COHABITATION

9

Val opened her eyes to see Rio standing near her dresser in the evening light, packing her bag. For a moment she let her eyes roam freely over him, admiring his body with the memory of her recent dream of him. 

Val wondered again how they ended up here, how she ended up getting so close to this man in just a few short months.

As she caught a glimpse of his side profile, and his eagle, a small smile fell on her face. Suddenly she saw Rio shifting his weight as he turned around. Her eyes snapped shut.

She couldn't handle his ego knowing that she was checking him out, Val is surprised his ego even fits in her bedroom. Her arm twitched as she fought her body to keep still.

Val heard Rio softly pad over to her, she stayed unmoving anyways, and almost jerked when she felt his hand press to her forehead. It surprised her that he would even care that she was sick.

Her heart fluttered helplessly against her chest, not quite a hurt, but something near. Rio's hand went to move, and Val really couldn't help herself. Without thinking, her hand gently clutched his wrist.

She opened her eyes slowly and saw Rio's soft smile, a direct catalyst to her heart walloping.

"How's your stomach?" A frown faintly adorned her face before a smile overcompassed it, she shrugged.

"Fine, for the time being," His hand turned in her grip as his knuckles swept against the curve of her cheek. His hands returned to his hoodie pocket.

Rio pulled his full bottom lip into his mouth, looking around the room, nodding. He had once said that her lip did things to him, well, she wanted so badly to confess that she felt the same way about his.

"Not gonna puke as an arguin' tactic?" He swiveled his head back right as she laughed, his eyes sparkled. Val wondered if he knew how so obviously he was trying not to smile.

"Just trying to diffuse the tension," She said with another shrug of her shoulders. They had watched through the Harry Potter franchise last week and Val smiled as Rio caught the small quote.

It earned a deep laugh from him, one that she hadn't heard in awhile. And, god, that laugh plucked at her heart.

"Well, bags all packed. Don't bitch at me if I didn't pack it right," Val noticed that he may be acting tough, but his affectionate side has shown and she can't put it out of her head.

Querida

She took a deep breath and tried to control her thoughts from meandering over meaningless words and actions. Although Rio used darling––querida––as a jab, it echoed in her head. Val was aware that he was charming, and that the other side of his bed in his own home was probably regularly occupied. And yet, querida, his deep voice whispered in her head.

She nodded at the bag and said a small thanks, not even thinking about him having to rummage through her lacy underwear. There were bigger things to worry about, like maybe the fact that a known murderer knew her address. Would she have to move again?

"Ion' wanna still be here by dinner time, so get dressed and meet me in the living room in 15," His serious tone was back, as well as his resting bitch face.

She wondered if he was still worried about the rival gang.

15 minutes later she entered the living room to see Rio and the bags by the door. A fact that she had learned about Rio was that he was punctual, almost obsessively. And this made sense considering his clients expect him to be on time, in this business it was better to be safe than sorry. Safe, meaning––well––alive.