Runaway

.08

I don't know what woke me up honestly. Maybe I'd slept too long or maybe it was the pounding headache. Either way I wasn't upset because I woke up to her on my chest with a slight smile. It was the most beautiful sight I'd seen in so long. It even topped seeing her sitting between Mother and James yesterday in that beautiful dress of hers.

My hands rested on her back under the blanket that did wonders at keeping us warm. I knew that because Savannah couldn't sleep if she wasn't at a certain temperature of heat. Even her toes-which are always death-cold-have to be warm. So getting Savannah to sleep was always a struggle at the end of the day.

I smoothed my hand over her upper back in light circles and closed my eyes, reveling in the feel of her against me. She was so...vulnerable right now as she slept on top of me. I could feel the thumping of her heart and a touch and go spasm in her thigh. It was gone now but her soft breaths against my chest reminded me just how calm and intimate this moment was. If she was awake, there'd be no stopping her from making sure she'd never forget.

So I ran my fingers through her hair and stopped as she shivered. Savannah turned her head to the other side and moved slightly to get more comfortable. I knew I should have let her sleep but the sun was high in the sky and we needed to get home.

I gathered her in a better position and sat up, holding her like I would a child. Savannah opened her eyes quickly and clutched onto my shirt for dear life before taking the chance to look at me. Her morning blue eyes were wild as she wrapped her arms around me tightly and whispering, "I'm okay...I'm okay...It's just Ollie..."

I hadn't realized how badly she'd been affected until that moment. Never had I wanted to actually kill someone. But in that moment as clutched to me and soothed herself, I'd come to the conclusion that if I ever met the bastard who broke her that I would kill him. He would regret ever looking at her, ever thinking about her, or even being within a fifty foot radius of her.

But soon she was climbing out of my arms and into the passenger seat. Her eyes landed on me, and she motioned to the driver's seat. I climbed up front and watched as she pretended that she hadn't just clutched to me for comfort.

"Last night was fun," she said as she looked outside at the ten or so other vehicles that had yet to move. I started the pickup and nodded to her.

The sun was making my headache worse. I didn't say anything about it though. Instead I took my hat from the dash and slipped it on to try and compensate. It helped and stopped making my head feel like it was going to be sprayed all over the place. The throbbing was contained for the time being.

Once we were on one of the many dirt roads back to town, she said she wanted some coffee. There isn't a coffee shop in Mansfield. You either have to go to the convenient store or make it at home. Seeing as how we don't drink coffee in my house, I'd have to stop at the local convenient store for her.

"Do you remember anything I told you last night?" she asked out of the blue.

If I could forget anything Savannah said to me, I'd be golden. I wouldn't be caught up in all that is Savannah Acker. People like her should come with a warning label so that way others would know from the start what they are getting into. They could run for the hills if they wanted to or stay and get high off of everything about this warning labelled person.

"Tell me what I said, Ollie," Savannah whispered.

I looked over at her then to see her looking so small. For once in her life, she looked like she belonged in Mansfield. For once, she didn't look like this bold and eccentric woman who was unstoppable at best. Savannah looked broken and torn.