Heart Held Captive

Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

I woke to the smell of cinnamon, I could feel my mouth begin to water in anticipation for this delicious aroma. What was this marvellous smell? I opened my eyes to the sight of French toast sitting on my bedside table still steaming, I licked my lips eagerly. I pushed myself up and immediately noticed something was wrong when there wasn’t a struggle getting up. Where was Roman?

 I looked around and was shocked to find no Roman in the room but to find the door ajar, I took the plate of hot French toast and started to investigate as I tore apart the cinnamon covered bread. I listened intently to see if anyone was on the other side, but no noise was to be heard. I peeped through the slit in the door to see if the coast was clear and from my small amount of vision I saw no one. I finished the French toast greedily and put the plate back down on the bedside table, licking my fingers clean I walked back over to the door, I noticed a large black jacket on the back of the door and put it on and zipped it up. I opened the door slightly more, still I could see and hear no one. I opened it fully and looked left and right. No one, does this mean I free to walk around? I had already agreed to myself on staying until Zach and the man with the red eyes were caught and could no longer hurt me. But I didn’t know where I stood with Roman, did he still want me confined to that room or am I allowed to roam the house? I took my chances and walked out his bedroom.

I tried to remember the layout of this house but it was hard, I hadn’t left the bedroom that many times and usually I was thinking of escape plans not on how to find someone. I tried to remember my way towards the kitchen hoping C.C might be there, I took a chance and walked right. As I walked I couldn’t help but be surprised in the amount of pictures hung on the walls, mainly pictures of big groups of people at the beach having fun, picnics in the gardens but one stood out against them all. It was a lot smaller than the others but shone brighter than the all of them, it was a family photo, two adults sat side by side with a child on each knee, a girl on the father’s knee and a son on the mother’s. I looked closer at the son, blonde hair and blue eyes and totally adorable. He only looked about 7 or 8 but I could tell who this was.

“I see you’re up and about” I jumped on the spot, I had no idea someone was right beside me.

“Roman” I couldn’t resist the urge to look him up and down, he was wearing dark denim jeans and a navy blue V-neck shirt that pulled across his incredible chest. When my eyes finally made there way up to his extraordinary face there was his usual smirk plastered across his tanned skin.

“When you’ve finished checking me out maybe we could have a good morning kiss?” I wasn’t sure if it was possible but his smirk grew wider and I only just noticed how obvious I had been. I cleared my throat and walked past Roman.

“Good Morning Roman” My face was heating up in embarrassment and I could not let Roman see my scarlet face.

“What? No good morning kiss?” I kept walking and I could hear him walking a few steps behind me, just watching me as I got lost in his house. After a few minutes of wondering aimlessly in his house I stopped and hung my head in shame, I turned around and saw Roman was leaning against the wall inspecting his hand.

“Where is it exactly you are going?” He asked in a mocking tone.

“I have no idea” he laughed at me and placed his hand around my shoulders and guided me in the opposite direction that I was walking. We walked past the family portrait again and I had to ask.

“Hey Roman, that family photo of their. Is that you and your family?” He looked over my shoulder to the photo I was talking about and I watched as his smile turn into a thin line and I could see his jaw flexing.

“Ah yeah it is, that’s me with my mum and dad and my little sister” His voice was low and lost all the fun it had moments ago. Had I brought up something bad? Was he no longer in touch with his parents? Did someone die? I didn’t want to pry so I kept my questions to myself but my curiosity was quenched a few short seconds later.

“Regina, my sister. She died 2 years ago” Roman was obviously still distressed over his sister’s death, understandably. I don’t have any siblings so I couldn’t even imagine but I guessed it was like any death, sad and lingers forever, no matter how much time passes.

“I’m sorry for your loss” I moved in closer to him and placed my hand around his waist.

“Thanks” Roman looked down at me, eye’s glassy but I never saw a single tear drop. We walked through his halls a little longer until we reached the lounge room and we sat on the sofa together.

“So where were you this morning?”

“Hm? Oh, I held a meeting for the perimeter wolves”

“The perimeter wolves?” I asked confused.

“They’re the wolves that run the perimeter of my territory, they have a keen eye for detail and some of the fastest wolves I’ve got”

“Oh okay, that makes sense. What was the meeting about?”

“Just new security measure we’re taking to make sure no one gets through our borders” I nodded my head and started looking around lounge room feeling like this conversation was finished. I was looking over the books that were sitting in the bookshelf when I felt Roman’s warm touch on my thigh. I looked over to him to see him smiling again.

“I like it when you wear my things” I looked down and forgot that I grabbed the first piece of clothing that I saw. “Oh well I didn’t want to be walking around the house in my jammies” He inhaled the air and moaned in pleasure. “I love when you smell like me”

“So you like it when I smell like a wet dog?” I joked and instantly Romans arms went around my shoulders, bringing me between his legs and my back to his chest, holding me in place. “I do not smell like I wet dog” He said as he laughed.

“Are you kidding me? I smell like I’ve been rolling around in sweat and mud, not to mention other things dogs roll around in” I teased.

“Right that’s it, I think it’s about time we find out how ticklish you are” Say what? Still keeping one of his large arms around my shoulders, I could feel his legs tighten around me as I watched helplessly as his hand went down to my waist and tickle me.

“No! No! Stop! Please! I’m too ticklish!” I said between exaggerated breaths, I hated being touched mainly because of how ticklish I was. It wasn’t until I started to squirm in his grasp that I felt pain stretch across my shoulder and chest, I breathed in through my teeth and hunched over in pain. Roman immediately stopped the tickle attack and positioned himself so he was kneeling in front of me.

“Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” He asked concerned.

“No, no I’m fine. I guess I’m still a bit tender where my new scars are” Pointing to the scar that ran down from shoulder, across my collarbone and finished just above my breast. My skin may have been healed but not everything healed as fast. Roman put his hand over mine in a warm gesture and sat behind me again, letting me lean into him. We laid like this for some time, never talking just enjoying each other’s company. It wasn’t until other people started to wonder in and out of the lounge room that I begun feeling uncomfortable seeing as I was still in my PJ’s, I looked out the window and saw that it was a beautiful spring day.

“Roman?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you maybe want to go for a little walk outside today? It looks so nice and some fresh air would be nice”

“As in together?” I laughed at him and rolled my eyes.

“Yes, together”

“Okay” He said with excitement clearly written all over his face.

“But I should probably have a shower first, I still stink” He gave me a ‘no you didn’t face’ and I quickly turned around trying to run in opposite direction when I bumped into something hard. I took a step back to see Billy rubbing his chest where I had run into. I when I got a proper look at him I couldn’t help but notice that he was almost glowing with happiness and I had a feeling it might have something to do with the girl that was under his arm.

“Chloe!”