What Makes a Family

9-Released Aggression

IF YOU WOULD PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO LEAVE AN ASTERIX* ON ANY OF MY GRAMMAR/SPELLING MISTAKES

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Waking up the next morning was definitely one of the best mornings of my life. Somehow over the span of the night we'd both ended up entangled between one another, our arms and legs nearly tied in a knot. With a grunt I forced Aldric's large arm off of my mid section where he had me pinned down to the motel bed. The only thing he did was shuffle enough to get comfortable again.

The smile that formed on my face watching the man I'd grown to care for sleeping beside me nearly hurt. His eyebrows were drawn up high on his forehead; It seemed even in his sleep he was stressed out. Reaching forward I gently rubbed my thumb across the crease in between until his face relaxed on a sigh. My heart warmed at the sound.

It pained me to have to wake him up, but we had to talk. After he showed up last night, drenched from the pouring rain, I knew today would determine where we went from here.

"Aldric," I croaked, laughing as I cleared my throat from my sleepy voice. "Aldric, you gotta get up." His large frame rolled back over to face me as he brought an arm up to shade his eyes from the bright morning light seeping in through the curtains. The blanket slid from his body as he continued to sit up, displaying all the delicious muscles he had to offer.

His arms rippled as he rested back on his palms, a lazy smile taking form as he lolled his head to look at me. "What time is it?" God, his voice was so deep, laced with slumber. It did things to me, naughty things that I couldn't quite understand. With only three previous lovers there wasn't a lot of experience to compare it to, but I knew without a doubt this wasn't feelings people got to experience on a daily.

"Seven-thirty." His eyebrows creased like they had before in his sleep as he rubbed at his dark stubble, mumbling under his breath he slept in way too long. I couldn't help but laugh. "What time do you normally wake up, then?"

His answer was a short, "five," as he got up to check his clothes. I wasn't surprised he got up that early, but it did surprise me how shocked he was at sleeping in. When I'd asked him why he'd taken the time to throw his clothes into a pile on the floor, seeming to forget he was in a motel that had a washer and dryer. I made a mental note to check on getting them washed after we talked.

"I normally wake up at five even when it's my day off. It's like my body is used to it. Although, I have to admit last night was some of the best sleep I've had in a really long time."

Silence loomed around us as Aldric took a seat back on the mattress with a sigh. "So, I guess now we talk." His voice came out gentler than expected, so that was definitely a good sign. I nodded, brushing my crazy bed head back out of my face.

Last night a lot of information had been laid on the table, but we never touched anything in the future. Everything we talked about was our past and present-not even once did we speak about what would happen when we woke up. "I want to take care of you, Anna. Now that I know who you are my feelings aren't all confused and jumbled."

I sat silently, letting him air out all of his dirty laundry. "I already told you I was rude because you reminded me so much of Tatiana, but I didn't tell you I continued to be rude to you because I felt like I was betraying my feelings for her by liking you. But you are one in the same, so I guess that makes things much simpler." His motive was logical, I assumed, but I couldn't help when it made me giggle. So he'd thought he was betraying me, by liking the real me-Funny.

He sat quietly as he let all this new information sink in. I really wasn't sure what that meant about us. I had kept to the regular schedule with Tatiana, but I'd never bothered to do anymore than my normal fake smile, and he'd known it. He could tell when I wasn't my normal self, but up until last night he had no idea why. It seemed we were both misunderstood.