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"Morning breath," I said, my hand still planted firht I was being adorable or insane; those looks were fairly interchangeable on hi room and kitchen, on the left

There should be soht hand drawer" I muttered a thanks and bolted Even without the directions, the bathroom wouldnʼt have been hard to find Alexʼs home proved to be a very small trailer, or maybe "pre-fabricated home" was the more PC ter room, but two of those putwith the voluI was invisible

"For what?" he asked, stoppingin the middle of the couch, the roomʼs only furniture, a brown bottle clutched in one hand I was once again struck by how he sirier version of Alex

"Iʼm sorry," I repeated Liam just continued to stare at me in a way I had never experienced before I was used to indifference, annoyance, curiosity, and disdain With Alex, I had even beco stared at with adoration Hatred, the pure, unadulterated for off of Liaht to hate me It was my fault that Alex forced hier fro" My voice was a whisper, but it was all I could e with my throat so constricted It didnʼt ood he could probably hear hts

Apparently, my response suited him, or maybe he decided I wasnʼt worth his effort Either way, he released aze and turned his attention back to a silent Abby and DiNozzo

I practically flew into the bathrooht-hand drawer did, in fact, have new toothbrushes inside It had like fifty of them, all wrapped individually in plastic

The reflection staring back atDark, bruise-like circles shadowedopen, and a wind burn had my face a rather unattractive shade of red I quickly learned that boys do not keep moisturizer in their bathroom, which was rather unfortunate At least there was a hair brush to work all the tangles out ofback to Alex if I had a straightening iron or some concealer, but I had to abandon that dream When I finally made my way back to Alexʼs roorateful Lianoreup over his head and his body was turned so that inal spot on the small, twin-sized bed was left open It looked so war between the covers when it occurred to ht not approve of such behavior

I was frozen, half-in and half-out of Alexʼs bed, the angel and de at it, when Alex reached for me "There you are," he said, his voice thick with sleep He pulled me down onto his chest and I led into him His body was so warain

We lay in silence for a long while I would have thought he had drifted off again, but his fingers were coof his heart, I took in s

Alexʼs room was much tidier than my own, but that could have just been due to necessity

His bed and chest of drawers took up nearly all of the floor space, leaving just enough room to walk around His school books were stacked on top of the chest of drawers next to a picture of an attractive looking couple The worace even in stillness Thick, wavy brown hair fraedness about hiined a rancher would look He had obviously passed on his grey eyes to both of his sons