Caged • Robbie Kay/Peter Pan •

Chapter Nine

The traumatic incident had almost made me forget about Owen and how I kissed him, if you could call it that.

As I sat there on the beach, something about his voice, thick with lack of sleep, evoked the desire of closeness with him. His dark eyes were soft and welcoming as they bounced back and forth between mine.

I had never distinguished exactly how I felt about Owen and I hadn't known him for very long, but his breath against my skin and rise and fall of his chest drew me closer to his lips. I had been caught up in the moment.

Peter stirred and his eyelids fluttered open, blinking repeatedly until his eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room with no windows and nothing but a couple of kerosene lamps resting on the night table and dresser.

His eyes trailed around the room confusedly and he tried to pull himself up with his shaking arms but his elbows collapsed, still too weak to support himself. "Don't try to get up."

"How did I get here?" he asked. "And why are you here?"

"Ah!" Peter winced, squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his teeth. "What-what happened?"

"You were poisoned. You've been asleep for hours." I stated, leaning forward and placing my hand on his forehead.

"Don't touch me." he flinched, pulling away from my fingers.

"I'm checking your temperature. Stop fighting me or I can't help you." I argued. Even in the condition Peter was in, he still acted as stubborn and grim as did when he was well.

"I don't need your help." he shot dryly, looking away from me. He acted like a helpless child, striving for independence though he knew he couldn't.

I giggled softly, earning his gaze once more and a bitter expression. "How is this amusing?" he questioned.

I simply shook my head and looked down.

"You're avoiding my questions. How did I get here?" he repeated.

"I asked them to bring you in here. Don't worry, they didn't touch anything and they were gone within a few seconds of laying you down."

"So you think that when I'm unconscious, you can just ignore my rules and barge in here like it's nothing? Perhaps I didn't make myself clear when I said no one comes into this room. Ever."

"You were dying, Peter. Your precious boys, whom you treat like trained pets, kept you alive and all you can think about is them coming into your stupid sacred room and breaking one of your stupid rules. How can you be so heartless?"

I was furious and I know I had over stepped my boundaries, but he was too weak to do anything about it.

I expected a raging outburst from Peter, but he just scoffed. "You are a coward." he said.

"Excuse me?" I questioned, surprised at his reply.

"You wait until I am bed ridden and can't move to tell me what you really think. I can't do a damn thing to you. You are a coward." his voice remained calm and a sickly smirk played on his lips.

I was speechlessness, unsure of how to reply. Instead, I stood up and stepped over to the curtain. "Peter is awake." I called.

Nolan pushed through the curtain, holding a cup and some sort of cracker. I expected Peter to yell, or at least attempt to yell at Nolan, but he just glared at him and sighed, turning away.

"Here." Nolan muttered, holding the cup of steaming liquid to me. He placed the crackers on the night stand, next to lamp and examined his face and chest.

"Get out." Peter shot at him.

"I'm just bringing you tea." Nolan responded.

"You brought the tea, now get out." he repeated.

Nolan scurried out the door, his arms up in defense. "He's trying to help." I told Peter.

"Like I said, I don't need help."

I sighed, picking up the cup and sitting on the edge of his bed, putting the rim to his lips.

"I can do it myself." he slowly reached up and grabbed the cup with a shaking hand, the tea sloshing around the cup, and did his best to hold it steadily to his mouth but spilled it over his bare chest, burning his skin. He grunted, a sharp breath ripping through his teeth.

I took the half empty cup from his hand and set it on the nightstand. "Look what you did. That's for refusing to let me help you, stubborn mule."

I wiped his chest and neck with cloak and tossed it aside, picking up the tea once more and holding it up to his mouth. Reluctantly, he parted his lips while glaring at him with his forest green eyes. Dark purple bruise like circles still formed pitifully around them.

He sipped the tea slowly, and then pulled away, his lips puckered. "It's awful." he croaked, coughing and repositioning himself to lay more comfortably.

"How did I get poisoned?" he asked, looking down at his hand and wrist.

"I mistook bitterberries for Shadowleaf berries. I don't know how it happened." I admitted regretfully.

"Maybe you should've paid closer attention and then we wouldn't be in this mess, would we?"

"I did. I don't know how you can blame me for something like that. I swear, you just love to fight with me."

"How do I know you didn't do it on purpose? You despise me enough, don't you?" he seethed.

"I didn't. I would never try to kill anyone. I don't despise you, either." I stated, annoyed with Peter's accusation.

"Well you don't love me by any means." he replied sarcastically.

"The problem with you, Peter, is that you are practically unlovable."

For a brief moment, I could have sworn I saw hurt flash across his face, but just scoffed once more refused to meet my gaze.

Just then, Owen dashed into the room, surprised that Peter was awake. "You didn't poison Peter, Meadow."

He took a second to catch his breath like he had been running.

"We found Shadowleaf in Chase's pocket."

•••

A/N

so I wrote another short chapter to make up for last nights!

What do you guys think?

I hope you liked it and I love all your sweet comments! I'm actually happy with how many reads this has and I can't wait to see where this story goes!

Thank you!

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