Haven And Chaos

12) Waking up together

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3RD POV
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A warm ray of light stroked Gale's eyes, drawing him out of his peaceful slumber.
He groaned, trying to force his body to turn away from the light disrupting his sleep.
But the weight lying on his arm halted any further movements, having his eyes open even though they didn't want to.

The alien shampoo infiltrating his nostrils, the small warm frame tucked safely in his arms, who had snuck into his bed?

As his eyes gained focus, they took in the fiery red hair spread messily all over his arm, blocking its owner's face.
His breathing halted instantly as his jumbled memories slowly tried to recollect themselves.
Had he brought in a stray from his drinking spree?
No!
He hadn't left the house last night.

The only woman he had interacted with in his bedroom was one called Maya.

'Shit! Maya!'
He pulled his right hand from her grasp, stirring the sleeping female. She mumbled some incoherent words while rolling on his numb arm to finally lie facing him.

Gale frowned deeply.
His foggy memory was now clear.
Last night, he had punished her, and she had broken down. After the punishment, he rubbed some ointment on her before adding a few spanks for the fun of it. And then? And then - they fell asleep.

He slapped his face and sunk into his palm.
How could he fall asleep with Maya in his arms?
But the ugly truth was - he had slept soundly throughout the night than on any other night in what was over a year.
That had to be the first time he had slept for more than two hours.

Peeping at the clock on the night table, it read six twenty.

He stared at it for about half a minute in disbelief. His mind couldn't believe that he had slept through his alarm, or that he had managed to sleep for seven hours straight.
What had changed?
But it wasn't a matter of what as to who.

Maya had been with him.
She was still sound asleep like a baby cuddling in the arms of her guardian, or a woman in the safety of her lover's embrace.

But to think that the person who had aided him sleep so easily was the same person who had caused his insomnia a year ago, made his stomach churn.
"Wake up," Gale instructed as he cupped her shoulder, giving her a little shake.

Maya mumbled again frowning at whoever was disrupting her dream.
This seemed to annoy Gale and he ended up shaking her violently, spreading her red hair all over her face till some managed to invade her nostrils.

She gushed out a breath of air, blowing the hairs on her nose as her left hand lazily came to get rid of the remaining ticklish strands from her face.

"Wake up you damned-"

"Gale? Gale?" Lori's calls interrupted. "Are you still asleep? It's already past your waking time."

He wanted to ask her to go away. But, he knew that sending her off would only make her want to come in. And if she did that, there was no locked door to stand in her way as usual.
Falling asleep with Maya cuddled warmly against him had somehow made him lower his guard.

Instead of answering, he rolled the both of them, the hand under Maya grabbed the duvet and pulled it as they moved such that it came covering them even though they were still lying on half of it.
Maya was unapologetically smothered under Gale so they would appear more of one person under the cover.

He placed a hand on her mouth to subdue any sound that she may be tempted to release, thus keeping it a secret of her spending the night in his room.
He wasn't afraid of Lori, but it'd be quite a hassle having to hear his family's opinion about a nineteen-year-old girl in his bed.

"Oh, I thought you're sleeping!" Lori exclaimed after helping herself in the spacious bedroom.

Gale had already assumed a position that made it look like he was busy doing some press-ups while in reality, he was trying his best not to crash Maya with his weight.
She looked fragile enough already.

"What do you want?"

"I...um...well..."

"Go make me some breakfast if you have so much free time on your hands."

"Really?" Lori beamed energetically.
This was the first time he was asking her to cook something for him in months. A rare occurrence. One which would never have happened had Maya not been present.
He would have opted to throw her out of his room like an unwanted pet and bang the door shut on her face.

But since another annoying female was staring up at him, he had to play it cool and swallow half of his pride.

"Yes, really. Close the door on your way out."

His left arm was starting to give up from an entire night of cushioning Maya's head.
Any second now, he was going to topple on Maya. And if that happened, she might squeal and hence give away her unplanned presence.

"Okay Gale. I'll get to work right away!" Lori squealed excitedly.
Paying no more keen attention to Gale, she hopped out of the room, banging the door out of merry.

As soon as she left the room, Gale crumbled on Maya, letting out a groan from the sour muscles in his arm.
Maya gasped after he fell flat on her, pressing their bodies on each other as close as they could get.

She lifted her hands to grip his shirt from the sides and tugged. "Get off of me!"

"Shut up!"

"You're... I can't breathe."

That was something he could believe since he weighed more than her.
Without picking an argument, Gale rolled off of her obediently and ended up face down next to her. He heard her take sharp inhales to recover the air he had pushed out of her lungs.
When she was settled, she pulled herself to a sitting position and halted to examine and maybe recall the events that led her to Gale's bed.

There was still some pain coming from her ass, but it was a distant itch that would go away after a good bath.

She gazed at the man who was wearing a gray T-shirt and black shorts. His hair was a mess, but it still made he want to run her hand through it and comb it with her very fingers.
The thought would earn her some form of punishment, so she withheld that urge and instead, opted to leave the bed and the cursed room.

She took his silence for approval, but as she was about to open the door, he suddenly said, "I want you in my room after dinner"

"Huh?!" Her shock was evident in her tone and the expression on her beautiful face.

"I want you in this room, after your damned dinner. Make sure you wear decent clothes."
It was embarrassing to him to utter such an order that was why he couldn't look up.
His theory was quite mediocre, but after trying it for the second time, he would know for sure if it was her presence that had soothed his brain.

"Oh! Okay." Maya's indifferent tone cleared Gale's embarrassment, resetting his emotions.
He lifted his head and looked in her direction. "Make sure nobody sees you as you leave, and when you come here in the night."

Maya nodded frowning.
She wondered why he was being secretive about her visit to his bedroom. He certainly hadn't been shady about it the previous night.