"She craved his twisted darkness, the same way he grasped at the light in her shattered soul."
Natalie Gilbert has spent her entire life putting everyone else's needs before her own. So much so, that it ended up costing her the one person she couldn...
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NATALIE
My eyes flutter open slowly, taking in the bright sunlight streaming through the window.
The light was casting a warm vanilla haze over the room, only reinforcing the blissful peace I felt, lying in bed.
My content interrupted by the stunning realization suddenly floating into my consciousness.
I had managed to sleep through the rest of the night, no interruptions. Something I hadn't be able to do in what felt like forever.
This victory sent a small smile dancing across my lips. I had almost forgotten what it was like to not feel the deep aches of exhaustion in my bones, or the burning of my retinas from staring at the same spot on my ceiling for hours.
I was reveling in this profound achievement, when I suddenly felt the mattress shift under me. Except it wasn't the mattress, but rather the restless movements of the boy I was currently curled up against.
It took me a moment to truly brush off my sleep daze, and become fully aware of the situation happening right now. But unfortunately for me, being fully conscious did nothing but send me into a spiraling panic as I observed my current predicament.
Kai must've fallen asleep in my room after I drifted off last night, and somewhere along the line one of us, or maybe both of us, had subconsciously reached for each other in the night, resulting in a very warm, very intimate cuddling scenario happening right now.
Kai's arm encircled my waist, keeping me sheltered against his body, as our legs stayed a tangled mess in the sheets.
His face was nuzzled into my hair, his soft breaths tickling my cheek with every exhale. My head resting right over his heart, the steady drum of his pulse echoing in my ears.
And as freaked as I was, I couldn't deny that it was actually kind of peaceful being wrapped up the way we were.
For once Kai was completely relaxed, soft snores falling from his lips as I watched in mild amusement.
I almost contemplated staying in bed a while longer, but the rational part of my brain caught up, shutting that plan down quickly.
Me waking up first was a blessing.
It was better if I handled this weird display of affection between us then Kai.
I had a feeling my prison world roomie would not hesitate to yeet me off this bed if he woke up to us cuddling, and panicked like I had.
As slowly, and gently as I could, as to not wake him, I attempted to disentangle my legs from his, pulling my arm back from where I had haphazardly thrown it across Kai's, surprisingly well toned, midsection.
I shifted my head back slightly so I wasn't so physically close, taking in his relaxed expression, and ignoring how badly I wanted to brush the hair away from his forehead.
