Kill The Innocent

Chapter Four

Declan returns before I realize it. "It's late, and we have to be up early tomorrow. Let's go to bed, okay?"

I nod, and he slips under the covers next to me, pulling me close to him. His body flush against mine. His tattooed arms snaking across my stomach.

"Good night, Valerie."

"Good night, Declan." He presses his lips to my temple and I'm back to silence and my own thoughts.

I pull the covers over my body and lay there, in Declan's presence. Let's backpedal. These last twenty-four hours.

My brother was mad at me for brutally murdering one of Declan Love's men. A man who could snap my brother in half. Then, as I'm leaving the house, I ran into Declan Love, himself. Who seems to know I was the one who killed one of his men. Then he just invited himself into my life by getting in my car while I'm yelling at my brother on the phone. Then I almost killed a child. Then I'm taken to the restaurant that resides Declan Love's sister and niece. I'm shot in the parking lot of that restaurant. I shoot Declan Love in the parking lot of that restaurant. Oh yeah, then I found out my brother was lying to me half of my life and that I've killed innocent people who didn't deserve it. I decided I would never see my brother again. Got taken back to Declan Love's house. Had unexpected, but much appreciated sex with Declan Love. And now I'm here. In Declan Love's house. Trying to fucking sleep.

Someone explain to me how that should be accomplished because it is beyond me.

I need something to help me.

I wait until I'm sure that Declan is a asleep, which is a lot longer than I expected, then stand, putting most of my weight on my other leg. I limp towards the bathroom and open the medicine cabinet.

Scanning towards everything, I realize there is nothing. Wonderful.

I hobble back towards the bed and stare at the ceiling some more. I try to think about happy things like unicorns and butterflies until I realize that is so cliche, then I cringe at myself and roll on my side, facing Declan. I'm nowhere close to the sleep that I need. I'm not sure what time we'll be up tomorrow to leave for Seattle but I imagine early.

The T.V. Remote catches my eye from the bedside table. I guess that's what I'll do. I reach for it and start flipping through different channels until I find Criminal Minds and then I watch reruns from 2008 for at least an hour.

I don't realize Declan's awake until I hear a quiet "Valerie?"

"Declan?" I ask. "I'm sorry did I wake you?"

"You didn't." He tells me."It's like 4 in the morning, why are you awake?." He asks, rubbing his eyes.

I watched Criminal Minds for a lot longer than an hour. I shrug. "Couldn't sleep."

"Have you slept at all since I fell asleep?" He asks, I look down and slightly shake my head. He sighs and reaches across me, taking the remote from the table and clicks the T.V. Off.

"Declan, I'm not going to sleep." I say, attempting to take back the remote but he holds it out of my reach.

"We have to be up in three hours for the flight at eleven. It's better you get sleep so the jet lag isn't so bad." He tells me, then sets the remote on the other side of the table out of my reach.

"You're not my dad." I huffed. "You can't tell me when to go to bed."

"Hey!" He scolds. "You can call me daddy some other time, but right now, I'm here to take care of you. Which means helping you get the sleep you need to operate." He reaches across the bed and in one motion pulls me closer to him with his arm around me.