in his arms | BOOK II

SIX

♠️

ellie

DAY EIGHT SEEMED so much better than the day before. With Ellie no longer holding in the admittance of her miscarriage, she felt as though a weight had been taken off of her shoulders and she did not feel so heavy—she felt lighter.

Releasing a yawn, she sat up slowly and stressed her aching muscles. When she turned to her left side, however, Blaze was not there, and she felt her eyebrows furrow in confusion as to where he was.

"Blaze?" Ellie called out softly, standing up and walking towards the washroom. "You in here?"

"Morning, kotek," Blaze's distant voice replied, and he opened the washroom door a second after.

A gust of steam came from the room and remained until it dissolved into the cooler air of the bedroom. Ellie tilted her head up to meet his bright emerald hues, then slowly trailed her attention down to the set of abs that were in her line of sight. She moved her attention to the tattoo she had never seen before on his hip, going over it with her thumb. It seemed every time she saw him, there was a new tattoo to be found.

"So..." Ellie trailed off slowly, rocking back and forth on her heels. She looked up to find Blaze smirking with amusement. "Any plans for today?"

Blaze ran a hand through his damp hair as he thought. Ellie never stopped staring as his bottom lip was pulled between his teeth in thought and only one thing was on her mind:

How can a man be so gorgeous?

"I've got to finish getting caught up with work," Blaze started, meeting her gaze. He raised an eyebrow in confusion before continuing. "I also need to bring the doctors in for D to check up on how he's doing with everything."

Hearing that made Ellie shake her head.

"Please don't make him go," Ellie argued softly, grabbing Blaze's large hand with both of hers when he tried turning to grab his toothbrush. "He's still recovering from everything, Blaze. He needs time, not a bunch of doctors sticking more needles into his body."

Blaze's eyes narrowed slightly. "Elenor..."

"Just give him a few more days," she continued, frowning. "He's too small, Blaze. I don't want him to break down because of it."

He glanced down at her and after a moment of thought and internal battling, sighed quietly and nodded. He gave Ellie's forehead a gentle kiss before looking back into the mirror. He tensed when Ellie wrapped her arms around his waist, her head on his bicep.

"You always tense up when I hug you," she murmured with a smile.

"It's still something I'm trying to get used to," Blaze admitted, moving his hand down her back gently. It stopped right at the small of her back, which is where he discovered was the most comfortable Ellie was with until she began to fidget and grow anxious.

"Was it that bad for you two?" He asked quietly, his lips curved down into a frown.

Ellie inhaled sharply at the question. Slowly, she nodded.

"They used me as some sort of toy for them to experiment on," she murmured, staring at nothing in particular, "and when I didn't cooperate they went for Dimitri."