Pillow Talk

15~ Lay With Me So It Doesn't Hurt

I was sick all week.

The day after the incident at the abandoned warehouse, Collin had woken me up and I had thrown up all over his shoes. He had refused to let me to go to school for the next few days, and I didn't feel good enough to go on Thursday or Friday.

I hadn't been able to check on River in the attic either, but according to Steven he was doing okay.

When I was finally able to drag myself out of bed on Saturday and up to the attic, I was surprised to find something hanging from the ceiling.

"You look better." I commented, wrapping my blanket around me. River sat up from the pile of pillows he had laid back against the Princess bed.

"You look like crap." He responded, smiling. I threw my hand over my chest, coughing into my other arm.

"Wow, you make me feel so loved, River." His smile grew wider as he patted the spot beside him, staring down at his phone.

"I promised you I'd explain everything, then you went and got sick on me." He said, jokingly. I sat down, sniffling.

"Well, I'm sorry that it's all my fault that I got the flu." I shifted my body so I was looking at him, waiting for him to start explaining.

"She was my first girlfriend after Damon and my parents died. I was thirteen and desperate. She was a few years older then me, but she said she didn't care. That I was the only person she'd ever love. She's the one that introduced me to street fighting." River had buried one of his hands in his hair, sighing loudly.

"I lost my first fight. I had been knocked out cold, and when I woke up I was in bed with her. Don't give me that look, that's not what I meant." He waved my look off, continuing after a second.

"It was probably a year or so later when she disappeared. I had been winning fights and one of the guys found out she was my girl. . . and things didn't end well. I never got to see her after I heard about them attacking her, I never got to explain to the asshole you say the other day that I had no idea what they had done to her." I waited until I knew he had finished speaking to lay my hand against his arm.

"I'm sorry, River. I didn't know." I hadn't known anything about River or what happened to him after he screwed my brother over. He had been nothing but a faint memory in my mind and his name was rarely said in the house.

"It's fine." He had turned to stare out the window, at the sun bleeding through the curtain he must have found somewhere in here and put up.

"You fight." I said, "But it's not for the money, is it?" The question had been nagging at me all week.

River's family hadn't been poor by any means, so money had never really been a problem for him. Although, I don't really know what happened to all that money after his parents passed away.

"Not exactly." He admitted, "It is for the money. But I use the money to pay for Ryan." I felt my heart clench a little at his answer.

"That's-" I started to say, but a stopped when I saw something scurry across the floorboards. I threw myself against River, shaking my head.

"That better not be a rat." I breathed, my heart racing, "Tell me it's not one, River." He was too busy laughing to hear a word I said.

"It's Benny." I pulled away from River slowly, glancing over my shoulder. I could see River's ferret clearly now, making his way over to us.

"I hate you." I grumbled, starting to move off of him. It wasn't until his grip tightened on my waist that I understood just how awkward the position was. I was sitting directly on his lap, my legs pressed up against his stomach.