➶aʟʟ ɨ աaռtɛɖ➷[ON HOLD]

|ɨ Տʟɛɛք ɨռ tɦɛ ռʊɖɛ|

"Sometimes, you have to get knocked down lower than you have ever been to stand back up taller than you ever were." ~Unknown~

➶ҡɛɨʀa➷

I drank the water Jericho offered me from the cup and slowly layed back against the pillows. Two days after I had woken up, Jericho and Maliki carried me back to the estate and layed me in my bed. It was heaven compared to the stiff table I had been sleeping on. Tzipora had even massaged my back and I still had knots in it from that damned table.
Since I've been awake, Jericho hasn't left my side and keeps telling me he's sorry for everything he did. He said he was sorry for ignoring me. That he was sorry for not believing me and he apologized at least a hundred times for all of the horrible things he said to me. He told me everything that happened that night, even about Angie.
He told me about her betrayal and how she was being blackmailed and I somehow managed to refrain myself from jumping up from my bed and shouting 'I told you so'. But, he didn't say anything about my love confession to him. Had he forgot? Did he not care? Did he want to forget?
"Are you hungry? Are you in pain? Are you hot?" He threw questions at me left and right. "No, no, and no," I answered in a bored and annoyed tone. It was the same questions every hour.
I had healed well. Most of the small wounds were healed and reduced to tiny white scars that were fading away, but my leg still registered me as a cripple. I had been moving it around slightly to keep it from healing wrong until I couldn't take the pain anymore. Jericho eased himself into the large cushioned chair beside my bed that he had been sleeping in since I was moved to my room and rubbed the side of his face tiredly before resting his elbows on his knees. He leaned forward and I grimaced at his worn appearance. He had small dark bags that had formed under his eyes and he had a good week or two of stubble growing on his face.
"Jericho, why don't you go take a shower, maybe even shave and eat you something, and then go get so me sleep, " I offered. "No, I'm fine. I ate and took a nap while you were asleep," he stated. Liar. I would have known if he had left this room even if I were fast asleep. I could sense his presence when he was near me and could most certainly sense it if he left.
"Go," I point to the door,"go take a break and get out of here for a little while." He shook his head and leaned back into the chair like a defiant child. "I'm fine, Keira," he said defiantly. "Look, just go clean yourself up and eat something. I'll be fine and will be right here when you get back," I ordered and crossed my arms over my chest. It's not like I could get up and leave even if I wanted to. I thought to myself.
I saw his inner conflict through his eyes and I knew I had won when he stood and layed a small peck on my forehead. Such an innocent thing made me go crazy on the inside. "You're so busy thinking about others that you forget to think of yourself. That's why you're in this bed in the first place," he murmured against my forehead.
No, I'm in this damned bed because you were blinded by big boobs and a perky ass. I thought to myself but didn't dare say those words out loud. He felt guilty enough without me poking the fire. "Aw, stop," I gush and slap at his chest playfully. He chuckles and makes his way to the door where he stops and gives me a reluctant look.
I motion for him to go and he does after giving me one last glance. If I knew Jericho at all, I'd bet he would have two or three guards wait by my door. My best bet would be that he would fetch Tzipora and tell her that I needed her. He was an ass at times, but in a way he was my ass. I missed him so much and now I finally had him back. Even though I had a bum leg right now, it was worth knowing that I had saved him after he had saved me so many times.
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➶ʝɛʀɨċɦօ➷

I wiped my face free from the left over shaving cream and towel dried my dripping hair. The reflection in the mirror looked tired and worn out. I hadn't slept at all in days and was running on empty fumes. She had told me I needed a shower and sleep and she was right. That was her way of telling me that I smelled and looked like a caveman.
I ran a hand through my tousled hair and sighed before walking out of the bathroom in a pair of pants. I made my way to my room and threw on a white wife-beater before making my way to Keira's room.
I slowly opened the door and found Keira propped up on the pillows with a book in her hands and Tzipora braiding Keira's hair. Both of their eyes went to me as I stood in the doorway. Tzipora gave me a cheesy smile then removed her hands from Keira's hair. She stretched and fake yawned then stood from the bed."I think I'm gonna head to bed now. I got Keira in her pajamas and braided her, I guess you can tuck her in," she says slyly and pats me on my chest.
"Goodnight," Tzipora says. And Keira and I saw 'goodnight' back. I stand awkwardly near the doorway with my arms crossed at my chest and Keira offers me a warm smile then returns to reading her book.
She looks so damn cute in her pink and white bunny pajamas. They would probably looked ridiculous on anyone else, yet she managed to pull it off. She had her tan comforter pulled up on her lap and the lamp on her nightstand was the only source of light on in her room.
"Are you planning on standing there the whole time?" Keira asks with a smile in her voice and keeps her eyes on her book. Dumbass. I bet I looked like a complete idiot or weirdo. Most likely both. I drop my arms and walk over to her bed where I sit beside her and lay back against one of the pillows.
"Have your bandages been changed?" I asked. "Tzipora helped me," she answered then flipped the page of her book. I sneakily peeked into her book and read a page before realizing what she was reading. "Alice in Wonderland, seriously?" I asked incredulously and she finally looked up from her book.
"What's wrong with Alice in Wonderland?" She defended. "It's a children's book is all I'm saying," I said while raising my hands in defense. "It makes you think differently and it also happens to be one of the best human books ever written, " she stated matter of factly.
"Nice pajamas by the way," I said and poked at a little white bunny on her sleeve. She slapped my hand away and sunk under the covers with her book resting on her stomach. "I normally wear different attire to bed, but since you've been in here I have had to wear pajamas and sweat pants," she mutters and flips the page.
A thought crossed my mind and I looked down at her. "What do you normally wear?" I ask. Shorts and an oversized T-shirt was what I would think, that and pajamas.
She raises her eyes to meet mine. "Nothing," she answers and I feel a lump grow in my throat. "Nothing?" I mimick in disbelief. "I sleep in the nude," she says in all seriousness. Naked. She sleeps naked. Since when? When did Keira start to sleep naked? She hasn't always done that, has she? I don't remember her ever sleeping naked before. Why the hell does she sleep naked?
Laughter pulls me from my thoughts and I see Keira rest her book beside her and shake with laughter. When she is finally done she wipes the tears from her eyes and sighs. "I was just joking," she laughs,"I normally wear just a shirt and underwear."
I don't know why I believed her. She didn't seem like the kind of girl to sleep naked. Most girls who did sleep naked had a man or a mate or were just whores. "I can't believe you thought I slept in the nude," she laughs again but stops suddenly and groans in pain and rubs her side near her thigh.
I sit up quickly and go to lift up the side of her pajama top, but she slaps my hand away. "Let me see where it hurts," I demand. "No, it's fine," she argues. "Keira you're hurting. Let me see," I argue back.
"I just laughed too much Jericho, that's all. I'm pretty much healed except for my leg," she states. I'm not convinced. If she's hurting I want to fix it. "Keira, please," I say softly and see her features soften. She gives a small nod and I gently lift up her cotton pajama top just enough to see the fading red marks that used to be gaping wounds.
"See, I'm fine," she reassured me,"it just aches a little every now and then is all. It's nothing to worry about." I gingerly lay my fingers on her warm, soft skin and trace the marks, but stop when I hear her take in a sharp breath. Where my fingers cold? Did I hurt her? I quickly retract my fingers and look into her dark eyes for any sign of pain, but found something else instead. Something I had never seen in her eyes before and couldn't figure out what it was.
"Did I hurt you?" I ask with concern and she slowly shakes her head not breaking our eye contact. "No, no you didn't, " she says softly. I lower the hem of her shirt and move to sit at the side of her bed. "You should probably get some rest now. Charlie said he was going to see if you could stand and walk tomorrow, " I state and see her eyes clear from whatever had hold of her.
"Are you sleeping in here again tonight? " She asks. Every night since she woke up I had been sleeping on the floor beside Keira's bed or in a nearby chair. I didn't feel comfortable not being near her if something went wrong. Even though our rooms were practically right next to each other, I still felt that was too far away.
"Yeah, I'll bunk down on the floor. That chair and I don't get along too well, " I said remembering how I haven't been able to sleep in days. Even if I did sleep on the floor I still wouldn't be able to get a wink of sleep. I would just lay awake and listen to Keira's steady breathing. I would strain to see if I heard a difference in her breathing that would tell me if she was in pain or that something was wrong.
"Or you could just sleep in your bed and avoid getting a stiff back in the morning, " she stated and I gave her a look that showed that would not be happening. If I did go back to my room I would not be able to keep still and would end up back in Keira's room by the end of the night.
I grabbed one of the pillows and was about to go grab an extra blanket from her closet when she stopped me. "You know, you could just sleep in my bed. There's a whole other side on this thing and it would be just like when we used to have the little cabin in the woods," she offered.
I tightened my grip on the pillow and thought about if I should or should not. We used to sleep in the same bed all the time, but that was a long time ago. It was harmless though, right? "I don't bite," she says with a smirk,"at least not people I like. Although I might just have to bite you if you end up ripping my pillow in half."
I look down at the pillow tightly clutched in my fists and see it's sewing straining from the pressure. I ease my grip and toss the pillow on the bed before quickly plopping down on it and flicking off the lamp before I could think about what I was doing.
It was harmless. I mean this was Keira I was talking about. I settled myself under the covers and watched Keira's silhouette do the same. It was purely innocent. I was sleeping in her bed for an entirely different reason than why men normally slept in a girl's bed. This was Keira. We were just...us.
She had told me she loved me that one night, but hasn't brought it up since. Maybe she meant a brotherly love? Maybe. One day a man would be sleeping in her bed for that reason. One day she would find someone to be her mate and husband and they would sleep in the same bed and have sex and he would touch her and she would--
"Jericho, are you okay?" Her voice asks in the dark. "Yeah, I'm fine, why?" I answer. "Well, you were growling, " she stated. I was at a loss of words and felt a heat creep up my neck and face. Oh. I didn't even realize I had been growling. "Goodnight Jericho," she said breaking the awkward silence and turned away from me to settle herself comfortably against the bed.
"Goodnight," I replied and rolled onto my back to stare at the silhouette of trees cast onto the ceiling by the moon. Something was wrong with me. I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, I couldn't even remember to shower or shave without Keira telling me to, now I was growling without even knowing I was. Maybe I was going crazy. Maybe my bad past is coming back to bite me in the ass. Maybe....
My thoughts were drowned out by the peaceful darkness that was sleep and finally, after several days, I slept.

A/N: BAM!! ANOTHER CHAPTER, YOU'RE WELCOME! PLEASE REMEMBER TO TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK IF YOU WANT THE STORY TO CONTINUE AND POSSIBLY VOTE IF YOU REALLY LIKE IT. IF NOT, I MAY LOSE MY PASSION AND MOTIVATION AND THE UPDATES JUST MIGHT STOP COMING. THANK YOU GUYS FOR READING. :)
UNTIL NEXT TIME,
~thedarkling♡♡♡