Hunted

Chapter 9 - Trust issues

 Rating Alert: This is the PG-13 version. For adults who are interested in the character devolopment/story devolopment relating to this scene, you can view the R rated version in the Hunted - R version. 

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After two nights worth of insomnia and fear, on the third night I somehow managed to fall asleep, maybe too exhausted to be afraid. Or maybe I would have woken half an hour later, panicking, like I tended to do if I did fall asleep. I didn't get to find out. Something woke me- a rush of cold air, a sudden shift in the bed's springs, maybe just a soft noise, it didn't matter how asleep I was, it woke me and I swore at them as loudly as my sleepy brain could manage.

Halfway through the verbal attack it got cut off with a hand against my mouth, a familiar scent crashing down with it, the weight shifting closer in a hurry. "Shh, I don't want to wake the children. Elena will skin us both alive." Nick hissed. "Where'd a nice little Aussie learn words like that?"

"What time is..." I slid up onto one elbow to blink at the bedside clock only to remember that it hadn't been working for several days. The light was from a lit flashlight that'd been dropped hastily beside it and that was now pointing at the wall. I blinked owlishly, trying to shake the dreams out of my head, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. "I should have locked that door, shouldn't I?" I was sure I had.

The house was dead quiet now, the storm outside apparently haven gotten worse again, the sound of winds and branches filling the space outside the window. That would explain the sounds outside. Inside, with a hand still against my mouth, even if it was light enough to speak, I finally got it and felt a strange thrill that wasn't completely fear. Nick was lying there. In my bed.

Nick's skin was freezing, I thought with annoyance, as I felt a bare leg brush against mine, and then an arm, then the thought that maybe there was a little too much skin woke me up more effectively than he had. What was he doing here? "Don't you wear pyjamas?"

"Yes. See?" Nick lifted up the sheets, I wished he hadn't, to show off some flimsy looking boxers. Silky and black. Not helpful when it came to my shock.

"Why are you in my bed?" I hissed softly, tense and ready to climb out the other side. He yanked at me, tugging me closer, and pulled the covers over my half, blocking an exit with one of his arms.

"I'm freezing out there and Reece snores." He whispered shifting sideways against me, till I was pinned between body and arm. "Can we talk?"

"Now? Here?" I slid backwards, as if to sit up. Instead, I managed to get one leg out, deciding that whatever talking could wait. Just had to get out …

"I didn't want to have to do this but-" Nick yanked at my legs, dragging me back down, so that he could lean over me, strong arms holding my arms down, keeping a distance but also keeping enough weight to have me pinned fairly securely. "You keep running off when I come close and I want to talk to you."

"About what? What couldn't wait till tomorrow morning?" I whispered, trying to stay quiet, but was starting to feel sorely tempted to 'accidentally' yell. Watching Elena skin him alive wasn't such an unattractive thought right now.

"How you're going to earn this." He smiled, small tense smile, like he was trying to joke and was struggling at knowing how. Or maybe he was concerned I'd run, because I wasn't exactly relaxed, my mind weighing up choices for getting him out of the bed that weren't loud. Nick let go of one of my arms and reached for the bedside table on his side. He picked something up I hadn't seen in the darkness, something he'd probably brought with him, and leaned back onto one arm, body still half pinning me there.

I could see it in the dim light and blinked at it, trying to figure it out. It was a green crown of some kind, at least I assumed it was green, it was a similar colour to the bed. Cheap green foam. A statue of liberty crown?