Thomas Hewitt: End Of The Line

Innocent Man

She woke to find she had fallen asleep at the edge of the bed. She noticed she had a pillow under her head and a blanket over her. She was confused for a moment, she hadn't heard the door open so it couldn't have been Luda. It must have been him. She looked to see Thomas was snoring away in his place on the floor, she had almost forgotten he had been forced to stay in there with her. He looked much more harmless asleep than he usually did. She propped herself on her pillow and took her opportunity to study him in secret. His brows, which thus far had always looked quite serious or pained, were relaxed. His eyelashes rested gently on the top of his cheeks, just above where his mask hid the rest of his features. She wondered why it was he wore it. She had noticed some spots above his brow that looked slightly irritated, but for the most part he looked normal. She hesitated to even think it, but he was quite handsome, actually. He was large and imposing, massive compared to her. She had to admit that part was somewhat frightening. She didn't think she'd ever met someone who had such a towering stature as he did. There was no doubt he was intimidating upon first glance, but she got the feeling there was more to him. Something gentle within his giant frame. He hadn't done what she was afraid he would do as soon as they'd been shut in that room together. Instead, he made sure she was comfortable and stayed far away from her like she had asked. Though she was still wary of him, it hadn't gone unnoticed that he'd been her silent protector amidst all this chaos. He seemed to be the only thing standing between her and whatever usually happened to those who entered this house. She couldn't help but wonder why.

She was torn from her thoughts by the sound of the stairs creaking outside the door. She felt panic start to set in again, she knew it had to be Hoyt and she knew he'd be curious about last night's events. She realized Thomas being on the floor would probably set off a series of events she did not want to happen.

"Thomas," she hissed as she kept her wide eyes on the door, "Thomas, wake up."

He stirred a bit, but his eyes remained closed. She quickly scrambled to grab her pillow and hurled it at him. His brow furrowed and he started to blink his eyes open. He looked up to see her staring at the door with a panicked expression.

"Get in the bed," she ordered.

He sat up and looked at her confused. She turned back to him and frantically motioned for him to move.

"Now, get in the bed now," she whispered sharply.

He stood up as she began messing up her hair, "Take that damn apron off and throw it on the floor," she said.

Thomas was more than confused by this point as she started to reach for the lace on the back of her dress and undo it. She looked back up to see he still hadn't done as she asked.

"Look, this trust thing has got to go both ways," she said as she struggled with the lace.

He did as she asked and stumbled over to the side of the bed, "Pull some of this out, will you? I can't reach the rest of it."

He did as she asked as quickly as he could. He heard Hoyt's voice from the bottom of the stairs and began to figure out just what she was doing. Once he'd loosened it enough so the sleeves hung from her shoulders she stood on her knees and turned to face him. She reached up and undid some of the buttons on his shirt. He tried desperately to look anywhere but her, it seemed like he was constantly at war with his own eyes, because they kept wandering back to her bare shoulders. Her messy curls hung loosely on them in such a delicate way and the white fabric of the dress made her skin glow with a warm tone. She glanced up and looked over his hair. She took her hand and quickly messed his curls up. He didn't quite enjoy the way his face heated up to give away just how nervous he was being this close to her. She finished with his hair and quickly looked back to the door to see Hoyt's shadow appear through the crack.