My Midnight Love

Chapter 21

SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY. I know i'm a butthead for not uploading. I was busy, revising and being a good student. Pft. But serioulsy i had exams, but now it's nearly christmas (woop woop) and i have time to write.

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The first thing I thought of when I woke was mum, shed spent the day crying as it finally sunk in that dad wasn't coming back. That he really was gone.

The second thing I thought of was Aelfric and how nice it felt to be wrapped in his warm arms. I was still in the in-between stage of waking and sleeping where I was aware of everything around me but could not be bothered to do anything about it. As it was there wasn't anything I needed to do, in my mind at least. I could stay curled up in his protective grip all night.

Then I thought of Leofric and my hands clamped around my face. How could I have been such a moron? I groaned.

Beside me Aelfric frowned at me groggily. “What's wrong?” He mumbled, blinking the last dregs of sleep from his eyes.

I rolled and pressed my face into his chest. The day before I had been upset with myself, today I was pissed at the world. “Everything’s wrong!” I grumbled.

He smelled like mud. I pulled back to kneel on the bed and eyed him carefully. There was a dark smudge on his cheek but otherwise he was spotless. “Why do you smell like dirt?”

His eyes widened and then he guffawed. “Nice! That's real nice of you!” He laughed.

I smirked but otherwise ignored his laughter. When he didn’t stop I thumped him hard on the chest. I might as well of dropped a feather on him, his laughter doubled as he took in my frustrated expression.

“Ugh.” I groaned and leapt off the bed, headed toward the bathroom. His clothes were piled in a corner by the door, they were stained with a dark reddish brown. “What the-” I changed direction to examine them but before I took more then two steps toward them I was being pushed back so my back was against the wall and Aelfrics arms were braced either side of my head. He kissed me lightly on the mouth and gazed at me. “While you were sleeping I headed out for a while.” He brushed his lips against mine once more. “No big deal.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer so that I could kiss him properly.

“If it's no big deal, why weren't you going to tell me?” I whispered, pressing my forehead against his.

He sighed. “I want you to be safe. You're so fragile.”

“I'm not-”

“You are.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “I'm only fragile to you because your so tough.”

He swelled with masculine pride. “I wouldn't say I’m that tough...”

A light giggle escaped my lips and I pursed them tightly. “You, are very tough. Tough as nails.” I grinned. “Very shiny, pretty nails.”

His eyes narrowed. “Pretty?”

“Handsome.”

He sighed contentedly and pulled me closer to rest against him. “You're too good to me.”

“It's true.” I pulled away from him and stepped lightly toward his soiled clothes. “So you should thank me by telling me where you were.”

I felt more then heard his sigh this time. What had started as a doubt was growing into a suspicion in my mind, I found myself questioning everything. What would he possibly want to keep from me. “Pretty soon, all this will be over, and I’ll be like you. You can keep, doing this.” I grumbled scooping up his clothes and carrying them to the wash basket. The red clay smeared on my wrists and I brushed at it hotly. I could feel my face burning, I hate feeling like this. It seemed so demanding and needy, but at the same time I could feel that I was right. I hadn’t had much experience with love and relationships but I knew from my parents happy marriage that honesty was vital.