Page 30 of Forced By the Bratva

She gently opened her eyes. She seemed a little lost, and her eyes were red. It was obvious that she’d already fallen asleep.

“The fire is dying,” I told her. “I need to feed it to keep it alive.”

Jenna let go of me, nodding, and I walked toward the fire. I added a few sticks to the fire and glanced back at Jenna. Her arms were wrapped around her legs, and her head rested on them. Her eyes were closed again, but I could tell she was still awake.

I leaned a little near the fire and whispered her name. She opened her eyes and stared at me. I motioned her to come over and sleep on my chest.

She lay down and began to draw imaginary images on my chest.

“I’m so scared about what might happen if nobody ever finds us,” Jenna told me.

I scoffed. It was ridiculous for Jenna to think that way, but I couldn’t blame her.

“There is no way we would be stuck here forever. My men will come in search of us once they notice our absence. They will find us for sure,” I assured Jenna.

She only nodded her head.

After a while, I stood up and added more wood to the fire while Jenna sat up, waiting for me so she could settle on my chest again.

I picked up a few dry leaves and fed the fire with them. After that, I lay back, and Jenna took her place on my chest. I ran my hands over her back as she drifted to sleep.

I tried to keep myself busy to avoid drifting off, too. Someone had to be awake for security reasons, and that someone was me. My eyes searched everywhere, and my thoughts traveled at the same time. I struggled to stay awake, but I knew I needed to.

I moved my gaze to Jenna. She looked so angelic in her sleep. I wished she was awake for a second to keep talking throughout the night.

I admired how angelic she looked in her sleep and smiled. I wasn’t going to reject this angel as a wife. I didn’t regret agreeing to this arrangement at all. I now saw Jenna as a gift, not the bother I’d thought she would be.

I had divided my attention as I tried to balance admiring the angel sleeping on my chest, watching out for any form of danger, and keeping an eye on the fire.

When I noticed the fire was going down again, I slowly pulled Jenna and made her lean. I walked away from her for a while to hunt for more dry wood, making sure not to go too far. I stayed close enough to see her while I was searching.

I never took my eyes off her for long. I’d stare at her and the ground for another second.

I gathered a few more twigs and placed them beside the fire.

Before I’d gathered the new ones, the dry-erase sticks around the fire were almost gone. I added them to the fire and decided to add the wet ones as well. I didn’t want the wood to be consumed too quickly. I made sure to put in enough wood that would last longer so I wouldn’t have to tend to the fire again.

I walked back to Jenna and lay down, pulling her back to my chest. Halfway into midnight, she woke up and began to look around.

“Are we still here?” she asked me, sighing deeply as she sat up.

I remained prone, already a little exhausted. “It’s not morning yet.”

Jenna walked toward the fire. The smoke was getting worse—from the wet wood I’d added. She walked toward the fire, poking it with an extra stick, then began to blow on the flames.

It was cute to see her like that, bent in front of the fire. I found myself smiling as I watched her tend to the fire.

I wondered why Jenna was using her mouth instead of fanning the fire, then suddenly remembered that I’d mistakenly burnt the paper she’d used to fan it earlier.

Jenna stood up and walked back to me. She sat beside me on the ground and took my hands. I looked up at her, but she was staring into space.

Sleeping would’ve been easy since my wife was awake, but I didn’t. I no longer felt sleepy.

Thinking about Jenna being my wife made me smile broadly.

“It’s hard to sleep,” Jenna said. She was still staring deeply into space.

“You were snoring on my chest a while ago,” I teased her.

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