Love Amongst Destruction

It was a very safe bet to say that we’d been on the road now for about 7 hours. I had switched to driver about an hour ago and Bella was now fast asleep in the passenger seat. Her head resting in my lap and her legs curled up on her seat.
The fact that she passed out 2 minutes after putting her head down told me that she was extremely tired.
Unfortunately, I could also tell she was having bad dreams, these absolutely heart wrenching whimpers and whines came from her throat, as her body would push away from something.
All I could do in those moments was gently hush her, tell her it was alright, and give her shoulders a gentle rub.
That normally calmed her a bit down, and would get the whimpers to stop.
Going another hour or so I started to hear a new noise, but this one was coming from me. My stomach was rumbling like crazy, I knew we needed to stop for food and soon. I didn’t want to wake the sleeping angel on my lap though.
I guess I’ll just drive until she wakes up.
I turned on the radio and ever so quietly turned on some relaxing almost white noise music, and kept on down the highway.
Hours Later -
Out of nowhere I suddenly felt Bella moving around on my lap. I looked down to see her gentle face looking back up at me, a little dazed, tired and weary.
“How was your sleep?” I asked, gently giving her an arm to help her get herself sat back up in the passenger's seat.
“Pretty good, I’m sorry for passing out on you like that though.” She apologized.
“No, no, don’t be sorry. You were comfy, and that’s what mattered to me.” I told her.
“You’re too nice.” She told me, sneaking over and giving me a hug.
“As you’re too sweet. Now I don’t want to ruin this cute little moment but seriously I need food or my stomach is going to growl a hole through me.” I chuckled.
“Oh gosh, then let’s go get something!” She exclaimed.
We agreed on a little cafe about 3 miles North, it was super quaint and cute, it just seemed like a good idea.
“Hi, just two for tonight?” The waitress asked as we finally got to the front door.
“Yes, please.” I said.
We were walked out to the beautiful patio that overlooked a picturesque river.
“You know, it’s been forever since I’ve gotten to see nature like this. Not only because it’s new land for me, but because I know I can go down and see it after. And that makes me extremely happy.” She told me.
“Well you know there is a little ice cream shoppe walking distance from here that’s actually on the river, right?” I asked, knowing she’d absolutely love that.
Her face lit up like a child on Christmas morning, it was amazing to watch.
She grabbed my arm tight and said “We have to go!!!!”
I chuckled lightly, and grabbed a hold of her hand.
“We will, Bells. Feel free to not answer this, but why the extra extra excitement?” I questioned.
“I’ll just tell you a super short condensed version of it. Basically, food was kind of a way I protested with them.” She said.
“What?” I asked, completely confused.
“Well----let’s just say other ways of refusal and telling them no didn’t go over very well at all. So with food I kind of refused most of it, ergo why I look like I do now.” She explained.
Ohhhh, now that made sense.
“We should get some food into that stomach then.” I gently said, giving her a comforting smile.
“And coffee.” She added, excitedly.
The waitress came back, we quickly placed our orders and we just continued on with some small talk until our coffees and food came.
“How’s your coffee and food?” I asked.
“Amazing. I haven’t had coffee like this in forever, and to finally eat something where I’m not forced to sit on someone’s lap or kneel is quite frankly very refreshing for me.” Bella told me.
“They fucking had you kneel?” I hissed with anger.
“Shhhhh.” She whispered.
“It’s over and done with, don’t let them be able to anger you still. That’s just you giving them power.” She told me.
“Easier said than done.” I scoffed.
Silence lingered over us and it was almost a sorrowful few minutes, around 10. We finished our meal in the hovering quiet, and I watched Bella get more and more antsy.
“Chance, can we go and find a hotel?” She gently asked.
Oh shit.
“I’m sorry, Bella. I ruined this night with my negative shit. I didn’t meant to.” I apologized.
“You didn’t ruin anything, Chance. Not one bit. I just would prefer to be at a hotel and just have a nice, relaxing night with you.” She explained.
“Promise?” I asked.
“Promise.” She replied.
Hearing that made me feel at ease, I took her hand and we walked out of the cafe and back into the car.
“Do you mind looking up some hotels for me?” I asked her.
“Yeah, of course.” She happily said.
I handed her a form of yellow book and she started to flip through the pages and look at our options for hotels tonight. I kept my focus on the road and zoomed down the highway, waiting for Bella to give me some ideas.
“Bella?” I asked, finally looking over at her.
Once I saw her I couldn’t help but chuckle. That sweet little angel had propped the book up against the window and was passed out cold right there.
Apparently caffeine didn’t do much for her.
I turned on the heat for her ever so gently, not wanting her to get cold as she slept.
“I love you Bella, sleep well.” I whispered, reaching over and giving her a loving caress.

Notes

I hope you guys are having a great week and are having a fantastic Halloween season!!!!

The next chapter will be in Craig's POV and will be a much more in depth talk about what exactly their plan is for Bella


Thank you guys again so much for reading this story!

I promise to update soon