𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬

chapter 24

TWENTY • FOUR:
a lesson of defence
♠️

"He was too scared of the thought that he could lose her because he was not careful enough, and he was willing to do whatever it took for that not to happen..."

ellie

Though having to wake up with a killer headache was very unpleasant, Ellie surprisingly slept well and without the need to vomit the following morning. And just like every morning, Blaze was sleeping soundly beside her, his arm holding her close to his body as he softly snored.

The second she looked up at him, the memories of last night flooded into her mind: the entire party being a trap, almost getting blown up, having Blaze take care of her drunk self. And, most importantly, drunkenly admitted to loving him after getting kidnapped by a group of cheap thugs—and him willingly saying it back to her.

Ellie was not expecting Blaze to say it again; though when she was drunk, the topic was emotional for her (though everything was emotional for her at that state), Ellie was now okay with it. Did her heart pound against her chest and her breathing suddenly disappeared every time she even thought about saying it again? Did her vision become black splotches and she had to count from one to twenty so she would stop panicking?

Yes. It was horrendous, too. It was more like a mini-panic attack, if anything.

Ellie knew she loved him and, after last night, she knew that Blaze felt the same way. But she was not one to coerce and she definitely did not want Blaze saying something he was not comfortable with saying—even she was still growing accustomed to it.

Ellie suddenly gasped when Blaze rolled on his stomach, wrapping both of his arms around her waist. She groaned at the weight on top of her, not able to move anything but her head.

"Blaze," she gasped out, hearing his tired hum before he began to snore again. "Baby, I-I can't breathe."

He groaned tiredly, burying his face into the crook of her neck. "Shut up."

"If you don't want me to die, I suggest you get off."

"As my girlfriend, it's your job to be there when I need something to hold while I sleep... even if that means dying," Blaze muttered in response, making Ellie bit her lip to stop from smiling widely. As fast as he said it, Blaze immediately began to try to recover from what he had just said. "Shit, did I just say that? Just forget that I said that—fuck, that was stupid, wasn't it?"

"No, it wasn't," Ellie assured, sighing with relief when he rolled off of her but kept one of his arms around her waist. "Don't overthink it."

Blaze grunted. "Well, considering I've never in my life been in a real relationship—or you, for that matter..."

"It's not any different than what we've been doing the entire time," Ellie finished for him, crawling on his lap. Blaze's hands travelled to her hips and he sighed, meeting her reassuring gaze. "Blaze, don't even considering it a relationship if you're scared of the labels. We don't need to have a label on the two of us if it's too awkward for you."

He frowned. "Are you sure?"

"As long as the both of us know that we're together then I don't see why everyone else needs to know," Ellie responded, smiling.