Kisses Of A Criminal

The Good One

He shook his head. "It's okay. I'll do it. We can go to the store for some pills, too."

River lifted his hand off of my forehead, trailing his fingers along my temple. Then he tucked my hair behind my ear. I fought a shiver, tingles spreading at his touch.

I tried to ignore the affect he had on me, and the panicked thoughts that came with them; how does he do that to me?

"Don't be dumb, River." I gave him a warning look, and pointed to the bed. "Sleep for at least another hour. Please."

"Don't be dumb, Viva." He repeated me. "You almost blacked out two minutes ago. I'm not going back to sleep."

I sighed, and stood up. The nausea didn't come back, but my hands were a little shaky and I felt weaker than I should. "I think it might be anemia. From all the blood loss a couple days ago."

"How do you know?" River asked me. He stood up with me, still close to me. It was like he was waiting for me to drop to the ground.

"Because I've had it before. My blood gets low on iron sometimes. It's not serious at all."

When he still looked doubtful, I gave him a look. "Don't worry. I'll be absolutely fine. I just need to eat some foods that have a lot of iron in them, or take some iron pills, and I'll be good as new."

"Fine." He finally said. "I'll go to the store now-"

I cut him off. "No, you won't. You need to sleep."

"I just slept a whole night."

"Yes, but it's not enough. You skipped the night before, and barely slept before that. Can you at least go back to bed while I take a shower?"

River rolled his eyes, but nodded. "I'll sleep until you're done showering. Then I'll shower, and then we leave. We need to head back to our city, as planned."

I nodded. "Okay."

"Just let me brush my teeth first."

I headed for the bathroom a few minutes later, fresh clothes in my hands. River was already in bed, having crawled right under the covers after brushing his teeth, the blankets pulled over his head to block out the sunlight.

Closing the door behind me, I turned on the water and undressed. I had still been wearing River's shirt. As the bathroom mirror fogged up from the steamy running water, I rubbed the fabric between my fingers. It still faintly smelled like him; clean and masculine. The scent immediately soothed me. It faintly brought back memories, little moments where he has been close. That very first night, when he had easily caught me under him, pinning my hands down. Back then, I had looked into his face and felt nothing. He was just a person in the way of my job. A target.

Even then, when he held me down, in the midst of fighting him, I had been caught off guard by the color of his eyes.

Who sent you? His first words.

Then he had let me escape. Go. Run, now.

There were hundreds of other moments. The fight in the alley, when I thought I was going to die, at the very hands of him. His cold stare had faded into something more. Something that made him let go of me.

Then back at his house, when he pulled the gang member off of me. Sharing his bed, even when we were enemies. Being crushed between him and his bedroom wall, losing all sense when he had first kissed me.

Staring at each other in the dim light of his house, while the sun set, making our final decision to run away. Rushing through my apartment, searching for clothes and guns. Getting caught up in his eyes, while his father was just in the other room. The endless times he's saved me, pulling me away from danger.