Page 57 of Teach Me How To Fly

Her answer was to rest her head on my chest and place a kiss on it. I put my arm around her tiny body, then inhaled her scent deeply into my lungs and felt, after so much time that had passed, that I was living.

She was my oxygen. My everything.

19

ANNALISE

Ihaven’t woken up feeling this good ever in my life, but the warmth I felt around my body made me want to not stand up from the bed.

I opened my eyes and felt how I was pulled closer to a naked body that covered me completely. The feelings I felt surprised me, because I didn’t think I needed to sleep in someone’s arms until now.

His arms made everything bad go away from me and replaced all the darkness with the light I needed.

I turned around in his arms in order to look at him, and the moment I managed to do it, I trembled when I realized that he was already looking at me.

“You’re already awake,” I said, and he gave me the most dazzling sleepy smile he had.

“Yes, I was already awake, but not for long,” he quickly replied.

I knew he wasn’t wearing a t-shirt, but I couldn’t find the courage to look at his body. I could only look him in the eyes, yet I somehow saw his muscles tensing as he pulled me closer to him.

“How did you sleep?” he asked, brushing my face with his long fingers.

“I slept very well. It felt good to not have anything in my mind for a couple of hours,” I answered and my lips curved up into a soft smile.

Even though we might’ve slept more than seven hours, I didn’t feel as rested as I would’ve liked to. Perhaps that was because of the chaos that came for us.

“How about you? I asked briefly and snuggled into his arms.

As I had his arms wrapped around me, I felt safe, and I knew I didn’t want to ever leave them.

“I haven’t slept so well in such a long time that I’m surprised how well I’m actually feeling right now.”

I supposed he slept well because he slept with me in his arms.

I wouldn’t have known if this was the reason, but I was just going to assume it. I didn’t know what changed for him, but he wasn’t the same Maksen I was used to. I still didn’t understand how he could be so soft with me, when his job was to murder people.

“I’m hungry,” I said briefly as I heard my stomach making some strong announcements.

“I am too. Let’s see if we can find something to eat in this house,” he replied, placing a gentle kiss on my forehead.

Every time I felt his lips on mine, I felt like my wings grew strong enough for me to fly. I didn’t know how to explain what he made me feel, but the way my body reacted proved to me more than what I could describe with simple words.

We got up from the sofa, and as my feet touched the cold wooden floor, I felt shivers going down my spine. The fire went out, and the temperature in the cabin became lower than it was when we fell asleep. At least we had those cozy blankets to cover ourselves with, even though Maksen seemed to not be bothered about the cold as he slept shirtless.

I stretched my body and whined when the sound of my bones cracking filled the room. I completely relaxed after I felt my body loosen up.

Maksen headed to the kitchen, and I remained behind to put my hair up in a ponytail. I really needed a long bath, with lots of soap bubbles and facial masks. I was sure that my entire face was swollen from how much I cried in the last two days, and I didn’t like my appearance.

I made my way to the kitchen only to find Maksen searching in the cabinets and sighing angrily whenever he found empty shelves. I started pulling the drawers, and apart from a few old and rusty forks and knives, I found little ants and dead cockroaches.

“Gross,” I mumbled.

“Guess we don’t have anything to eat.”

“Great. We were so clever when we left we forgot to ask for some food to take with us,” I replied and sat on one of the chairs around the table.

“Well, we do have water though.”

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