That night, I woke from a sound sleep beside Blake.
I shot up in bed to see Maverick standing on Blake’s side, barking. And when my eyes dropped down, I saw Blake. He was breathing heavily through quiet grunts, his hands were balled into fists, and I could see his skin glistening with sweat from the moonlight coming in through the window as his body lightly thrashed.
“Blake,” I said quietly, shifting onto my knees beside him. His breathing became heavier, his brow pinched as his head shook. “Blake,” I said again, reaching for him, but I pulled my hand back at the last second.
I knew you shouldn’t wake someone from a nightmare.
I felt utterly helpless as I sat there watching him, seeing the way he struggled to breathe, the terror marring his expression even in sleep. I wanted to wake him, to take him out of whatever was plaguing his dreams.
Suddenly, his eyes flew open as he shot up in bed with a gasp. His breaths were ragged as his wide-eyed gaze darted around the room until it landed on me.
“Blake…” I whispered. I tentatively reached up, touching his cheek as he held my stare. “Hey…it’s okay. You’re okay. It was just a dream, baby.”
My hand shifted, gently curling around the back of his neck, and he let out a shuddered breath, allowing me to pull him to me. He dropped his head onto my shoulder, his breaths slowing as his trembling hand gripped my arm.
“You’re okay,” I murmured. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”
Chapter 27
Typically,with Haley, every inner demon I had went quiet, leaving me calm. But a week ago, for reasons I couldn’t explain, those demons broke through the cage that her presence usually locked them in, shifting my emotions unexpectedly.
I didn’t know why or where it came from—it’d been a while since I’d had a nightmare like that. And while I hadn’t had any more since, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the one I did have in the days that followed.
A part of me was embarrassed that she witnessed it. I knew Haley didn’t look at me any differently because of it—she hadn’t treated me or acted differently toward me since. Still, I knew it probably left her more curious and left her with questions, ones I didn’t know if I’d ever be ready to answer.
What I’d dealt with—Noah, my PTSD, therapy—wasn’t something I discussed withanyonebut Nate. But Haley wasn’t dumb; she likely knew there was a reason for a nightmare that left me in the state that one had.
“More coffee?”
I glanced up, nodding at the waiter of the diner I was having breakfast in. “Thank you.”
He turned to my dad. “You, sir?”
“Please.”
After he refilled our mugs and stepped away, my dad looked at me and smiled. “Haven’t done this in a long time.”
“Yeah,” I nodded. It was Tuesday morning, and I called my dad up to see if he wanted to meet for breakfast. “I actually wanted to ask you about the cabin. I was wondering if I could maybe go up there sometime soon.”
His brows rose slightly. “Oh?”
“I haven’t been up there in years, and I’ve been wanting to go since I came home.”
After having that nightmare, I felt slightly unsettled. I really needed a change of scenery to help clear my head and sort out my thoughts. Our family cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains seemed like the perfect place—somewhere peaceful and separate from the rest of the world, where everything else was weighing on me.
“I mean, you know you can go up there any time you’d like. It’s just a little bit of a mess right now. I did some small renovations a while back, and I haven’t gotten up there to finish putting the place all back together yet.”
I chuckled. “Renovations?”
“Yeah.” My dad smiled. “I put in a new window in the second bedroom because the old one was cracked by a falling branch. That led to painting, which made your mom want the main bedroom painted as well. I considered redoing the deck railing, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
My dad had always been skilled with his hands and enjoyedbuilding and fixing things. It was something he passed off to me, although I didn’t do much, even though I knew how.
“Well…I could always go up and do some work up there for you if you need.”
“No, you don’t have to do that. However, if you’d like to go, you’re more than welcome. You know that.” He pulled out his key ring and slipped a key off it, sliding it across the table to me. “That’s the spare. Keep it to use whenever you want.”
That key felt like it was burning a hole in my pocket for the next forty-eight hours. Once I had it, I couldn’t stop thinking about just getting in my car with Maverick and going.
