Chapter 239 - Eat His Dust (1/2)
The following day, two minutes before his five in the morning alarm took off, Maxen's knee jerked.
For a second, he laid flat like a starfish on the bed whilst he gathered his thoughts. He grunted at the heaviness of his eyelids and how his eyes refused to cooperate from opening.
Overall, he was groggy from the lack of sleep, which was four hours in total, but he had a routine to follow, thus he had to get up and running, or else he would be out of focus the entire day.
Turning his head to the side, Olivia's sleeping face greeted him. He smiled at how her face glowed and was free of worry lines.
He loved seeing this serene side of Olivia—the one where she need not think of which choice to pick.
For a frozen moment in time, Maxen wanted to steal her sadness away, even for just a second. He wanted to fill the void that was slowly eating into her soul.
Two minutes passed, and Maxen was still staring at Olivia's face, etching every nuance she made while she slept—from the twitch of her lips to the slight scrunch of her nose.
It was when his alarm rang, echoing inside the bedroom, that Maxen snapped out from his ogling.
”Let's fly, Max,” Olivia murmured in her sleep. She then sn.a.k.e.d an arm on Maxen's waist and buried her face in his c.h.e.s.t.
”As you wish, baby. As you wish,” Maxen agreed. He returned her hug, and in an instant, a sense of belonging flooded his soul. ”Five more minutes,” Maxen said to himself. Five more minutes to savor this tranquil escape.
Hours later, Olivia woke up to the pitter-patter of footsteps on the main floor of the cabin. She swiped her hand on Maxen's side of the bed even though she knew he was up on his usual body clock.
As expected, Maxen's side of the bed was cold, although it didn't matter to Olivia since his scent rubbed off on the sheets, which meant Maxen would be back soon before she finished inhaling every molecule of his trail.
Training her gaze to the window, she took in the beauty of the woodland that's covered in gray fingers of fog in the aftermath of a storm.
Suddenly, the bed dipped behind her, surprising Olivia. Her hand flew to her c.h.e.s.t and her mouth formed an 'O'. She hated how Maxen could stealthily sneak up sometimes.
”Rise and shine, baby!” Maxen greeted, hugging her from behind with his arm coiling her waist.
Olivia twisted in her spot and reciprocated Maxen's hug. ”Good morning,” she greeted him with a small smile. She ran her palm on his c.h.e.s.t, smoothening the creases that formed on his dark gray hoodie. ”You didn't look like you ran,” she commented.
Planting a kiss on the tip of Olivia's nose, Maxen's eyes shone with mirth as he locked gazes with hers. ”Really? But Wyatt and I ran ten miles this morning.”
”Nope.” Olivia jutted her bottom lip out as she regarded Maxen. ”That's quite unfair. I spent hours priming myself and you… you ran… and not a hair out of place?”