I've never felt comfort like this before. Not since my mother...

The world comes back into view as my body adjusts to daylight. And Roman. Shame washes over me when I realize what a sobbing mess I was last night after that nightmare. I didn't want him to see me like that.

Weak. Helpless. Emotional.

I'm supposed to be a leader. At least... I was a leader.

"Are you feeling better?" Roman asks, looking down at me, one hand behind his dark tresses.

I look into his eyes, peeling myself from his hard body and sliding slightly to the side of the bed.

"Yes... About last night..." I begin, but Roman puts his hand up.

"Don't apologize." he says, reading my mind. "You were afraid. We've been through a lot." he continues.

"It won't ever happen again." I assure him, sitting up and turning my back on him.

"What are you gonna do? Stock up on five hour energy and try to stay awake forever?" he asks, sliding over next to me.

I take a deep breath. "I haven't been able to sleep since we came back. The first time I do sleep, this happens. I can't win either way." I whisper, my voice still thick from having just woken up.

"Just sleep with me." Roman offers. "You slept pretty sound last night." he says, his hand coming dangerously close to my thigh on the bed.

"I was desperate last night." I argue, standing up and running my hands over my arms, looking out of our apartment window. "If I call off will I get fired?" I inquire, knowing all of this started at work.

"Did something happen at work?" he asks, getting to his feet. "Angel. Stop being so difficult." he says, touching my arm gently so I can face him.

I turn, keeping my gaze towards the ground. "It was a hallucination. I thought I saw him." I say, trying not to remember the episode at work.

"They won't fire both of us." he says, and I look at him, knitting my eyebrows together.

"Roman no." I protest.

"We shouldn't have started work this soon anyways. One day off won't kill them." he says, grabbing my hand. "You need to relax." his eyes scan mine and I know he Is right.

I feel so weak and I've been so determined to get my mom. I need to be in better shape before I carry out any rescue mission. I nod slowly, sinking into the bed, never letting go of Roman's fingers.

"I will call us off. Be right back." he says, leaving the room.

I follow him with my eyes, not wanting to be left alone in the state that I am in. I'm being haunted and the only escape seems to be Roman. I watch the door until he emerges with towels in hand.

"Do you want to shower before or after we go to the leasing office?" He asks.

I shrug so he just drops the towels on the bed and takes my hand.

~~.~~

"Yes sir. Well you see, we haven't fully recovered from the accident and we need to tend to our wounds... Okay see you on Monday. Bye." Roman hangs up the phone, smirking at me. "We just got ourselves a long weekend. We're gonna need to get cell phones with our first checks." He adds. It is getting annoying having to use the phone in the leasing office every time we need to call someone.

We make our way back up to my apartment and I pull on Roman's arm gently, making him turn towards me.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"Why don't we go to your house? I've never been, you just automatically came to my apartment after we escaped. Why?" I ask, knowing no one in their right mind would just leave a whole house to rot, especially if they still have bills.

"I wasn't going to leave you alone." he says, taking my hand.

"That's not what I asked. You haven't gone home since we came back." I clarify, feeling like he is trying to get around the subject at hand.

"You wanna see my house? It's nothing special." He assures, raising his thick eyebrow.

"Yes I do." I say, looking him in his light eyes.

He smirks. "I'll call an uber."

~~.~~

"How much do I owe you?" Roman asks the driver as I get out on the other side.

"On the house sir." I hear him say to Roman as he closes the door.

How kind of him.

I see Roman's Jeep in the driveway and I feel on the side of it as I am walking past.

"At least they left you your car." I say, knowing that will help out a lot.

"Mhm."

His house is kinda small, but hey it's a house. We walk through the rickety red front door and automatically the wooden floor starts creaking loudly. Some of the slabs on the floor are warped, others are frayed, and some have nails sticking out of them.

"Watch your step." Roman says, tightening his grip on my hand.

The dated wallpaper is peeling and the paint is yellowing at a rapid pace. The living room has no couch, just a mattress and a small t.v., probably 40" or less. As we make our way into the kitchen I have to cover my nose to mask the terrible smell of trash.

"Oh shit not again!" Roman yells, running over to the overturned trash can where there is trash spilling out and bugs crawling all around.

It reeks. I turn around as Roman cleans up the mess and washes his hands.

"Damn raccoons always tearing up the bags. I can only imagine how long that was sitting there." he complains.

I wander up the cherrywood steps, watching for the splintered railing and I turn a corner to see the neatest place in this whole house: Roman's room. The carpet is dark and fluffy, the queen bed is covered in green and brown sheets and there is a beautifully carved headboard that sits against the wall. It's big enough. The only other thing in this room is his dresser and a window on the far right.

"It's nothing special." He says, his expression shows his embarrassment in showing me his humble abode.

It's true, I would have thought he would have had a nicer house, but this is California and stuff is expensive here. I can't judge.

"Your bedroom is nice." I reply, going to sit on the edge of the bed.

"This is why I didn't want to bring you here. It's a dump." he says, dropping his head.

I shake my head. "No it's not. It's your home and I think it's just fine." I reassure him. It may be old and kind of empty, but it's functional. "I guess you were lying when you said you were rich." I tease.

He smirks. "I was rich. Past tense." he corrects.

"Was?" I ask.

"Don't worry about it. You wanna go back to your house? I need to shower but my plumbing is all jacked up right now. Looks like someone went on a looting spree when I was gone." he says, masking whatever anger he has about this whole situation.

I know he cares about his house, even if it is a mess right now, but I won't bother with this conversation right now.

Roman locks his door behind him and I get into his Jeep. I doubt if he will be visiting this place very often, but it makes me wonder about his own family. Roman starts the car and I can't contain my curiosity.

"Where is your family? The only mention of them was in that simulation where you were a baby." I say, looking at him.

His body seems to tense up when I mention his family.

"That's a complicated subject Angel." he says, his face straining to stay neutral.

"Just tell me about your Mother then." I try.

"Tell me about your Father." he snaps, his jaw set.

I lean back in the seat, staring out the window, feeling my heart begin to hurt just thinking about my Father.

Roman sighs. "I haven't seen my Mother since I was five." he says, clenching the steering wheel tightly at the last memory. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. It's really not a big deal to me anymore." he says, relaxing his body.

"I'm sorry for pushing you into the conversation. Sometimes I just feel like I don't know you at all." I say, messing with my fingers.

I can feel my nervous habits coming back and I stop myself.

"You? I feel like you've got seven different personalities and everyday I wonder which one I'm dealing with." he replies, parking in the back of the apartment complex.

His comment brings back the memories I have when Aaron gave me his file. The fact that he is a criminal doesn't stay far from my mind and I'm still very cautious of him. But thinking about those memories makes me think about...

"Aaron." I whisper, feeling my heartbeat pick up once again. I can't push those memories deep enough into my subconscious.

"Stop it. Why are you thinking about him?" Roman asks, helping me out of the car.

I stare at Roman, forcing the memories away for a moment while I admire him being a gentleman.

"I try not to. I need to shower." I reply flatly, feeling myself slipping into that emotional rut I put myself into last night.

I scale the steps slowly, trying to make sense of all of this. I feel like the pawn in someone's game and I'm not completely convinced that the Twins are the only ones playing. What about Ivy? What's happened to her?

"You need to worry about yourself." Roman says as I am unlocking the door.

"Are you reading my mind?" I ask, pushing the door open and heading for my bedroom.

"Maybe." he says, picking up a towel from out of the hallway closet.

"I will shower first and then you can shower after me." I say, picking out the clothes that I want to wear for today.

"We could shower together." Roman says, coming up close behind me.

My breath catches as I tighten my grip on my shirt. "I'd prefer to shower alone." I whisper, neatly folding my clothes and placing them on the bed.

"We'd save a lot of water." he says, trying to negotiate.

"If you're trying to take advantage of my situation-" I am about to tell him off when he cuts me off.

"I saw you last night. I was there. The last thing I want to do is leave you alone in your thoughts so you can have another meltdown. I didn't like seeing you like that. You're a leader. You're strong and confident and independent. That's the Angel that I like to wake up to in the morning. I'm trying to help you get back to that. Get back to her." He says, his grey eyes burning with passion.

I look down, holding my towel. "It's going to be uncomfortable." I whisper.

"I'm not going to touch you. We're showering." he explains, making it seem more innocent, but we are both going to be naked so there is no innocence to it.

"Let me get in first." I say, looking into his eager eyes.

He nods once, going into my mother's room to get his clothes. I rush into the bathroom, my heart pounding as I am undressing. I turn on the water, stepping into the tub to see if it's hot enough. The showerhead looks like it's broken so i turn it off and run a bath. At least now I don't have to stand and wash with Roman watching me. It fills up and I step into the tub, sinking into the hot bubbles.

I begin washing when the door opens. I focus on the task at hand when I hear a belt drop to the floor and clothes rustling about. My heartbeat picks up when I feel Roman standing over the tub. I glue my eyes on my washcloth as the water shifts from him sliding into the tub. When he is completely immersed I tear my eyes away from my washcloth to look at him.

I clear my throat. "The uh.. The showerhead wasn't working properly." I whisper.

"That's fine. We'll have to report it." he replies, looking past me. "Don't freak out." he says suddenly.

I tense up. Is there a bug near me or something? I hate when people tell you not to freak out because then you will. Roman slides his body closer to mine, reaching over to grab the soap in the built in soap dish. His chest brushes against mine underwater and my breath catches. He notices my response and touches my hand underwater.

"Sorry. You know I didn't mean that." he says and I just nod.

He slides back over to his side and I regain my composure a little in order for me to finish washing. Roman's eyes darken slightly as he stares at the water and I wonder if he is having a flashback. He bites down on his lip, tearing his gaze away.

"The suds are going away..." he says, looking into my eyes now. "I can see your breasts." he whispers, his voice sounds strained.

I gasp, covering myself up underwater, but I know it's already too late. It's not like he's never seen them, he saw them two nights ago, but that was in the heat of the moment and I dont enjoy flashing people.

"Can you hand me my towel please?" I ask, my voice cracking from the tension in the room.

He obliges, reaching down to grab my towel. I get a glimpse of his butt and bite my lip, turning my gaze to the towel that he is dangling in my face.

"Thanks." I reply, gripping my towel tightly. "Turn around please." I say nicely.

Once he begins turning his body I throw the towel over me and jump out of the tub. I make my way into my bedroom and I realize I didn't wash my hair. Ugh. That was incredibly uncomfortable. As I grab my lotion I am overwhelmed by the smell of Roman's cologne and I turn, locking lips immediately with a very wet, very aroused Roman. He takes my bottom lip into his mouth as his hand covers mine, beckoning me to release my towel. I release the towel, hearing it fall to the ground as the kiss becomes more aggressive. I moan lightly into his mouth as I feel a tap on my shoulder.

Reality sets in and my lotion has spilled on the ground as Roman taps me on my shoulder with a confused look on his face.

"What's wrong with you? You just dropped your bottle of lotion on the ground." he says, raising his eyebrow.

I stare at his dripping hair, it's so pretty. "Your hair is pretty." I whisper, putting my hair behind my ear.

He smirks, running his fingers through his hair. "You're gonna need a new bottle of lotion. We can pick some up once you're done getting dressed." he says, leaving the room.

I take a deep breath, dropping the towel to the floor and closing my eyes. The throbbing coming from down below is becoming unbearable as I quickly find something to wear. I accidentally step into the lotion that I dropped on the floor. I still can't believe I just stood there in a trance and spilled my lotion. I wipe my foot on the towel and squeeze what little lotion is left in the bottle to distribute onto my body. As I'm getting dressed, I think about my recent actions: crying hysterically, following random people around a store, blowing up at Roman, now fantasizing about him. I'm changing and I don't know how I feel about it.

I jump when I realize Roman has been leaning on the doorway for a little while.

"How long were you standing there?" I ask, putting my hair in a low ponytail.

"I didn't watch you dress." he replies, his arms folded in his only black muscle shirt which makes his muscles pop out a lot. I stare at the dip in his bicep and suddenly the throbbing returns with a vengeance. "Ready?" he asks and I finally meet his eyes.

"Yes." I answer, smoothing my shirt down.

"Or do you wanna stay here?" He asks, unfolding his large arms.

"Stay here?" I ask, confused.

"You keep staring at me like you wanna do something." He says, taking a large step towards me.

"No.. I... I'm just not myself." I say, twirling a hair from behind my ear.

He steps closer, breathing in my air, making me tremble slightly. "So who are you today?" he whispers, gently running his fingers over my collarbone.

I inhale sharply, locking eyes with him. Usually I'd stop him way before we got to this point, but it's something in me today that isn't fighting back.

"Afraid." I breathe out, letting him know I can't be pushed this far. Not in the fragile state I'm in.

His fingers linger on my collarbone for a moment more, until he finally removes them, never breaking his gaze.

"Do you like Bath and Body Works?" he asks, putting his long hair in a low bun.

"Yes." I say, feeling the tension fizzle in the room. I can breathe.

~~.~~

I rub my nose for the fourth time since we entered the store. I love buying perfume, but the stores are annoying.

"Here's a card for you to try out perfume on." Roman says, handing me a little card.

"Thanks. What do you think about this?" I ask, spraying it on the card and holding it to his nose.

He scrunches up his nose. "Do not get that." he says, looking over at one of the tables which has a display of green perfumes and lotions.

"Roman we've been in here for a while and we haven't decided on anything yet." I say, placing another card on a table.

"We don't have to decide on anything. Get what you want." he says, going over to the sink to try out some hand soaps.

"You're gonna be the one smelling me everyday. I want you to like it too." I explain, leaning next to the sink.

"I like your natural scent. Unfortunately they don't sell that here. Just get the Japanese one." he says, towel drying his hands.

I look from the Japanese Cherry Blossom body wash to the Beautiful Day body wash and back again trying to decide between the two. I can only afford one until we get paid.

"We have a buy two get three free promotion going on right now. You can get a ton of stuff for cheap!" the saleswoman comes up behind me with a huge smile on her face.

Two? I can barely afford one. I was lucky enough to find that twenty in my jean pocket last night.

"No thank you, one is enough." I say politely.

"Sounds like a good deal. Pick out five." Roman interjects, walking over to our table.

I look at him like he's crazy. "Roman I don't have enough money." I whisper.

"Don't worry about it. I got it. Pick out the ones you like." he assures, squeezing some lotion into his fingers.

"Oh... Thank you." I say, grabbing a basket and putting the two body washes inside.

"Perhaps you'd like to check out our Sensual collection? I guarantee it will spice up your love life." she says, winking at me.

I blush, looking over at Roman who is smirking. "Umm no we're... I mean there is no love life. We're friends." I correct her, feeling embarrassed.

She smiles. "Oh well then in that case I'm here if you have anymore questions." she says awkwardly before she walks away.

I begin smelling everything since I need to pick three more items. I wonder where this money is coming from, considering we haven't gotten paid yet. I put this shimmer lotion on my arm and tilt it to the side. It's okay.

"I like the way it makes your skin look." Roman whispers in my ear, brushing past me to look in the men's session.

My body begins throbbing again so I quickly grab my other items, placing them in the basket and heading to the checkout. Roman follows behind me, pulling out his wallet and paying for my items. The saleswoman finishes ringing us out, smiling at the both of us. I feel Roman graze my lower back with his fingers as we walk out, getting dangerously close to my booty, but I act like it doesn't have any effect on me.

I step into Roman's jeep, closing the door behind me and placing my purse in my lap. Roman starts the car, staring at the mileage on his car for a moment.

"So what would you like to eat for lunch?" he asks, finally looking at me.

I look over at him, biting my lip slightly. "Tacos?" I ask, smiling.

~~.~~

Roman takes a large bite out of his burrito, spilling most of it into his plate.

I giggle. "You're messy."

"I'm a man." he replies, with a mouth full of food.

"Where are your manners?" I ask, taking a small bite out of my taco.

"I'm hungry." he says, licking his fingers. "Plus, I don't have to impress you anymore." he continues.

"Oh really?" I ask, chuckling.

Roman wipes his mouth off with a napkin and shifts his gaze from his plate to me, examining me like a doctor would his patient. He reaches over, placing his thumb at the corner of my mouth and wiping sauce from off of my face. He slides his thumb in his mouth, sucking the sauce from off of his fingers.

"Well, you taste delicious." He says, licking his lips.

My heart beats out of my chest, why is he doing this to me?

"Can we please go home?" I ask, standing from the table.

"What are you afraid of?" he asks, getting to his feet.

I pull on the strap on my purse, looking down. "You." I reply, turning on my heel and walking away from Roman.

I feel a buzzing and pain in my bad ear that makes me drop to my knees. It almost feels like how it was in the simulations. I cover both ears, the pain getting worse until I finally pass out.

I am awakened by Roman caressing my hair. I don't open my eyes, I just lay there relaxed and content. The pain and buzzing is gone and once again I feel safe and comfortable. What caused it? It brings back thoughts of the Sanitorium.

"I can make you happy..." Roman whispers, probably thinking I'm still sleep.

I feel his biceps flex underneath my body and his breath touches my cheek.

"I love you." he whispers.

To be continued...