Breaking the Chains

Chapter Twenty Five

The bathroom smelt like soap and fruity conditioner and as Riley unplugged the tub and stood, she slipped in the slippery tub and fell on her butt and side. She let out a yelp and her entire body thumped along with her heartbeat. It wasn't the worst pain she felt but she could feel some of the fresh cuts open once more. The blood eased itself into the draining water, making the light grey liquid turn into a deep red. Riley gulped as she closed her eyes tightly to block out the pain. It only took seconds for Eli to burst into the bathroom. He had his eyes wide open in fear but when he noticed that she was still in the tub, he quickly grabbed the towel and handed it to her so she could cover herself up. His breath was heavy, even before he noticed the bloody water.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he knelt down to the tub so that they would be at similar heights. Eli carefully studied her as he stared at her face. Riley nodded as she opened her eyes slowly. "What happened?" He asked worriedly.

"Fell," Riley mumbled as she tightened the towel around her before she let out a breath. "Can you pass me that shirt?" Eli nodded right away and reached for it before passing it toward her. She pulled it over her head and let the towel fall to below her waist. She carefully wrapped it in a way where it wouldn't fall and tried to stand. When she couldn't, Eli grabbed her hands and helped her to her feet. She smiled weakly as she stepped out of the tub and onto the little shower mat right by the tub.

Eli was looking in her eyes, nearly smiling as he did. It took her back to when they first looked at each other. She smiled a little softer and blinked calmly. Eli had his lips twisted into a gentle smirk. Riley was still half naked, though she had a towel covering half of her body. Eli blinked into reality right as she did and handed her the black underwear and the sweats that she had been given. "Here you go," he said quietly as she took them from his hands. He looked back and saw the bra still there. "Oops," he muttered and handed it to her as well. She had to hold in laughter because of that, which made her smile even more gentle than before. "I'll just be in the other room," he said quietly before slowly walking out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. Riley finally giggled.

Riley breathed out once the door closed. She closed her eyes and felt the sting from the open cuts and somewhere in her, she was fine with it. It wasn't as bad as when she was cut or was beat. Riley held in some air before she pulled up the rest of her clothes. Her underwear was crusty from all the bile, blood, and sweat she had sat in. She was almost a hundred percent sure there was urine mixed. Riley peeled the underwear off slowly, feeling her body ache with every movement. Her breath was ragid but she could hardly hear it. She looked around the bathroom quickly, balled up the underwear before she buried it under the tissues in the trash. Then, she quickly pulled on the sweats before she went back out into the bedroom where Eli was lying on his bed, his gaze on the ceiling.

"Hey," she said slowly before she sat herself beside him. Eli looked toward her and smiled. "You look tired," she said quietly as she felt shivers go down her spine.

"Mm, I am," he said gently as he looked at her and sat up. "But I'll stay up as long as you are." Riley smiled at him. There was a comfortable silence before Eli's eyes perked. "We should play cards."

"Cards?" She asked with a tilt of her head. Eli nodded as he got off the bed and opened a drawer that was beside his bed. He pulled out a deck of cards and threw it gently on the mattress before closing the drawer and plopping himself down. 

"Yeah! Nona would always play card games with us and it was always a lot of fun." Eli smirked as he began to shuffle the cards. "Have you ever played war?" He looked up and saw Riley shake her head. He paused and blinked. "You never have?" Riley shrugged as she shook her head. "Well, we're going to change that." She tilted her head as he quickly split the deck in half and smiled. "Okay, so you hold your deck so the back is facing you." He showed her by placing his desk on his hand. "And then you keep placing the top card of the deck inbetween us and whoever has the higher number wins."

"Eli," she breathed out before she gave a light laugh. "I'm going to lose so badly." She looked up from her deck. "I have the worst luck."

Eli looked up and immediately his face looked serious. "You've survived all that and you call yourself the worst luck?" Eli frowned and shook his head. "Riley, you're the best luck if I ever had any." He took a breath and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Thank you," she said quietly with a soft smile. Eli looked up and returned the smile before he lightly pecked her cheek. They looked at each other for a moment before Riley flipped over one of her cards. She looked down and saw that she had a nine of spades. "Ha, beat that." Eli grinned and flipped over a king. "Aw," Riley mumbled as she watched Eli take the two cards and add them to the bottom of his deck. She pulled out another card and had an ace. Eli pulled out a two of diamonds. There was no movement for a moment before Eli pushed the two cards toward her. "Oh, right," she said quickly and grabbed the two cards as she shyly smiled. "Must have forgotten."

They played the game for around twenty minutes and realized no one was getting close to winning. Eli dropped all of his cards in front of him while Riley rose her shoulders, ready to beat him. "Hey," she said with a disappointed look. She drooped her shoulders as she looked down to his fallen cards. "I felt good about that one." Riley mumbled as she slowly put down her cards.

"The problem is, I didn't," Eli said quietly as he looked up toward her. He grinned as he watched her grab all the cards and attempt to shuffle them, and though she was failing, she didn't even look up as she kept trying.

"How do you shuffle the cards the way you did?" She asked after a few seconds as she looked up. Riley tilted her head as she saw him already looking at her. "Are you okay?" She asked in a worried voice. He nodded his head just slightly before he slowly put a hand on her cheek.

"You're amazing," he said quietly as he gently leaned toward her and kissed her on her lips. He smiled against it before pulling away and grabbing the deck that was loosely in her hand to shuffle it. Riley blinked before she looked down to watch him. "You have to have the deck loose so you can easily throw in cards inbetween each of them." Riley nodded after a moment as she watched. "And then there you go," he said after he finished and handed the deck toward her. She grabbed it slowly and then forgot what she was going to do.

"What game next?" She asked as she looked up toward him. He grinned softly.

"Go fish," he said quietly before pecking her cheek.

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I KNOW IT SOUNDS LIKE IT'S THE ENDING, BUT IT'S NOT! A LOT MORE IS GOING TO GO ON. THE ADVENTURES FOR THEM HAVE NOT ENDED. I PROMISE YOU.

So I hope you've enjoyed the story so far! It's obviously not the best but that's perfectly fine in my world.

And I know this chapter was more fluff than anything else but I think the characters need a break from torture, don't you? I love them too much to see them hurt more...

But they are not done yet. 

So I hope you enjoyed and if you did, please vote...

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Peace out Secrets and God bless you all!

-S