talk about it without breaking down, so this was better for everyone involved. 

By the time the officers had left, the sun was just beginning to rise. I was grateful to finally be outside and out of that building, plus the familiar weight of my sunglasses resting on my nose was a comfort.

I found Easton leaning against his car. I couldn't get a read on him, which unnerved me.

He looked up at my approach and his features softened. I noticed the hand he had resting at his side was fidgeting, his fingers all tapping to an invisible rhythm against his thumb.

"Hey. You okay?" Easton raised an eyebrow at my question, shrugging. 

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"I don't want to think about it, so no." The words were quiet, torn out of me against my will. Something about Easton's worry filled eyes made it hard to lie to him and with the day I just had, I didn't have it in me to try.

The only thing that was really on my mind was having to clean up my apartment and trying to sleep there, or perhaps searching for a cheap enough hotel to stay at for the day. 

"I'm sorry, Finn. I can't imagine how scary all of this has been for you." The brown of his eyes got darker as he watched me, nothing but sorrow in his gaze. 

I gulped, unease swallowing me whole as Easton looked at me like that. I didn't want his pity. I hated feeling like a puppy with a broken leg that everyone just fawned over because of how pathetic it was. 

"It's fine. You can leave now." My gaze shot down to the pavement of the drive way, doing everything in my power to avoid his sad eyes. 

That riled him. He stood up straight, pulling a hand through his hair as he looked at me in shock. 

"Leave? I'm not leaving you here. You're coming home with me." 

"Like hell I am." I scoffed, turning on my heel and away from him. But, that meant looking at my apartment building and it instantly filled me with dread. 

"Like hell you aren't! Your apartment just got ransacked, it's not safe for you here. We have no idea if this was random or targeted, and I'm not willing to take that risk." His words were firm, but the final nail in the coffin was 'random or targeted'. I already knew the answer. 

As much as I tried to hide it, my hands wouldn't stop shaking and goosebumps littered my arms. I wanted to fight him on this, but deep down I was just exhausted and wanted the day to be over. 

I turned back around and watched Easton wearily, trying to figure out why he was doing all of this. 

He gave me a stern look, crossing his arms as if to say 'Well, what'll it be?'.

Rolling my eyes, I gave a heavy sigh. 

"Fine." 

Anything to get away from that building. 

A/N~ Happy late Thanksgiving! I took the week off last week for the holiday, sorry for the lack of announcement! And, I apologize for this week's update being late, we were celebrating my sister's birthday:) 

Go check out chapter 15 a week early to see how Finn turns into goo all because of one dashingly handsome--and kind of controlling--Easton Thatcher;) Linked in the description below<3

QoTD: What's your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?

Answer: I really like breakfast bagels and sausage burritos, but my comfort food for in the morning is definitely cereal:)