The Bad Ones

S E I

¤~ Cain Romero POV ~¤

I wake up slowly, my eyes not registering the girl next to me. Raina looks so innocent when she sleeps, all the sass and fire and confidence melts away leaving someone entirely different in her place. Someone who is scared and lonely and insecure. If there's anything I learnt about Raina Chase; it's that she's just a girl - a girl with a ton of issues but that doesn't make her more or less human than the rest of us.
Raina's brown hair surrounding her like a halo, her soft snores cute and light - almost like a kitten.

She reminds me of Arabella, my brave younger sister. Ara used to curl up to me while she slept - not unlike Raina. Raina and Ara were both petite in that way - you never knew where you stood with them, you just knew. It was like gut instinct telling me when and when not to push for answers. You never had to push them for answers, they either told you or not.

She's so much smaller too, both in appearance and this sleeping personality, face to face her personality makes her seem larger than life. Strip all of that away and you'll find that her demeanor is defenceless and vulnerable. Not at all like the sarcastic bitchy Raina that I've come to grow used to.

Raina Chase might be a lot of things but to me she was an open book, every hurtful word or look or even something she just takes offense to incites that broken look in her eyes; something I've come to translate as pained.

I've seen Raina angry, sad, happy, grumpy and loving but never ever afraid and honestly - it scared the shit out of me when she woke up that evening with glassy eyes and the terrified expression on her face. Raina wasn't as tough as she let people believe, just witnessing last night saddened me. After I put on that movie, she laughed until her laughter turned to sobs.

I stare at her. Her long eyelashes hiding her exquisite gray blue eyes that resembled the cold frozen tundra winds, brown hair fanned around her head catching in the morning sunlight.

I've never in my entire life thought that I'd meet someone like her and because of that she was unpredictable. I never knew where I was with her, it was like standing on shifting desert sand. I started to wonder if this thing between her and I could be more... dangerous thoughts for someone like me. A target forever painted on my back.

I sigh deeply; looking at the ceiling as I was laying next to her on the bed did nothing to ease my worry. Somehow I've grown fond of her blunt honesty and obvious lies that I could immediately sniff out.

It was refreshing, after living with my family most of my life deception was a given in every single situation. My father was frigid in a way that never brought about anything good. The last time I remember he smiled was before my mother ran away after Ara died. That was almost 10 years ago.

I stare at the ceiling deep in thought. "I don't think that's what you're supposed to be doing Cain." I hear a blunt voice next to me and the end of my lips tug up.

"And what pray tell I'm I supposed to be doing kitten?" I ask her my eyes sparkling with amusement. "You're supposed to be enchanted by me and watching me sleep like the Edward you are." She say matter-of-fact.

"Nah uh kitten. I think that's a bit cocky of you." I say to her my eyes not leaving the ceiling. "No it's not I'm gorgeous." She brags her ego giving me a run for my money.

Raina is one of the most confident women I've ever met - and not unreasonably so. She is gorgeous in that way that inspires you to underestimate her and her age works to her advantage. No one ever suspects a teenage girl. All she has to do is drum up some inconsequential bullshit about a boy band and she's immediately off the hook. Her look is deceptively charming and thinking with my history that would be a hard thing to accept but I've come to love her for it... shit, I love her.