= CHRIS POV =

Sarah suddenly twisted in my arm. The need to protect her and keep her safe rose swiftly, and I gripped her around the waist a little tighter.

"Where do you need to go? I'll help you," I said, steadying her, pocketing my phone and gripping her arm with my free hand. 

Her body leaned into mine, warm and unsteady, and I tried to ignore the way her hair brushed against my cheek as she swayed slightly.

"O-ok, I lied, the rest of my stuff is in my room," Sarah murmured, her voice soft and slurred. "I was going to book a hotel after everyone left the party"

I tightened my grip on her waist and guided her carefully down the hall. The apartment felt eerily empty now that the party was over, and each creak of the floorboards sounded unnaturally loud in the silence.

When we reached her room, I froze. In the center of the bare space sat a lone suitcase, zipped up and ready to go.

"What about all the bed sheets and—" I started, but Sarah cut me off with a weary smile.

"The house came with all that stuff," she said softly. "I actually... don’t own much. It’s all in that suitcase... and a laptop bag out on the dining table. Oh! And my stack of illegal documents." She grinned suddenly, hiccuping a little.

I felt heat rising up my face. The bed was right there, and she was so soft and pliant in my arms. If I liked, I could just pick her up and throw her on the bed, and show her exactly how different a blow job was from cunnilingus, especially when the giver was an expert at it…

I tore my eyes away from her pretty little face  and stared at the suitcases instead. My chest tightened.

It was stupid perverted thoughts like that, that has resulted in me not seeing how much she had been struggling. It was my obsession with her as eye-candy that had let me let her go through this alone, packing up her life into a few bags, preparing to vanish into another place of instability without telling anyone.

The thought clawed at me, leaving a hollow ache in my chest.

I gently eased Sarah down to sit on the edge of her bed.

I then bent down and took the handle of the suitcase in my left hand, then reached out my right to her. She hesitated, looking dazed, like the brief moment I had released her, I had somehow left her untethered.

"Sarah," I said quietly, my voice trembling despite my best effort to keep it steady. "I promise you, no matter what this ridiculous contract means to you, my promise to you is this: you can stay with me, for free, for as long as you need to get back on your feet again. Even if that means forever."

Sarah blinked up at me, her eyes glassy and tired. Slowly, she reached out and placed her hand in mine, her fingers curling around it softly. She felt small at that moment and it made me want to protect her even more.

"You mean it? Forever?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. 

"Forever," I said firmly, pulling her closer, wrapping my arm around her waist again as her head rested against my shoulder. 

She melted into me, sighing softly, and for the first time that night, I felt like maybe…just maybe…we were both exactly where we needed to be.