The Price ࿊f Peace

☮️:051

⚠️
Somewhere in Oakland
Saturday August 25th, 2024

Syara woke up to the sound of water running. She was no longer on Elijah's chest, unfortunately, as he was brushing his teeth.

She didn't have anything to do today, so she was likely going to go kick it with Kisses. Maybe, they could do some homework that day.

Syara remained lying on Elijah's sheets, snuggling deeper into his covers, and peeking an eye open to check the alarm clock. 4:53 am on the dot.

Per usual, Elijah woke up everyday at 4:00 am. He had a routine that had been drilled into his head from being incarcerated at such a young age.

Wake up at 4:00 on the dot, pray, take a piss, brush his teeth, wash his face, do his sets, take a cold shower, breakfast if he remembered, reading, and then whatever else he had planned for the day.

Syara had never developed a routine from jail. She just got up at 5:00 every morning since she was a little girl. Her body clock woke her up every morning. She'd do her pushups out of necessity because running track takes a lot of core strength, and push ups strengthen your core.

But, she did enjoy waking up a little earlier when she slept at his house to watch him workout. She loved watching him do his prison workouts. It was so attractive to her. One time, he even let her sit on his back so he could lift her 25 times.

Unfortunately, Syara hadn't mastered the art of prison style pushups. They were painful as fuck. She could still do them, just not nearly as many as Elijah could. He could knock out 1000 in one setting, and different forms too.

Syara peeked her head out of the covers to watch him lay his towel down on his floor and begin a set on his fists. He did about 50 straight before switching to flat hands centered.

Syara just watched like she always did, crossing her legs under the covers. She turned over in the bed, a hand squeezed between her clenched legs as she watched the muscles in his ink and scar covered back contract and release.

Syara had zoned out on his back by the time he'd completed his work out. She was still staring at the spot on his floor where he was previously working out even though he was directly in front of her.

Elijah bent to grab her chin, and kiss her lips gently, effectively gaining her attention, and pulling a smile onto her lips.

"Good morning, Sy." He pressed another kiss to her chin before climbing back onto his bed to place each knee on either side of her body. He held under her chin to force her head up to give him more access to her neck.

"Come shower wit' me." He asked her, but it wasn't much of a question. Syara smiled even brighter at his handsome face.

"I love you, papa." She told him, leaving a kiss on his cheek.

"I love you more, mama." He responded, lifting her into his arms, and carrying her into his bathroom where the water was already running.

______________________

When Syara awoke for the second time that day, the first thing she did was call Elijah.

Oddly, he didn't answer halfway through the first ring like he always did. Instead, the phone rung out, leaving Syara confused as she mugged the phone in her hand. That...was weird. Elijah always answered. Always.

She wasn't tripping too hard, seeing as he would likely just hit her back when he wasn't as busy. She instead opted for a group call with Lucky and Kisses.