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“Y-yeah?” she answered, voice vibrating.
Fuck.
“Cold?” I asked.
“I don’t know why,” she admitted. Since, yeah, she’d been living in a shed without heat or even a blanket to keep her warm.
Maybe it was from the eating and drinking and exhausting her body.
I have a bit of a fatigue fever my grandmother used to say after a long day working in her garden when she would be curled up under three blankets and still shivering.
“I… I could warm you,” I told her, wincing at how that sounded, how she might take that. “Even if I don’t go under the blanket with you,” I added, wanting to give her as much protection as she might want.
“Okay,” she agreed, sounding weak.
“You can tell me to get away at any point,” I told her, kicking out of my shoes as I stood at the side of the bed.
“Okay,” she agreed again as she wiggled over toward the wall, leaving space for me to climb in behind her.
I did, inch by inch, careful not to actually touch her.
“You don’t have to get too close,” she said. “I know I’m filthy.”
“That’s the fucking last worry on my mind,” I assured her, scooting closer just to prove my point. When she didn’t stiffen up, I let my legs tuck against hers, but kept my pelvis away, then curled my upper body closer as well. “This should help,” I told her.
Eventually, though, she’d needed to let me under the blanket as well.
But almost as soon as she did, the shivers stopped, and she drifted off to sleep.
As I lay awake trying not to let myself think the one fucking thing I had no business thinking right then.
That something about this felt nice. Felt right.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
CHAPTER FOUR
Vienna
I woke up warmer than I’d felt in weeks, and for just a moment, I thought I was home in my bed, my covers cocooned around me, safe, happy.
It wasn’t until I felt the body behind me that I remembered I hadn’t been home, safe, or happy in a really, really long time.
My body jolted before I recalled that I wasn’t in the shed anymore, the moment making Riff jerk away from me, actually rolling off the bed and onto the floor to get away from me.
“It’s okay. You’re alright. I’ll back off,” he said, sounding borderline frantic at my reaction.
“No. Sorry. I… forgot,” I admitted, pressing a hand to my jackhammering heart as I sat up.
Sunbeams streaked in through the grimy window, painting the dark walls in streaks of brightness.
“Everything’s alright,” Riff said, moving to stand but putting more space between us. “But we should get going soon,” he added, glancing out the window. “How are you feeling?”
“Honestly? Achy. But I will walk,” I said, lifting my chin with a grim sort of determination.
Because I would.
I would walk as my bones groaned. As my feet blistered. As my muscles screamed.
