Page 8 of Loved by the Orc (Hidden Hollow #4)

7

HARMONY

H idden Hollow had come into my life at just the right time. As my work grew more difficult and degrading, I began looking forward to my visits there more and more. I started taking lessons with Madam Healer, who seemed eager to teach me anything I wanted to learn. But even better, Tark and I saw each other regularly—almost every night—and things progressed until I felt I could confidently call him my boyfriend.

The only thing was, we hadn’t slept together yet. Not that I’m super eager to hop into bed with a new guy—on the contrary, I’m usually really careful about that kind of thing. After the debacle in high school, it took me years to trust again and let myself have sex with another guy. But he was the one who got drunk and couldn’t finish, as I think I mentioned before. And we broke up right after, so that was the end of that.

I had admitted my sexual history—or lack thereof—to Tark in a round-about way and he seemed to think it was my way of asking him to go slow. But after our first few dates, I didn’t want to slow things down anymore—I wanted to speed them up! Every time I was with the big Orc, my body was primed and ready to go. Just smelling his warm, woodsy scent seemed to flip a switch in me that made my nipples hard and my pussy wet with sexual need.

But though we had done a lot of kissing and what my aunt would have called “heavy petting” on his enormous sofa, Tark still wouldn’t do anything below the belt. And because of my inexperience, I was too shy to push him or to ask for more.

It still seemed hard to believe that someone who looked like him could want someone who looked like me. I think I was afraid that everything was going to end—that he would suddenly decide he wasn’t interested anymore, which was why I was holding back from him.

These thoughts and feelings that I’d been harboring came to a head on the day when I came to his house after an especially bad time at the office. My awful boss was the cause of it, of course.

I’d been sitting in the break room eating lunch with two other executive assistants—Katrina and Jeremy. Both of them were nice enough but they weren’t really friends, just acquaintances. Still, it was pleasant to have someone to eat with and talk about school, since they were under the same kind of contract I was with Bentley Pharmaceuticals. All of us were just trying to get through school without drowning in debt.

I was listening to Katrina tell us about a new show she was watching about aliens who came to Earth searching for brides when Mr. Price walked into the break room.

I froze immediately with my sandwich halfway to my mouth. It wasn’t huge or disgusting—just a plain turkey on wheat and I had carrot sticks on the side. But I’d made the mistake of bringing a cupcake for dessert and it was sitting right on my plate, in front of me.

My boss walked over and got something from the break room refrigerator and I breathed a tiny sigh of relief. Maybe he was just here to get creamer for his coffee and he would leave the three of us alone.

But of course, Mr. Price couldn’t do that.

He came over to our table and looked pointedly at the food on my plate, his pale eyes narrowing when he saw the cupcake .

“Well, Miss Ward, it looks like you’re not even trying to lose weight,” he remarked, frowning disapprovingly. “You know, we’re developing a new weight loss drug here at Bentley—maybe I should put you in for the clinical trials. You’re getting bigger by the day.”

The old, familiar shame washed over me and I wanted to sink through the floor and die . Katrina and Jeremy just sat there. Both of them were an “acceptable” weight, so Mr. Price hadn’t picked on them. I felt them staring at me with pity and probably with disgust, I thought miserably.

Why had I brought the cupcake to lunch? Why couldn’t I just have a nice, normal lunch break with acquaintances without being made to feel like some kind of freak?

The minute my boss left the break room, I started gathering my things. I wasn’t even halfway done with lunch but my appetite was completely gone.

“Hey, Harmony…” Katrina said tentatively. “He really shouldn’t have said that. He?—”

“I have to go,” I mumbled, not looking at her. It seemed like if I didn’t get out of there right now I was going to burst!

I threw the cupcake and the rest of my lunch in the trash and headed right for the ladies room. Forget waiting until quitting time, I needed to get away to Hidden Hollow right now. And thanks to the time charm, I could have at least four hours there before I had to come back and finish this miserable day.

I stepped into one of the empty stalls—the one on the end—and quickly drew the magic door. I felt a burst of relief when it opened, revealing Main Street with its cozy, quirky shops and friendly Creatures and people.

But once I stepped through, I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. I didn’t have a lesson planned with Madam Healer today and besides, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to learn anything new, so going to see her was out. Well, what else?

I looked around, up and down the street. Lately I’d been stopping by the local bakery—a place called The Lost Lamb, and getting myself a cupcake or a donut when I came to visit. The woman who owned it was named Celia and she was really nice. Her assistant, Sarah, was sweet too and she was married or “mated” as they called it here, to a half-Orc named Rath. I also liked the owner of the local diner, whose name was Goldie. She was quick with a joke and her coffee was the best I’d ever tasted.

But I had no interest in visiting either the diner or the bakery today. The thought of food only reminded me of how fat I was, even though I had actually lost some weight since I’d started dating Tark. (I guess eating vegetarian really is good for you.)

Not having anywhere else to go, I made my way to the big Orc’s house. I wasn’t really in the right frame of mind to see him, either. But I couldn’t bear the thought of going back to the office so soon and I didn’t really have anywhere else to be.

And this is where we came in. Sorry for the long intro, but I had to tell you about Tark. Speaking of my Orc boyfriend, he seemed to know something was wrong with me the minute he opened the front door.

“What’s wrong, baby? What happened to make you so upset?” he asked, frowning at me.

“What makes you think I’m upset?” I said, trying to sound like I was fine—like I didn’t care. I didn’t want to look weak in front of him. I had this idea that if he knew what had happened at work, he might start to agree with my boss’s assessment of me—that I was nothing but a weak-willed, fat, stupid, no good?—

Okay, I had to stop thinking of myself like that. I knew for sure I wasn’t stupid—it was just so hard to remember anything good about myself when all I heard at work was an endless stream of negatives.

Tark followed me into his house, insisting that he wanted to know what was wrong.

“I know when you’re upset,” he told me. “I can see it in your eyes and the way you hold yourself. Please, baby…” He knelt before me, ge tting down on my level, and took my shoulders in his hands. “Please, just tell me—was it that fucking boss of yours again?”

This time I couldn’t deny it. I think the look of concern on his face was my final undoing. Suddenly, I couldn’t hold the misery and shame inside any longer. Nodding my head, I felt my face crumple as the tears started.

“He…he said some things to me about…about m-my weight. Right in front of my c-coworkers,” I whispered, the words coming out choppy because of my sobs.

Mr. Price had always yelled at me in private before—having him degrade me in front of Katrina and Jeremy felt like too much—more than I could bear.

Tark’s face darkened.

“That fucker! I’ll fucking kill him!”

“No, you c-can’t!” I exclaimed though my sobs. “The police would start asking what…what happened to him. And an unhappy assistant would be a…a p-prime suspect!”

“Goddess damn it!” he growled and ran a hand through his hair. Then he took a deep breath and rose to his feet.

I was afraid at first that he was going to leave the house and go hunting for Mr. Price after all. Instead, he scooped me into his arms and went to sit on the couch.

I pressed my face to his chest as the sobs choked me. All of the pain and hurt and humiliation…I couldn’t hold it inside anymore. It was too much…just too much.

Tark didn’t say anything at first. He just rubbed my trembling back and shoulders soothingly with his big, warm hands and let me cry.

“It’s okay, Babygirl,” I heard him murmur at last. “It’s okay—let it out. Just let it all out.”

Somehow his acceptance of my grief and pain made it easier to do exactly that. I hadn’t had anyone hold me while I cried since I was a little girl. I knew I was getting Tark’s T-shirt soaked with tears, but he didn’t seem to care. He just held me tight and let me cry .

At last the sobs tapered off and I began to feel better—though I was sure I looked like a mess. My eye make up was probably all smeared but I did feel more like myself.

“You okay, Babygirl?” Tark rumbled, looking down at me with concern in his golden eyes.

Hesitantly, I nodded.

“I…I think so. Better than I was, anyway.”

“You want to talk about it?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

I shook my head.

“It’s just the same kind of thing—except this time instead of saying nasty things to me while we were alone, he did it in front of my coworkers. It was just really, really humiliating.”

His face twisted.

“I hate that you have to go somewhere and be treated like that every day! What the fuck is wrong with humans, letting that happen to you?”

I sighed.

“I don’t know. I told you—my boss is the CEO’s brother so there’s nothing I can do about it. And I can’t quit—I’d owe over a hundred thousand dollars and I don’t have that kind of money.”

“Well you can’t go on like this!” he protested.

I shook my head.

“Please—I don’t want to talk about it. I’m almost halfway through school—if I can just make it for four more years I’ll be a Pharmacist and then I’ll be free.”

“Will you, though?” he asked skeptically. “Be free, I mean. I thought you said you were still under contract to that human company even after you graduate.”

“Only for two years,” I said. “And I won’t be working under Mr. Price then.”

“But you’ll still be working for a company that’s letting you be abused,” he pointed out. “How can you trust a place like that? A big corporation that doesn’t give a fuck about their workers and only cares about profits? ”

“I don’t —not completely. But I really don’t have any choice. I’m stuck here.” I took a deep breath and swiped at my eyes. “Anyway, it helps to have you to talk to about it. Thank you for letting me cry and for not being judgmental about my choices or my, uh, curves.”

“Ah, baby…” he sighed and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. “How could I be judgmental when you’re so fucking gorgeous?”

I gave a sad little laugh.

“Gorgeous…right. I’m a mess right now, I’m sure.”

“You’re a little messy,” Tark acknowledged. Reaching between us, he raised the hem of his T-shirt, showing washboard abs, and used it to dab at my wet eyes. “But you’re still gorgeous,” he finished, smiling at me.

“You’re so sweet to me.” I sighed and snuggled against him. “I’ve never had anyone treat me like you do—not since I was little.”

“You haven’t? What about your aunt and uncle—the ones who raised you?” he asked, frowning. I had told him as little about my childhood as possible, so the fact that my aunt and uncle had raised me was pretty much the limit of his knowledge of my past. Well, other than the fact that my mom had died and my dad had left when I was young.

I shook my head.

“No, they didn’t do this kind of thing. I mean, they didn’t hug me like you do. They barely tolerated me, to tell the truth. I don’t think they would have taken me in at all except they thought it wouldn’t be ‘Christian’ to let me go into the foster care system and they were afraid their friends at church would talk about them if they did.”

“Seriously?” He looked at me with a frown. “That’s fucked up, sweetheart.”

“I know.” I hung my head. “I think that’s why my boss’s criticism and nastiness bothers me so much. He says the same kinds of things they used to say to me. About me being stupid and fat…”

But I couldn’t finish—I was too ashamed. I shook my head and looked down at my hands .

“Hey, Babygirl, look at me.” Gently, Tark raised my chin until our eyes met. “You’re beautiful,” he murmured, stroking my cheek. “And you’re fucking brilliant too. I didn’t understand half of that stuff Madam Healer was telling you that first day we met but you soaked it up like a fucking sponge!”

“It’s not that different from what I’m already studying,” I pointed out.

“Which is also fucking hard to understand,” Tark pointed out. He pushed my hair away from my face. “You know what your problem is? You’ve never had anyone to believe in you—anyone to baby you.”

“Baby me?” I frowned uncertainly. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, someone to be sweet to you—to comfort you when you feel hurt. To be there for you, no matter what,” he clarified.

I felt my heart give a little leap.

“I haven’t had anything like that since my dad left when I was eight,” I admitted in a low voice. “I mean, I haven’t had anyone to hold me like you are now.”

“Nobody at all?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“Not for years. I, uh, have this one memory of my dad holding me and kissing my knee—I skinned it learning to ride a bike, you know? And it seemed like he loved me. But not long after that, he left and never came back.”

Tark frowned.

“It’s fucked up that humans act like that. How could he just leave you?”

I shook my head.

“I don’t know. Pretty much my whole childhood I used to imagine that he was going to come back for me someday and take me away from my aunt and uncle.” I sighed. “But of course, that never happened. In fact, before I moved out my uncle told me that they’d contacted him after my mom died and he refused to come take me. So I guess he didn’t love me, after all. ”

“Aw, Babygirl…” He pulled me close to him again, nestling the top of my head under his chin. “You don’t have to feel like that anymore, you know.”

“Feel like what?” I asked, snuggling against him. I have to admit, I loved our size difference. He made me feel so little…so cared for and loved.

“Like nobody loves you or cares about you.” He pulled me closer and squeezed me in a tight hug. “Because I care about you— I love you. And I want to take care of you.”

I felt as though the breath had caught in my throat. We had only been dating a few weeks at this point—it should have been too early to say those three little words. But it wasn’t—it so wasn’t. Hearing Tark say that to me seemed to heal something in my heart—something that had been broken since I was little. I felt my eyes welling up with tears again but this time they were tears of joy.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” He looked down at me with worried golden eyes. “Should I not have said that? I’m sorry—I couldn’t help it.”

“No, no—it’s not that.” I sniffed and swiped at my eyes again. “I’m just crying because, well, because I love you too . And it’s been so long since I could say that to anyone…or believe anyone who said it to me.”

“Aw, baby…” Leaning down, he placed gentle kisses on my wet eyelashes, kissing away my tears.

“Oh, Tark…” I threw my arms around his neck and pressed my wet cheek to his rough, bristly one.