Winning His War

24

Patrick's POV

I woke up with arms around me for the first time in months and in that moment, I was so glad I had a day off from work.

Jem's head was still on my chest, his hair just as wild as it had been last night. Despite the fact that he has slept longer than he usually does, he still looked exhausted.

"It's probably best to just let him sleep," Andrew whispered as he poked his head up from the other side of Jem's shoulder.

"You think that's a good idea? His schedule is going to be fucked."

"I know. See if you can get him to not work today, he needs to rest. Maybe being away, even for only a day will help him snap out of it."

"That seems way easier said than done," I whispered as I forced down a scoff, Jem still remaining passed out.

"It is," he said honestly with a sigh, "but just try it." With that he slipped out of the bed carefully, trying to not wake the sleeping man between us.

An hour later the front door was being closed softly, leaving Jem and I alone.

There were no windows in Jem's room and without turning on my side to look at the clock, and possibly waking him up, there was no way to tell how much time had passed. With nothing else to do, I busied myself by drawing shapes on Jem's shoulder.

So when Jem finally stirred what felt like hours later, relief filled my chest.

Jem eyes opened tiredly as he looked down at my chest before trailing up my body before looking into my eyes. Confusion crossed his face as he blinked once, and then twice, then put his head back on my chest as if it didn't really matter why I was here.

"Good morning," I said after a while of us laying in silence. He only hummed while rolling over to get his phones on the nightstand.

He checked each and every one of them for updates or missed calls and every time he was done with one he put in a pocket or in his waistband before moving on to the next one.

"What are you still doing here," he asked after a while. His voice was harsher than I would have liked it to be but it made me realize I wasn't as welcomed here as I thought I was.

We weren't together. What right did I have to barge into his room last night and sleep in his bed? As much as I understood, it still kind of hurt a bit.

"Not that I mind but you should have been at work hours ago. I hope you didn't waste a sick day on me." I would like to say his reassurance didn't make me feel better but I would be lying.

"I usually get one day off a month. It was my terms when I took the position," I said as I forced myself to sit up while also trying to push away the fact that Mary had been the one to request the term so that we could be together all day. Of course that was back before we were screaming at each other all the time.

"I'm surprised they actually let you do it," Jem sighed as he let his hand rub his face before standing up. "Most places like to work you to death." He added as she began walking to the door.

I was stupid for thinking sleep was going to be enough to snap him out of whatever funk he was in but I was still hoping I hadn't failed quite yet.

I followed him out the door and wasn't surprised in the least to find him perched over the coffee pot.

"I hate Dev sometimes," he mumbled to himself as he watched the coffee slowly drain from the filter into the large pot.

"Because he didn't make you any before he left this morning?"

"Exactly. It should be considered treason," he said. I expected him to laugh at his own joke but by the look on his face, I wasn't really sure he was kidding.

He all but glared at the weak stream until it was finally done. His cup was filled in seconds before he was heading to the office instead of the couch like always.

The sun had been up for hours already so there was nothing really to watch other than the few birds that ate from the birdfeeders or some fish that were jumping out of the lake but it was weird to not sit him sit down for a little bit.