Guardian

Chapter Thirteen

There was a weight on my chest that startled me from my sleep. I could lift my torso off the bed and one of my arms had been immobilized. There was hair in my face, strands of auburn in my face tickling my nose. I sniffled and tried to keep a sneeze at bay. My fingers on my left side were going numb from whatever was on top of it. I took in a deep breath and opened my eyes for the first time. 
Light was streaming through the window, casting shadows on the floor from the knickknacks on my shelves. Cute little things dancing on my floor making me smile. 

Everything looked the exact same as it did last night. Last night. 

My heart started beating faster in my chest. I found it suddenly hard to breathe. My eyes moved around the room, my eyes catching the sun light and I blinked my eyes, looking over at my bathroom door. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw wisps of white blonde hair, the creamy color that touched the underside of my chin. As I moved, breathing and trying to see what was around me, the head groaned loudly and snuggled further into my chest. Soft puffs of warm air hit my chest and I realized there was an arm wrapped tightly around my stomach and a leg covering my own, effectively keeping me trapped. I lifted my right hand up, the one that wasn't stuck, and ran my fingers through the hair that I had forgotten I'd loved. It was just as soft as I remembered it being. His long eyelashes were touching his cheek, which were colored rosy. His pink lips were slightly parted as air passed through them. There wasn't a single imperfection on his face, there was nothing but smooth soft skin without indents or freckles or anything. 

A smile came onto my lips as Wings once again cuddled closer, even though he was already as close as he could possibly be. His leg and arm was still around me, his head dangerously close to my breasts. 

I glanced over my side at the clock, it was late into the morning, but luckily for us it was a long weekend. No school today, which made it a good Monday. I half expected one of my siblings to come barging into my room, telling me to get up because Mom made lunch. That is, until I remembered what happened the last night, what had made me so upset. My breath hitched again. My fingers halted their movements through his hair and I swallowed. 

Wings hummed, obviously missing the movement and opened his eyes. he blinked a few times and furrowed his eyebrows for a second, but then he stopped moving and he grinned the smallest bit. For a moment, my raging heart calmed and I could focus on just the color of his eyes and the way his lips moved. He let his head fall to my chest again, only for him to hear something and lift his head again, this time he looked up at me. 

"What's wrong?" He asked 

I bit my top lips and shook my head. I took another very deep breath and let it out. "Nothing, I'm fine." 

He raised his eyebrow at me "Your heart is racing." 

I would have shrugged if I'd had the ability "I was just thinking about yesterday. But it's no big deal." 

His eyes seemed to darken at the reminder of what had happened. He ran his tongue along his teeth and cringed a little bit. His jaw set and he looked at me with eyes that scared me. 

"I'm not letting anything like that happen to you ever again." His voice sent shivers down my spine, ones I tried to ignore. 

I nodded my head like I understood. 

He let his head fall again, his arms never leaving. 

"Can I get up please?" 

"No." 

"Why not?" I wasn't sure I wanted to get up anyway, but I definitely wanted to know why he wasn't going to let me up. 

"I've spent the past nine years unable to hold you, to be with you when you needed me here. I'm going to spend as much time with you as I can because who knows what might happen." 

I smiled a little bit. I would be lying if I said that it wasn't comforting, knowing someone is out there, looking after me. A blush crept up my neck and onto my cheeks. 

"Come on" I started "We'd better get up." I tried pulling away, but I was held down. "Wings, come on" 

"You know I have a name right? Not that I don't absolutely adore your nickname for me, I love it." 

I suddenly felt bad that I couldn't remember his real name. 

"It's Tiberius." 

"I like that name." 

He grinned at me. "Are you really sure that you want to get up?" He asked me. 

I thought about it for a few moments. "Not really. They all think I hurt Malcolm because I wanted to, because I'm a bad person and apparently a sadist. I didn't want to hurt him. I don't like hurting people, it feels wrong. People shouldn't hurt other people." 

Tiberius lifted his arm from around my waist to brush the hair out of the corner of my eye. "And no one should try and force themselves on other people, especially those who aren't giving consent. You did a good thing. It may not feel like it, but it was good." 

I took a shaking breath. "Yeah. I just hope that Mom and Paige won't be too mad at me." 

"Paige is pretty blind right now, and your mom, she doesn't see it either. but I know that Greg and Toby will believe you. And I know you." 

"You're right. it's gonna be okay I think. We should really get up though, it's getting late and it's my turn to go do the dinner shopping."