Shattered

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

(Nina's Pov)

As I twisted off the shower and watched the waterfall of warm water come to a stop, a soft sigh left my lips. I felt strange. Extremely strange. There was this odd numb feeling following me around every single second of the day.

It had been a few days, roughly three or so, since I had been living under the same roof as Lucas, not once being able to leave other than for a walk down the block, with one of his bulky men right on my tail. I felt trapped, annoyed and so damn confused.

As the days passed by, I slowly found myself relaxing around Lucas. I stopped being so tense and closed off, cautiously eventually listening to what he had to say and tried my best to comprehend his reality now, despite how I felt about it.

Stepping outside of the shower, I extended out my arm and grabbed the white towel that I had brought in with me. I gently dried myself with it before wrapping it around the entire length of my body, and then made my way out of the bathroom.

Entering Lucas' room, as it was connected to the bathroom, my eyes darted towards his bed that was freshly made. The sheets had been changed and everything looked neatly in place. It was a contrast to last night, because like the past few days I had been slipping into his bed, unable to sleep without being near him even though oddly at the same time I was still a little freaked out by him, last night had ended up in a playful tickle fest.

It was abrupt. One moment Lucas and I were mindlessly talking about something I can't exactly remember, and the next moment he was hovering over me, tickling the ever living crap out of me. I think it was something I said that he jokingly took as 'insulting'.

A small smile managed to slip onto my lips as I thought back to last night, absentmindedly walking closer towards the made bed and letting my hand trail along the sheets. They were soft and silky, undoubtedly expensive and probably exported from some wealthy country within Europe. Like Italy.

Biting down on my bottom lip, I shivered and mentally cursed the cold winter weather. It was nearing February and I couldn't wait for it to finally be spring. There was just something about warmer weather that made me feel more content and happy with life.

Rolling my eyes at my ridiculous thoughts, I took a step back from the large king sized bed. However, I found myself doing a double take when I noticed a particular framed picture sitting on the edge of Lucas' drawer. My eyes narrowed and I found myself reaching out to grab it, wanting a closer view of it.

When my eyes took in the sight, my heart stuttered and abrupt tears pricked my eyes. A shaky smile danced its way onto my lips and I absently clutched the frame a little tighter in my hands. The image stared back at me through my blurry vision, the emotion of pain and longing attacking my heart directly.

The golden frame held an image of both Lucas and I as children, roughly around the age of 10-12. He was wearing his favorite Yankees baseball cap along with his mismatching favorite basketball player jersey, Lebron James. He displayed a toothy grin whilst I had a closed mouth smile. I was sat right next to him on the deck of stairs, his arm thrown over my shoulder, the both of us leaning in pretty close. I was wearing my favorite red romper with my sparkly white sandals, my toes painted a shade of red similar to my dress.

I still remember that moment all so clearly. It was fourth of July, Lucas and I were so excited about getting to light sparklers later on that night as Mrs Maroon had brought them in for us to celebrate the day with. We dressed up in our favorite clothes, stuffed our faces with treats (more than usual) and played numerous games together.

A tear fell from my eyes and landed on the glass protected photograph. My shaky hand reached out and traced the image, an odd clenching feeling occurring to my heart. Swallowing the sudden gulp present in my throat, I put down the framed picture back where it was and took a deep breath.