The Last Hour

Part 20

Roan's POV:

I wake up to the smell of food, my stomach growls loudly and I stare up at the ceiling as I tried to make sense why I am not as mad at Bram as I was yesterday. I throw off the sheets, getting out of the bed and stretch my limbs. I rub my face with the palm of my hands and sigh softly as I open the bedroom door. I walk out of the room and quietly head over to the kitchen to see that Bram was cooking food. I lean against the doorframe and watch him.

Dorian was sitting on the floor, watching Bram make the food and as if he knew I was here; he turns his head and sees me. He meows, standing back on all fours and walks over to me. He rubs against my leg, purring as he demanded attention.

I kneel down to pet him, smiling softly at the cat and say softly, "Hey Dorian..."

"You're awake..." Bram says, not looking over at me as he continues to cook the food. He was only wearing his boxers, nothing else and there were some fresh marks on his back.

I raise an eyebrow at the marks, surprised I didn't see those last night and I walk over to him. I press a hand on his injuries and say, "What happened here?"

He hissed in pain, tensing up at me touching his injuries and he finished cooking. He grabs the plates off the counter and brought them over to the table. He looks at me, his jaw clenched and he says, "It's nothing, Roan... I just got whipped by some tree branches when I went running a few days ago." He goes over to his fridge, pulling out the orange juice and walks back over to the table.

I roll my eyes at his lie, knowing that trees didn't do that and I reply, "You manage to get the injuries when you were running without a shirt?" I walk over to him, looking down at him and I say to him, "Bram, you didn't get those from trees. Those are whip marks."

Bram turns a deep shade of red, he keeps his mouth shut and doesn't look at me. He pushed me back a bit and mutters, "Breakfast is served...." He heads to the living room and grabbed a white button up shirt. He shrugs it on and begins to button it without saying anything to me.

I stand in front of him, blocking him from going any further and rest my hands on his waist. I say softly with a pleading look, "Bram, please... Did this happen the past days we were apart?"

Bram nods slightly, his hands on his sides... Limp... And he says softly, "I did this for you and Lilian. My father got news that Cronus was keeping you two and my father would've killed you two... I couldn't let him, so I kept my mouth shut and he gave me 100 lashes." He looks up at me, tears brimming in the corners of his eyes and doesn't say anything else.

My breath hitches at he thought of what Bram did for us and I pull him into a hug. Being extra careful when I settled my arms on his lower back and I kiss his forehead. "Bram, I didn't know... I'm sorry." I mutter and lift his chin up so he can look up at me.

His gaze doesn't really meet mine, he mutters, "I didn't want you to feel bad..." He then looks at me and gives me a weak smile. He pats my chest, clearing his throat and says, "Come on, let's eat... I don't want Dorian to get at it."

I laugh softly, pulling him into the kitchen again and say, "I don't know. I mean he did look like he was going to devour it all when you were making it." I sat down at the dining table, grabbing some bacon and eat it.

He sat down as well, smiling gently and says, "Yeah... That's Dorian..." He grabs some of the food that he cooked and eats it.

I roll my eyes, grabbing some of his bacon off of his plate and take a bite out of them.

"Hey! Those were mine!" He exclaims, trying to reach for his bacon.