Her heart clenched hard in her chest. Her lungs seized. For a moment, there was no getting air. There was no thinking. There it was. The worst. She had done something to him. “How bad is it?” The whisper came out strangled, the words trying to make their way through the huge lump in her throat.
“Tell me what happened tonight.” Javier was firm.
She choked back the need to yell at him to just tell her what she needed so desperately to know. He wasn’t going to give her the information. “My boss, Brad Fitzpatrick, called me. One of the bartenders said they could only work a half shift tonight. He was looking for someone to come in late. I said I would do it for him. I needed to sleep before going to work, so I went to my rooftop patio. It’s very peaceful there.”
She stopped abruptly. What could she say that didn’t sound crazy? And she didn’t know him. She didn’t want to tell him her personal business.
“Keep going.”
Rory shook her head. “Then I fell asleep and had a nightmare. I get them often.”
Instantly, Javier looked alert, as if having a nightmare weren’t an everyday occurrence many people had. “A nightmare?”
She shrugged, trying to look casual. “Yes. Don’t you ever have nightmares? I thought most people did.”
He ignored her comment. “Was Gideon in your nightmare?”
“No, not at all.”
His dark eyebrows drew together for a moment. “What was your nightmare about?”
“Childhood things. Scary childhood things. Nothing to do with Gideon at all.” But he was obviously hurt, and a doctor was trying to help him. “In the dream, the girl stood on the ledge of this horrible house. I heard Gideon’s voice telling me to wake up. Then owls were flying all around me, and I did wake up. I was standing on the ledge of my rooftop, and the owls drove me back onto the floor of the patio. Gideon wasn’t with me, and he wasn’t in the dream. I did hear his voice though. At least I think I did. I think it was real.”
Javier had pulled out his phone and was texting with lightning speed.
Rory pressed her finger to the place over her left eye that always felt strange, that hurt like hell, that felt as if her skin were ripping apart. “He did wake me up, didn’t he?” She didn’t care that she sounded defeated. She would have to leave.
“Yeah, babe, he woke you up.” He glanced down at his phone. “He’s going to be fine. He just tore open a couple of places the doc had been watching. That’s on him, not you.” He sighed. “And maybe more on me.”
“Why would it be on you?”
“He took several bullets meant for me. He’s saved my life on more than one occasion. Gideon’s a good man, Rory. And off-the-charts protective. You didn’t do this to him. He makes his own choices, just like we all do. He sent me here tonight. He knew you were in trouble, and he’s going to ask me who that man was and what he wanted.”
She was afraid he would ask, and she didn’t know what to tell him. She definitely didn’t want to involve Gideon in that mess.
“The last thing he needs is to worry about anything to do with that man or his associates.”
Javier’s entire demeanor changed. “If you are Gideon’s woman, he will worry about every aspect of your life.Everyaspect. That’s who he is. If you can’t accept that, you can’t accept him. I understand you wanting to protect him, Rory—”
“Needing,”she interrupted. “I need to protect him as well. He looks out for everyone, Javier. I can’t help who I am. I need to look after him.”
“Look after him all you want. It will be good for him. I want that for him. His entire family wants that for him. But you have to allow him to protect you as well. He’ll go insane if you hold things back from him.”
Rory could hear her heart beating too loud. There were so many things she didn’t know about herself. Things that could possibly hurt Gideon. She would never share that with Javier. That was for Gideon alone. No one else. She could barely face knowing she might have something dangerous in her past that could harm others, let alone tell others. It had taken a tremendous amount of courage just to tell Gideon.
“He came into the bar tonight and asked me out. I told him I was seeing someone, and he backed off right away, but he stayed the rest of my shift. I noticed he didn’t flirt with any of the women in the bar, not even Dana, and she’s gorgeous. He paid a lot of attention to the doors and any conversations I had with the customers.”
“You’d never met him before?”
“I’d never even seen him before.”
“You’re certain?”
She wasn’t going to tell him she remembered faces and conversations. He didn’t need to know too much about her. She wanted to see Gideon again before she made the decision to leave or not. Already she was going back and forth. It was pathetic.
“I’m very certain. I didn’t have to close, so I stalled a little before I left, just to make certain he wasn’t waiting outside, and then I started home. I don’t think he would have caught me off guard, but I was so worried about Gideon that I didn’t pick up on the danger until he was there. Mostly, he just wanted to talk to me.”
“About?”
