Fortune Favors the Bold

39

As Kalani stirred, the weight of the arm that slung over her waist became even more pronounced. She opened her eyes to see the familiar bedroom around her and, for a passing moment, she'd returned to two years before.

Her parents' hushed conversations could be heard in the kitchen, cautious not to wake the girls they believed to be asleep. Kalani was, but Marina always woke up earlier than all of them and sat in her bed. Kalani always wondered why she enjoyed laying in silence, listening only to the emptiness around her.

Now, she understood. It offered tranquility that hushed her own thoughts, leaving her mind completely freed of all the worldly worries that would come the moment she got up. What worries would Marina need to rest from? Her life was the closest thing to perfection Kalani knew possible, with loving parents and reputable friends.

When she shifted near the edge of her bed to reach for the embroidered book placed on the nightstand. It hadn't been moved in all the years since Kalani had been in this room.

Just as her fingers brushed its spine, the arm around her waist flexed with a movement that pulled her across the bed. Kalani's breath caught when she felt his chest press against her back. The ex-soldier and current felon that slept in bed with her offered a stark contrast from the days she'd just been imagining.

Carefully rotating her spine until it popped twice near her lower back, the girl turned her head to look at him. The absent space between their bodies kept her from moving beyond a certain point because his breath could already be felt on her cheekbone.

Convict 286's features were stilled just like they'd been while she cleaned his cuts last night. As if by default, Kalani's hand slipped over the one he wrapped around her body, her thumb grazing the hair of his forearm. She glanced at his hand; it was the first time she'd truly noticed the slenderness of his fingers that carried even proportions to his palm. Her fingers slipped over the veins stretching over the back of his hands, stopping at the healed scar in his palm's center.

Then he shifted closer until the tip of his nose pressed into her temple and his forehead pressed against Kalani's hair. Deep in his sleep, the ex-soldier pulled in a deep breath. Kalani couldn't help but wonder about the type of smell his inhalation had led into his body.

Probably a lung full of cigarette smoke.

She carefully lifted his arm off her body, making sure her movements out of the bed didn't wake the sleeping Not-Castiel. Then she collected a few clothing items from her closet and crept down the silent hall, slipping into the shower.

Once she was sure the stench of smoke had been completely washed out of her hair and skin, Kalani switched off the shower water. She dried her feet on the mat placed beside the bathtub and changed into fresh clothes. She combed the hair that had grown past her shoulders since she last cut it, ending just above her breasts.

Not-Castiel wasn't in the bed when she returned to the room. Instead, a faint rustling led her to the kitchen where he stood in front of the fridge, sniffing the center of a cut avocado.

"What are you doing?" Kalani asked.

"I was hungry," he mumbled in response, placing both halves on the counter in front of him. "The only things not going bad are the bread and this single avocado." She watched the slight frown etch between his eyebrows as he opened the bread. "Do you want something?" He offered.

Kalani stifled a smile and caught the fridge door before it could close. "Maybe you didn't look close enough." She glanced over the empty fridge, losing hope as she looked over the tomatoes in the bottom drawer. But the single, hard tomato that shone with a red color brighter than all the others restored her faith. "See."