𝓗𝓲𝓭𝓮 𝓜𝓮

Chapter 9

"Calm down," he cut me off, "that was all you, amor. You stretched out across the entire bed and landed on my chest. What was I gonna do, wake you up? Come on."

"You could have moved my head!"

"Huh, that thought never came to mind," he shrugged, and I shook my head in disbelief, struggling to comprehend how someone could be so infuriatingly arrogant. He literally lashed out at me yesterday, didn't give me a chance to even reply, restrained me in place so I couldn't get away. I felt my breath go shallow at the memory. His hand on the back of my neck, his face inches away from me.

I fucking hate that you always have to make me angry at this pretty face, damn you.

I couldn't sleep yesterday, I couldn't even close my eyes for two seconds before my memory goes back to this moment, his voice ringing in my head again with that damn phrase. I couldn't even call him out for it because he didn't know I understood, so lying down next to him last night was torture. I don't even know how I managed to sleep. And now...

The way he smiled at me, like this was normal to him, to wake up next to someone like that. Well, it is normal for him, it's not like he denies it, but it wasn't for me. And I hated how it affected me, how I couldn't look at him in the eye right now, I couldn't gather myself.

Easy, amor.

The way he said it. His voice. It was different than any other time. Aside from his accent that already filters every single word that comes out of his mouth, his voice was a whole other thing. I don't think he's been awake for a long while because his voice was raspy, deeper than it already was normally.

This is the first time I got so worked up over someone, over a boy. And the thing is it's not even by my choice. I don't want to feel like that, I don't want my body to break into goosebumps the way it did a moment ago, I don't want to have trouble sleeping because a boy said I look pretty, I don't want anyone to have this power over me. I hate every second of it. I hate that the first time I feel all these feelings it's with him, with someone I don't just not like but hate.

The sound of the lock echoing through the air snapped me out of my thoughts, whipping my head back to the door opening, the guard coming in with two plates as I swallowed, taking a step back. The moment he stepped inside, my eyes shot to the open door, wanting nothing more than to run out there, but even if I did that, it won't benefit me, I'd be caught and probably hurt.

"Here," I blinked when a plate was shoved in my hand forcefully, making stumble a step back, sensing Atlas shift on the bed next to me and glanced down at him, his expression unreadable as he sat up, his eyes fixed on the guard with a steely intensity.

"Hey, ease up," Atlas said, taking the other plate from his hand, "we're the ones who're here against our will, not you. No need to be so grumpy."

The guard pinned him with a look, tossing the small bottle of water on the bed before turning his back to us and left, locking the door behind him again. I sighed and looked at the plate, hunger gnawing at my stomach, but couldn't help the wave of disgust that washed over me, not wanting to touch the food with my unwashed hands.

"You know," Atlas said after chewing, "staring at your food won't fill your stomach, you have to, you know, eat it."

"Mind your own business," I sighed and sat on the bed across from him, placing the plate in front of me, taking a deep breath before grabbing the sandwich from the bottom, eating one bite after the other in silence until I reached the part I was holding it up from, putting it down just when a familiar sound rang through the vents.