Page 99 of Under the Waves
you couldn’t put any more back in.
And soon enough, all that would be left was the torn paper in the margin.
Evidence of all the paper that there used to be,
but not enough to write even a single word.
“I’m not afraid of anything,” I retorted, crossing my arms across my stomach.
I gripped my hips between my fingers just to check to see if I could still feel the bone.
Pain flooded through my veins as I winced.
Last night’s argument hadn’t faded yet.
“Are you—” Jasper gulped before he shook his head. “No forget it.” He shut his eyes as tight as he could and for a second, I could breathe. “Fuck this,” he groaned, eyes shooting open and latching onto mine, unwavering. “Are youhurt?”
I hugged myself tighter. “No.”
“Poppy, so help megod, are you hurt?”
Yes, Jasper Ridge. Iamhurt.
I am bruised.
I ambroken.
Because my parent’s justcould.
They could do whatever they wanted to me.
“I amfine,” I snarled. Because Iwas.
I wasalwaysfine.
“You’re okay, baby.” he whispered, pressing a kiss to the newly forming bruise on my collarbone. “You’re beautiful. Like a little watercolor fairy.”
I was a fairy. A beautiful fairy.
A pretty, dainty, little fairy.
“My masterpiece.”
Turning away from Jasper, I wretched as bile and water dripped onto the sand. My stomach tried to empty itself but there was nothing in it to be emptied. He made sure so. I was a good girl. I stuck to my meal plan.
Instantly, Jasper’s hands pushed their way into my hair, bunching it up into a ponytail as my body dry heaved itself into oblivion. He didn’t say a word, but I knew there were plenty floating around his mind. Plenty that I didn’t want to answer, not tonight.
My knees buckled after a few minutes.
Jasper crumbled down onto the sand alongside me, tugging me into his lap at the last possible second. He immediately wrapped his arm around my back, rubbing it softly as my head was tucked beneath his chin. My entire body was shivering.
“What the hell happened to you, Poppy?”
I didn’t have enough courage to reply.
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Poppy Wells