Warrior

Chapter Five

Satey

I opened my eyes and blinked. When everything came into focus, I realized I had no idea where I was. The room was not familiar. I felt the panic rack through my body until I saw an arm wrapped around my waist. Suddenly, everything that had happened the night before rushed into my mind. My attacker, Liam coming to my rescue and... Liam.

I turned to look at the form holding me to his body. His brown hair was sticking up in all directions as he contentedly slept. As I shifted, I felt his arms grip my waist tighter. I remembered how caring he treated me, how he made sure I was safe and comfortable. It was surprisingly sweet. Slightly strange, but sweet. Something that seemed like such a drastic opposite from how he took care of the man who attacked me last night. Picturing the scene in my head, I shuddered.

As soon as I did, Liam mumbled, "Satey, It's okay," in his sleep. I sleepily smiled, despite the dark images of him racing through my brain, as Liam drew me closer to him again. I let the still groggy feelings overtake me and I fell back asleep

**

The next time I woke up, I was alone. I sat bolt upright and surveyed the room to make sure I wasn't overreacting. My heart pounded and my brain went through all the possible horrible things that could've happened. Did he leave me? Would he do that? I tried to calm myself down as I walked to the hall and into the living room.

It was strange that I was this panicked the day before when I discovered him around me, and now my heart was pounding because he wasn't around.

"Liam?" I called quietly.

"Out here," he said.

I followed the sound of his voice and saw him standing outside in the spring air. The sun was in front of him, casting his muscular features in a bright glow. I could see his tones chest and arms through his T-shirt and it suddenly struck me how truly handsome he was, no matter how threatening he looked to other people in the ring.

My thoughts were instantly stolen to the night before, how violently he had reacted upon seeing me attacked. I shuddered at the thought of that happening again. I closed my eyes as I leaned against the sliding door. The horrific images were replaying over and over in my head, causing my fists to clench. I couldn't think about what had happened, or else the horror of it all would take me over completely.

"Did you sleep okay?" I asked, deciding to dance around the subject as I stepped out onto the deck.

"Did you?" he deflected back to me.

I looked at him sideways, but before I could ask him again, he interjected, "I want to know, did you?"

I shook my head slowly, "I had nightmares," I admitted quietly.

"I know," he said.

"Then, why-?"

"I wanted to see if you would be honest with me," he said.

I tipped my head to the side, furrowing my brows. "Why?"

Liam turned his head, avoiding my gaze. "I'm big on honesty," he said softly.

I gave a small smile that he couldn't see, appreciating that he had values, despite the common thought that he didn't. It was strange, though, the way we were talking normally. I had figured that his history and present life of fighting would make things different.