Devil's Backbone by idkxwriting (ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN)

CHAPTER 8

Y/N woke wrapped around Elijah and thought about how unreal the last twenty-four hours had been. Her entire world shifted, but here in her bed, snuggled into Elijah she felt safe. She breathed in his familiar cologne, a scent she had come to crave in the last few weeks.

"Are you smelling me right now?" He teased as he ran his fingers through her hair.

She shrugged into him. "That depends. Were you watching me sleep?"

He pursed his lips and feigned innocence. "A little bit."

She laughed, pushing her face into his chest. "Then yes, I was smelling you...a little bit," she admitted. She felt his chest rumble with laughter under her. "You smell good," she blushed at her confession, but after the things they did all day it seemed pointless to hide anything from him.

He rolled over on top of her, kissing her cheek. "Do I now?"

She nodded and turned her face slightly catching his lips with her own.

Just when she made her move to deepen the kiss, her stomach growled. He chuckled against her lips. "As much as I'd love to keep you in this bed, you need to eat."

"I'm starving," she agreed, glancing at her phone to see it was dinnertime already and they had wasted the entire day in bed, losing track of time wrapped up in each other.

"Remind me again why we left my bed?"

"Because last I checked, a banana and a pack of cookies do not constitute dinner," Elijah said dismissively as he looked over the wine list.

She rolled her eyes playfully. "We could have ordered pizza," she complained.

He placed the menu down in front of him. "After the day you've had, I believe some protein would do you good, perhaps even a vegetable," he teased. He had dug through her fridge and pantry, and after a short lived debate on what constituted groceries they had decided on a night out.

"We could have ordered pepperoni pizza," she argued placing her menu in front of her and crossing her arms.

His eyes crinkled with amusement as he met her stubborn playful gaze. He took in her appearance, and was beginning to regret ever leaving her bed as well when he noticed her neck. Elijah cleared his throat, reaching over to pull her Y/H/C hair over to one side.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

He motioned to the puncture wounds he had left earlier. "Your neck," he whispered.

Her eyes widened. "Sorry!" She muttered, placing her hair strategically on the wound.

Elijah looked down in his lap. "You should drink some of my -"

"I'm fine," she cut him off, effectively ending the conversation when the waitress approached. They placed their orders and as the waitress stepped away Y/N's phone began to buzz. Two missed calls and three texts, all from the same number. She opened the texts.

Unknown: Call me ASAP!!!
Unknown: 911
Unknown: It's Emily, btw

Y/N looked at Elijah apologetically, clutching the phone to her chest. He nodded and she stood, excusing herself with promises of only being a few minutes.

She stepped outside of the noisy restaurant, walking to the side of the building as she dialed Emily's number.

"Oh thank god!" Emily's frantic voice picked up.

Y/N blocked out the noise with her other hand, concentrating on her friend's voice. "Emily? What's wrong?"

Emily sighed heavily. "Have you heard from Ben?"