Life, Love, & Lies

Thirty-Seven

⚠️TW// Medium⚠️

"You got up early." LoLo looks up from the pile of things she is sorting on the dining room table as Zach walks into the space.

"Maybe you slept in." She smirks, setting a stack of photos back on the table before turning to give him her full attention.

"Seven-thirty is not sleeping in, and your side of the bed was cold by the time I woke up half an hour ago, so you've been up since at least six." He laughs, heading through to the kitchen to find coffee.

"I woke up at about five-thirty, figured I could get these piles sorted into boxes and organized a little bit." She follows him, explaining the reason for her early rising as she does.

"Got a lot on your mind this morning?"

"All night actually. Going through the master bedroom yesterday was a lot on me mentally." She admits, sitting down on a stool at the counter.

"You seemed okay when we went to bed last night. I made sure you were asleep before I passed out too. Did you not sleep well?"

"No, but I'm glad you did and didn't notice me tossing and turning all night." She sighs.

"I noticed you were a bit more touchy than you have been thus far, like you had to keep a hand on my bicep all night basically." He shrugs, "I thought you might just be falling for me or something." He adds with a smirk.

"I was trying to ground myself, and by touching you my mind couldn't fully divebomb back in on itself and the shit show that is my past." She smiles sheepishly.

"Wow, make sleeping in bed next to someone sound any less intimate, I dare you." He laughs.

"Is us sharing a bed supposed to be intimate?" She cocks an eyebrow at him, knowing he is joking.

"I mean... that might have actually been my motive on night one, and you would never know." He smirks, grateful when he hears the coffee maker dispense his steaming cups worth.

"It's been like nine nights, if that was your motive, I think you would be trying to touch me more than I have touched you while sleeping beside each other." She laughs, "That, or you really suck at trying to pull an easy move."

"Probably just isn't either then is it. Now, what was keeping you up all night?" He asks, leaning against the marble countertop across from her, lowering himself so they are at eye level with each other.

"Hold on." She sighs, sliding from her seat and heading back through the door out of the kitchen. Bringing his cup of coffee with him, Zach follows her, finding her in the living room which had been filled with boxes and stacks of things to donate to some shelters and Goodwill.

"What's that?" She jumps as he asks, turning with the ornate box in her hand.

"Mom's earring box, dad was always weird about the earrings he brought her back from trips or bought her, he really wanted her to keep all of them. Well, when I went to see him the night of his execution he informed me that each pair of earrings had belonged to one of his victims. He told me if I ever wanted an accurate total of how many woman he murdered I simply had to count the pairs in here." She sighs.

"Well fuck." His eyes have gone wide.

"That's why I was awake all night tossing and turning. Because I knew we had put this in this pile and I needed the answer I haven't been brave enough to look for yet."

"Well I mean, we should count them, yes, but also photograph them, and can I use this in the book? Because it would be very beneficial to my accreditations. And it would be a huge insider people want."