29. | blankets of snow

"Daisy..." A soft voice mumbles in my ear, an even softer hand stroking mine swiftly, only to lift it up to my face and strike a few strings of hair behind my ear. "Wake up, we're here."

I mumble a complaint and groan, not wanting to leave the warmth of the shoulder I'm laying my head on. The voice becomes recognizable and I force my eyes open, only to remember why I'm in the back of cab, joined by Ethan and Lexi.

We're on the run, for my father. How long will we be able to avoid him?

"Come on Daisy," Ethan mumbles as he traces his palm over my cheek, leaving a trial of tingles behind.

I let my sleepy eyes flutter close at his touch, sighing audibly. I remove my head from his shoulder at last and glance out of the window. "Where are we?" I ask as Ethan steps out, grabbing my hand and making me leave the enjoyable heat of the car, shuddering as soon as the cold winter wind hits me.

"An unpopular motel out of town." He answers, following my eye movements. "We'll be fine here, for a while. I couldn't think of another safe space, so this will have to do."

I nod while yawning and close the car door behind us after thanking the driver. My shoes touch the ground which is covered in blankets of snow. It's been a cold January and even though we're about to enter February, it seems like the peak of winter isn't planning on ending yet. I turn around cautiously, trying not to slip while Lexi pays and tips the driver, joining us.

"It's freezing." I whimper softly as I lean closer into Ethan. Lexi nods frantically, shoving her hands in her pockets.

"Give me your hand." Ethan says, grabbing my cold hand and interlocking our fingers without a warning. I smile to myself as I sink my chin deeper into the fuzzy scarf around my neck, walking towards the entrance.

We enter the old motel, the wooden floor under our shoes squeaking because of our weight with every step we take.

"Good evening." Ethan begins speaking to the old man behind the desk, "We wanted to get a room with at least two beds, please."

The old man scrunches his nose as he slowly lets his eyes examine us, taking in our appearance and most likely wondering what brought three young people in. I can't blame him, it's the middle of a winter night and this place truly is dead.

"We have a free room with two beds." He answers as he turns around and grabs a key from the wall behind him. "For how long will you be staying?" He brings his hand with the rusty key towards Ethan.

"We're not so sure about that," Ethan answers the man's question, grabbing the key from his hand. "Would that be a problem?"

The old man chuckles as he shrugs, adjusting his glasses on his nose. "We don't really have many guests, so you can stay for as long as you wish."

As Ethan continues talking to the man, I use it as an opportunity to glance around the place. No wonder there are barely any people staying. The place looks old, the lamps barely brightening the entrance and the furniture is covered in thick layers of dust, proving there hasn't been anyone using it for quite a while. I can't imagine anyone other than desperate truck drivers sleeping here for a night.

Ethan nods and before he can speak up again, the man does. "Under who's name shall I write your reservation?" He asks, grabbing a pencil and opening a ripped brown notebook.

"Wilford." Ethan answers, making me wonder if that's smart.  I stand on my tiptoes as I move closer to Ethan's ear. "Shouldn't we use another name?" I whisper in it, making sure the man behind the desk doesn't hear us. The last thing we want to do is give away the fact that we're on the run for something, someone.

"Don't worry about it. It's a quite common surname in this area of the state." He turns his face to me and plants a swift kiss on my forehead, "We'll be fine, Daisy."

I nod at his answer, trusting his knowledge and wait till the man writes down the name. Lexi has sat down on one of the dusty couches, appearing to be half asleep.

"Second floor, on the right, room 36." The man mumbles, before he turns around, indicating that he has nothing else to ask or tell us.

Ethan nods as he turns around, grabbing my hand again. I poke Lexi awake and we start walking towards the room, following the poor descriptions of the man. The other rooms are clearly not occupied, the doors looking untouched for years. We quickly walk through the corridor, looking around the place.

After a few minutes we stop walking as we reach the door that has a curly room 36 written on it.

"Finally." Lexi mumbles, holding her hand out to Ethan wanting the keys from him. He gives them to her with one if his hands and doesn't let go of mine with his other one. He squeezes my hand and I do the same in return, curling my fingers even tighter into our interlocked embrace.

Lexi struggles with the key at first, but manages to open it with a loud thud, the door opening and welcoming us into the dark room.

"Let's just hope we don't end up finding dead bodies." Ethan mumbles with a slight laugh.

"Not funny." I whisper as we follow Lexi into the room. He laughs guiltily, the sound filling my chest as his lips turn into a pout. "Sorry ma'am."

I let go of Ethan's hand as I turn the lights on, a dimmed glow lightening up the room with two beds.

"Surprisingly enough, not bad." I shrug as I drop my bag next to one of the beds. I've filled it with some necessities for both Ethan and I. Lexi did the same in a second bag. We'll manage like this for a few days, until Cole, the attorney and I are ready to finish this whole situation off, for once and for all. A few more days, maybe a few weeks. We'll manage, we'll move day by day.

We have each other now.

"Lay down Ethan." I mumble to him, helping him take of his coat. I take out the grey sweatpants and white hoodie that were taken from my father's closet and hand it over to Ethan. I had no other male clothing than T-shirts so without another choice, I needed some thick clothing for him.

He doesn't bother leaving the room and starts stripping to get changed. I look down and dust of the upper sheets and blankets, making sure it's somewhat decent for a human to sleep in without having an allergic reaction to the dust.

I help Ethan lay down without making his stitched wound bleed as he immediately pats the empty space next to him. "I need to use the bathroom. Just rest." I say, pulling the blankets over him. He doesn't complain but looks at me with his infamous pleading eyes. "I'll be back."

Taking off my own coat and scarf, I walk around the bedroom, glancing at the paintings all over the floral wallpaper covered walls. It takes me a few steps to reach the bathroom, which looks quite okay and has a proper looking shower, sink and toilet. I notice untouched toilet paper rolls and some cleaning supplies. Cleaning the sink and toilet with my limited abilities, I finish off by washing my hands and my face.

Several minutes later, I walk back into the room and over to my bag. Ethan appears to not be sleeping yet, Lexi seems to be dozing off in the other bed already. I turn around to avoid his intense gaze and quickly change into a thicker hoodie. When I turn back around and take a few steps closer to join him, Lexi mutters some inaudible words.

"Brooks..." Lexi drags out while tugging at my arm, "I'm so cold."

I sit next to her on the bed, putting both of our scarves on her to serve the purpose of extra blankets. She doesn't let go of my arm, clearly enjoying the warmth of another human being. I give in and lay next to her.

Ethan lets out a disappointed huff, rolling his eyes in a playful manner as he places his hand over his heart. "Do I have to remind you that before we had to leave, you and I were basically cuddling in your bed?" He whispers, completely turning to his side. "And look at me now."

"You won't die of one lonely night." I mutter, a blush creeping up my cheeks. Lexi starts softly snoring beside me, dozing off into her well-deserved night of sleep. I sigh and lay on my back, staring at the wooden ceiling. We should all get some sleep.

Ethan continues to lay on his side, his gaze boring into me from a small distance. I give in and break my pointless ceiling stare to join his staring game. We don't say anything, we just lay there, looking at each other as if one of us might disappear any time, which terrifies me.

The thought of losing Ethan terrifies me.

He gives into the exhaustion and closes his eyes for a few seconds. When they're back open, he mouths come here. I give in, again. I always give in when something involves Ethan.

Making sure to tuck Lexi in tightly after I get up, I tiptoe towards Ethan. When I'm close enough, he grabs my waist and pulls me towards himself in a hurry. I'm not complaining, not at all. His familiar scent and warmth surround me.

"How's your wound?" I whisper, searching for any signs of discomfort.

"Completely healed." He jokes, "You're here, with me. What else could I want after all this time?"

"I think you have a little obsession with me." I tease into his chest, burying my face further into it.

"I'm not even going to try denying." He mumbles into my hair, looking down at me. Grabbing my face, he traces my lips with his thumb, slightly tugging on my lower lip. "I'm obsessed with everything about you." I chew my bottom lip as I tilt my head back, letting my eyes find his green irisis again.

"There's no point in hiding that from you, Daisy." The sweet little word dissolves and I swallow, hard.

"Daisy, Daisy, Daisy." He mumbles with sweet kisses tracing down from my temple to my neck. I swear to God, this guy is the biggest tease I have ever met in my life. I want to smash our lips together, but it seems like he's taking his sweet time.

I let out an involuntary sigh of pleasure, the feelings from his swift kisses becoming more intense. It urges him closer to me and he hoists me closer to himself with a hand on the back of my thigh. His lips curve into my neck as he trails his fingertips down my throat.

"Ethan—" I mutter into him in a desperate attempt.

Kiss me where I want you to kiss me first.

"I know." He mumbles and moves from the base of my throat back to my face, placing kisses on every piece of skin he finds along the way. He doesn't leave any part untouched. I'm burning up and melting into his touches.

We're not so cold anymore now.

Just like that, the night gets ruined for a second time, by a second phonecall.

The red motel telephone in the corner of the room starts ringing, causing Ethan to groan into my ear and me to wanting to bury my burning face into the mattress. Lexi continues snoring and doesn't even get bothered by it, sleeping through the annoying ring.

I sit up straight as I look at Ethan, who's contemplating what to do. I can't help but grin at his flushed cheeks, he's burning up too. "I think it's the man from before." I say as my eyes follow his careful movements.

He gestures for me to stay in bed and takes a few quick strides to the telephone himself. He picks it up, silencing its annoying sound while its dust flies into the air.

"Hello?" He speaks into it with a rough voice, turning his back to me and placing one of his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants while leaning the other against the wall.

He goes silent, his body freezes and at that moment I realize it's not who we thought it was. I jump out of the bed and quickly walk over to him, taking ahold of his hand as I try to figure out who's on the other end of the phone.

It sounds like a male voice, deep and speaking just a few words. Ethan's face looks completely drained of color now, a deep frown forming as he stutters out one word that explains his shocked reaction.

"D-dad?"

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A/N; I AM SORRY. YES. CHAPTER 29. THEY STILL HAVEN'T OFFICIALLY KISSED, I KNOW. i'm a sucker for extreme slow burns, if you hadn't noticed.

thanks for reading, i hope you enjoyed.

please don't forget to vote & comment, i really enjoy reading every single one of them.

— lyra b.