The Desire for a Simple Life

FIFTEEN

FIFTEEN

Natalia

Grant falls limp the men stop. "Goodness. That took too long." Atticus laughs. With one last slap across my face for no apparent reason Atticus and his men walk out of the room leaving me and Grant. Without hesitation I run over to him and dramatically fall to my knees trying to shake him awake, but he remains still.

I want to pull him into his bed so he can be more comfortable. I give myself a quick pep talk and begin to attempt to lift him onto his bed. It's hard, but I am determined. After a while I actually succeed and lay his head back onto the thin pillow. He lets out a large breath and at first I think that he is awake, but he is still out cold. I sit at the end of the bed as his feet and watch him.

It's like watching paint dry.

- 11:32 pm -

The day went by so slow. There hasn't been any noise except Grant's breathing. Over the hours some bruises have shown up, one on his temple and one or two on his arms. I decide to pull up his shirt to see if he has any more marks. And when I do a loud gasp breaks my lips.

The left side of his rib cage is all bruised. That is going to be extremely uncomfortable for him to do anything really, breathing will be a difficult task. I feel bad for him. I had to watch him being beat like this. Atticus is a prick. He is disgusting and needs to just give us a day to have a break. It's exhausting. And I don't even know what happened to my father and Omar.

I begin to feel tired so I very consciously lay down on his right side. I look up to him and wonder what is under that mask. I've heard his voice, what is a little peek? I lift my hand and touch the string of his mask that goes around his ear. I latch around it with my finger and remove it pulling it over the other side of his face.

Grant's jaw line is extremely sharp and decorated with a light beard. It matches his dark hair. His lips are a natural blush color. He is extremely attractive. I crane my neck up enough to plant a swift kiss on his jawline before covering him back up. I let out a sigh and relax in his arms.

- 8:49 am -

I wake up to a painful grunt coming from Grant. I sit myself up gently and look at him. He stirs awake and blinks his eyes open. He looks at me and relief floods his eyes. "Are you okay?" I ask him.

"Hmhm." He closes his eyes, nodding his head as he tries to sit up.

"Don't sit up-" I push his one shoulder back so he can relax. "You're all bruised and you need to just rest." I tell him. He looks me in the eyes and I, his. "It's okay, I'm okay." I tell him.

"No- you have a bruise." He attempts to lift his hand up to touch my face but I take his hand and hold it in my lap.

"You're not looking too hot either." I chuckle, attempting to lift the mood. I see his eyes smile. And I've never seen emotion other than concern on his face. It's nice to see joy for the first time in a long time. "Um, how are you really feeling?" I ask him again.

"I'll be fine." He answers.

"Okay." I decide not to push it. It's obvious he is in pain. No one can just "walk off" an injury like that.

We sit in silence for a while. I look down at my fidgeting hands in my lap as I feel Grant's eyes on me. After a little bit I look up to him and sure enough he was studying me. His brows furrowed, making a line or two between them. Grant's eyes narrow as they search my face and body.

"What's on your mind?" I ask him.

Without answering veritably, he reached for my arm and looks at the marks from where I was dragged or yanked. The spots are sensitive to touch so when Grant runs his fingers on them I jerk back at the pain. He moves his gaze to the pain spots on my face, gingerly touching them.