COHABITATION

10

Val was in and out of sleep, catching scattered words from Rio's mouth, her dreams and reality merging.

"Esto es tu culpa," This is your fault. He whispered.

Val was in a house, a house on fire, when she heard his voice again.

"Tú lo mataste," You killed him. The phrase was raggedly torn from Rio's throat, as if it hurt him to say the very words.

The flames licked at her ankles, but she was caught. His words held her captive, she couldn't leave, even if she wanted to.

She saw Rio's face, his brown eyes finally held the knowledge she's kept from him. He looked at her with open disdain and said the next words with a dagger to her heart.

"Se acabó," It's over.

The burning of the fire traveled up her legs, quickly wrapping her up in smoke and heat. The urgency of the situation was apparent, but she couldn't leave him. She couldn't leave him thinking this way of her.

"Para el coche," Stop the car.

Val's body lurched forward, falling to the wooden floor as the fire ate her body whole. The scream that wanted to leave her throat was muffled, with a gasp she was yanked out of the dream.

"Aye," She could feel his hand against her cheek, trying to turn her face towards him. Val couldn't.

His hand moved to her back, stroking softly while she came to.

Heavy breathing made it hard for her to say anything as she tried to focus on real life. She wasn't burning to death in a fire, how strange and real it had felt.

As she inhaled clean air, she finally caught more of her breath, but Rio's eyes on her didn't go unnoticed. Val didn't think she could handle seeing the scorn in the deep brown, though, dream or no dream.

Once he knew, once he really knew, he wouldn't stay. And that's what she was most afraid of.

"Valentina, you're burning up," The use of her full name caught hold of Val, and she peered up at him.

The only emotion swimming in his eyes at that moment was concern, concern for her.

"We're here," And that was all he said, and that was fine.

A glance out of the window gave her a better understanding of where here was.

She pushed his hand away, if only to put space between the two of them. She didn't need any favors from him, nor did she need his kindness, it wouldn't end well.

Here was apparently a 5 star hotel that could rival the Ritz. The plan of staying in the nicest one in the city was lost on Val, how would this help stay on the DL?

She gave Rio the most incredulous look possible, brows almost meeting in the middle as he typed something else on his phone.

"Rio, what the actual fuck are we doing here?"

His head shot up at her tone, and she could feel a don't you dare fucking talk to me like i'm one of your kids lecture coming on.

"The hell you talkin' to me like that for, grab your bags, I ain't your damn maid."

His door was suddenly opened by one of the doormen, and Rio wordlessly climbed out. She rolled her eyes, his attitude was so annoying.

Turns out someone was her maid because an attendant was grabbing her bags as she followed Rio out. Without saying anything she gave a condescending smile and glanced at him, Val hoped her face said what she was currently thinking.