Five Words

Chapter 39

~Cher

My nostrils flare. My lungs beg for air. I can't breathe. I jolt awake and I cough. Once. Twice. My face is wet. I bring both of my hands to my face and it is dripping wet and so cold. I breathe heavily trying to rush the air in and calm my aching lungs.

I haven't seen any nightmares. I definitely don't sweat ice-cold water. I rub my face twice in order to regain my senses.

"Good morning, sunshine." I hear Ace's voice.

I open my eyes and shut them again. I might still be asleep for all I know. I rub my eyes and then I hear him clear his throat again.

What the fuck?

He is holding an empty cup in his right hand. His smile is so bright I think I might actually go blind.

"It's time to rise and jog around this beautiful town."

He woke me up. No, wait, scratch that. He blocked my airways just so that he can wake me up to run with him at fucking six in the morning? And he has the nerve to smile?

"Get out of my room before I murder you." I threaten him with a hoarse, raspy voice.

"No." He sets the cup down on my nightstand, "You will get up and get ready because we are going to leave in exactly fifteen minutes so that we can catch the sunrise."

"I am not going anywhere with you." I snap, "You just tried to kill me."

"Don't exaggerate, Cher."

I huff angerly and lie back down, pulling the covers over me to prove my point. I am not going with him anywhere.

"You are coming with me." I hear his footsteps come closer.

I tightly clutch to the duvet like my life depends on it preparing myself for a whole lot of fighting. I feel the duvet being lifted off of me but not from where I was dearly grasping but from where I didn't expect it. Of course, my brain won't work properly when I am sleep deprived. He swiftly swings it from right to the left completely lifting off of me and my arms stretch upward still clinging to it.

He smiles innocently at me and his teeth show. Damn that smile.

"Good morning."

"Leave me alone." I hold my arms out in front of me as some kind of defense.

"Cher, I will ask you once. Will you come willingly or do I have to make you?"

I look straight into his eyes and with all the confidence I can muster I reply.

"I'd like to see you try, Ace."

He looks me in the eyes too. He's staring at me with a challenging stare. Loudly saying challenge accepted like it was a dare, to begin with.

He bends down and he moves so fast that my brain can't register what is happening. Both of his arms move. One arm under my knees and the other under my head. He lifts me with so much ease like he is carrying a baby not a fucking eighteen-year-old. A menacing smile is drawn on his lips when I shriek from the sudden movement. He does it again and I momentarily soar in the air. My arms find his neck and I pull my body closer to his, fearing that he might drop me. But he doesn't and I settle in his arms.

"Put me down," I whisper a little shaken.

I have never been woken up this way and I would never want to be woken up like this ever.

"Will you come with me if I did?" He whispers back because our faces are so close to each other.

I am aware of everything now. I am aware of what I am wearing. I feel the blood rushing to my cheeks when I feel his hand's warmth directly on my skin. Not that this isn't enough, but I can feel his warmth against me. His cologne is all that I can smell now, and no matter how many times he has surrounded me with it, I'm still affected by it greatly. It's like nothing I have smelt before and if I can, I would get wrapped up in it. I can feel his heart beating against my chest. I would like to believe that his racing heart has something to do with me, but in reality, it is because he is carrying a human being.