Page 62 of Chained

"What's your roll?"

"A bit of anything I fancy. Mostly I track down things that people need or want and swap them for the things that I want. I help out on the farms sometimes, or do a bit of labouring from time to time," Coal said.

"It's just such a big world, now that I've seen it I can't wait to see more and more. In the city there is nothing else. I hadn't even seen a tree before. Not a live one anyway, or a bush or even grass. I hadn't seen animals or a lake or flowers or anything."

Coal didn't reply and I noticed that his breathing had become heavy and slow.

"Coal?" He was clearly asleep.

Not wanting to risk waking him, I shifted a little to get more comfortable, finished the last of my drink and let my eyes close too.

Chapter Twenty One

"What have we here then?" Alicia sounded like she was calling to me from far away.

Somehow we had gone from sitting up to laying down on the sofa during the night. Coal's arms were wrapped tightly around me and my face was pressed against his chest.

A light flicked on somewhere above me and I shrunk down, burying my face against Coal to block it out. It felt similar to the way I had been curling up with Taylor at night during the SubWar training but completely different at the same time. I felt my cheeks flush scarlet and my heart pounded unevenly. Another pounding joined it in my head and I tried harder to recoil from the light.

"Rise and shine," Alicia called again and I flinched from the sound of her voice.

I tried to sit up but Coal's grip tightened around me and his hand twisted into my hair. I pulled away from him again and looked at his face which was peaceful in sleep.

"What time is it?" I asked Alicia who was standing next to the sofa looking strangely smug.

"Nearly midday. I slept in. It looks like you did too." She put a hand on her hip.

I looked back at Coal, his dark eyes were open and he was looking at me strangely. He had one hand still wrapped around my waist and our legs were tangled together.

"Have you been having fun?" Alicia looked at Coal and raised her eyebrows.

"I'm not entirely sure," he said, running his free hand across the stubble that had appeared on his jaw over night.

"It sure looks like you have," she said, stooping to pick up the empty whiskey bottle and brandishing it at us.

"Did we sleep here all night?" Coal asked me and I nodded my head shyly. The movement made little stars appear at the edge of my vision and I closed my eyes again for a moment until they cleared.

"All night?" Alicia asked, looking surprised.

"We must have been tired," I supplied.

"Coal hasn't slept for longer than four hours a night since-"

"Yeah it must have been all the running and probably the whiskey." He smiled tightly, cutting Alicia off and sitting up. He released me from his hold, my skin still tingled where his hand had been resting against my hip. "What's for breakfast?"

"You're asking me?" she said, raising her eyebrows.

"I'm asking what's in the cupboard not requesting that you burn me anything." He stretched his arms and rolled his shoulders back and forth.

"Look for yourself," she said, tossing the empty whiskey bottle into a chair across the room. It bounced back out and thunked loudly against a small wooden table, the noise set my teeth on edge.

"I will." He stood up and left to go in search of food. Alicia crossed her arms over her chest and looked at me expectantly.

"What was that about?" she asked eventually.

"What?" I asked avoiding her gaze, suddenly finding the hem of my top very interesting.

"The couch was just so much more comfortable than the bed and you absolutely couldn't resist it?"