𝐎𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞

Chapter Thirty-Five

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Watching her sleep beside him felt surreal; she never did because she was always in a hurry to get home, or they would both get caught up talking like lovers do after making love. Matthew found himself carried by the moment of not only looking at her but imagining sleeping with her every night and waking up with her beside him. It was bittersweet because she might never give him that. Moving his eyes to the clock beside him, he decided to give her ten more minutes of sleep before he woke her up to go home. He had never resented Jamie for having her more or that most of her decisions were made around him.

He was her brother, and she was the only family he had. Matthew envied him more than anything because he never had anyone protect him the way Imani protected him. Neither did he have anyone love him as much when he was that age. Jamie was lucky to have a sister who wasn't afraid of singlehandedly raising him. Most people would have surrendered themselves to the system, thinking it was safer, or perhaps out of fear, but Imani deciding to keep her brother with her told more of her courage and tenacity than anything else.

She was beautiful and brave with a backbone of a lioness. Matthew admired her more than he had words to explain.

When it was time to wake her up, he gently brushed her hair off her face, leaning down to wake her with a kiss.

She whimpered with exasperation, burrowing deeper into the bed, almost completely covering her face.

"You have to wake up," Matthew murmured, trying to pull down the comforter from her face. Imani remained unresponsive even when he lightly squeezed her cheek, smiling at how funnily her face appeared. He found it adorable the way she slept like the dead, and not for the first time; he entertained the thought of feigning ignorance and letting her sleep. Still, Jamie was a small boy who would be frantic if his sister did not go home, so Matthew pulled her to him, kissing her hair while mumbling into her ear.

Eventually, and with much effort, Imani woke up, leaning back on the headboard, looking disoriented. "What time is it?" She drawled, pulling her hair back from her face; Matthew laughed quietly, looking at her as if the world began and ended with her. But he was in luck because she did not see the naked longing in his eyes.

"Time to go home. Your boy is waiting." Matthew got of the bed, and then reached for her hand so he can pull her off.

"Which one?" she asked, her unfocused eyes on him .

"Which one what?"

"Which boy is waiting for me?"

He narrowed his eyes, his face going to soft, to inscrutable in a fraction of a second.

"How many do you have?"

She smiled, wrapping her legs beneath her. She was fully awake now. Sighing as if she couldn't believe how dense he was, she raised two fingers.

"I hope to God I'm one of them."

"Who else would it be?" Imani asked, stretching her hands to him. Matthew pulled her to her feet. "I slept so well." she yawned, leaning her head on Matthew's chest. There was more than one occasion where Imani felt that perhaps staying with him until he got enough of her would be best, but she firmly believed she would hate herself if she gave in to those feelings.

But what if he never got tired of her? Imani thought, her mind already conjuring up a fantasy of their lives together, except she was a grown, sensible woman who knew choices had consequences, and hers would affect her brother.

"Must be the mattress; I like it too." matthew told her, placing her clothes on her arms, "now dress up, unless you want me to help you."

Imani threw him a grin, "no, thank you. I don't want to end up pinned on the door."