Painful Reminders

Chapter Fifteen: Heart to Heart

She was asleep on my seater sofa when I returned just before sunrise. Moving closer, I took her in; curled up to one side, she rested with one hand tucked up between her cheek and the sofa arm. Her bare feet, toes painted a metallic purple, were crossed over one another at the ankle. The soft grey pajama pants she wore flared at the end, dangling over the cushion and her black tank top falling off the right shoulder. I caught a glimpse of a white square in the corner of my eye and looked down at the coffee table. On a small white piece of paper, she had drawn a crude drawing of a man with the name, 'Cassian', written just above him. Standing beside him was a woman with an angry face, holding a stick and stabbing the man in the chest. Above the woman, the name, 'Amya', was written. At the man's feet, she'd drawn little flames.

A soft chuckle snuck through my lips and I picked it up, folding it up and slipping it into my pocket. Bending, I picked her up and made my way to the bedroom. Pulling back the covers, I laid her down and tucked her in. She let out a breath and rolled over, wiggling further under the covers.

Turning away, I moved toward the wardrobe, grabbing a change of clothes before stepping into the bathroom. Showering and shaving, I pulled on my own pajama pants, more than ready for the night to be over. She would be angry to find herself in the same bed as me in a few hours, but I wasn't willing to allow her out of reach for too long at the moment.

Slipping into bed on the other side, I noted that she'd moved again, facing the middle of the bed with one leg kicked out from under the covers and tangled on top of them. I found myself watching her sleep. One arm bent beneath her pillow, her stubborn mouth turned down slightly in a frown and her brows furrowed. Unable to stop myself, I reached out a hand, pressing my fingertips to the creases between her brows and gently smoothing them out before capturing a strand of her hair and pushing it back behind her ear.

"Don't leave," she breathed when I pulled my hand away. I froze, studying her, but she was still fast asleep.

"I'm here."

"Liar," she sighed out with a frown. "They always leave." She rolled over, pulling the covers up tighter under her chin.

***

I woke up to my cheek pressed against cool skin and one arm hooked securely around a bare torso. My entire body went rigid and I opened my eyes immediately to assess the situation and mentally cursed. My head was resting comfortably on a bare chest I would be willing to bet belonged to Cassian based on the fact that it was his main living area that I last remembered being in. I couldn't see his face without moving, and I was determined not to wake him up. Lifting my arm slowly, I began to ease away from him, rolling to the edge of the bed and tumbling over the edge as quietly as possible.

Straightening myself up, I looked back over at him to find him awake with his eyes on me. Tugging subconsciously at my tank top, I glared at him. "This," I said, gesturing toward him and the bed, "isn't going to work for me."

"Then you can share a room with Andrea."

"Absolutely not," I snapped back.

"You're no longer permitted to room alone."

I crossed my arms, "Then put me in a room with Zeke." I didn't like the guy, but I stood a much better chance with him than I did with Cassian.

"Absolutely not," he replied, echoing my own words back to me. We glared at each other for a minute before I turned on my heels and made my way to the bathroom, slamming the door behind me. He was throwing it back open in an instant and I whipped around. "This door stays open."