He shouldn’t check on her.He knew that.He’d already hovered enough times since dinner, telling himself he was just doing security.Really, though, he was just making sure she was okay.
That she was safe and she was still here.
Brick scrubbed a hand over his jaw and forced himself to walk past her door.Back to his own room.Back to the damn thin walls and the memories that liked to stalk him at night.
He stripped off his shirt, tossed it onto the chair, and lay on the bed.He’d spent years getting used to sleeping with one ear open, boots within reach.Tonight was no different, except he was once again aware of Tessa’s nearby presence.
Brick exhaled slowly, willing his muscles to unclench.He closed his eyes, still thinking of the kiss they shared and the fact he wanted to do all sorts of wicked things to her body.He never should’ve let her cook for him, smile at him, look at him like she saw something worth understanding.
He never should’ve let himself want her.Sleep dragged him under anyway.
He didn’t fall asleep so much as drop into the nightmare.It was always the same one and as usual, it started the same way.
Smoke in the air.The metallic stench of blood.The sound of engines howling in the distance.Gunfire crackling like firecrackers, quick and brutal.
Brick ran through the warehouse yard, boots slipping on gravel stained with oil.“Prospect!Where are you?Answer me!”
A groan answered.The wrong kind.He rounded the shipping container and there he was.The kid.Eighteen, maybe nineteen.Still had baby fat in his cheeks, still flinched at loud noises, still asked Brick stupid questions about how to aim without missing.
Brick dropped to his knees beside him.A gunshot wound to the chest.No, it was more than one.Blood bubbled at the corner of the kid’s mouth.
“Sorry, Brick...I should’ve ...should’ve listened,” the kid whispered.
“You did listen,” Brick snarled, pressing his hands against the wound.“Stay awake.You hear me?Stay—”
The kid’s eyes rolled back, and then nothing.
The nightmare always ended there, right before Brick screamed for help that didn’t come fast enough.Right before he saw the enemy patches vanish into the night.Right before Brick failed someone again.
He shot awake with a ragged breath, hand gripping the sheets like he meant to tear them apart.Sweat clung to his skin, chest heaving.The dark room spun around him, shadows threatening to shift back into the shapes from his past.
He forced his breathing to slow.In and out.It didn’t work.A soft knock sounded at the door.He froze.Another knock.Quiet and hesitant, but somehow confident at the same time.
“It’s Tessa.”Her voice was soft through the door.“Are you okay?”
Shit.He scrubbed his face, trying to get rid of the nightmare before it clung to his voice, but the residue of it was too thick.“I’m fine,” he growled out.
“You’re not.”She hesitated.“You sounded in pain.”
Brick clenched his jaw so hard it hurt.“You shouldn’t be up.”
“I’m already up,” she said gently.“Can I come in?”
No.He should definitely say no.The best course of action was to push her away so she wouldn’t get any closer to him.However, the nightmare still clung to him like chains, squeezing his lungs, keeping him trapped in a memory he couldn’t shake.
For the first time in too damn long, he didn’t want to sit in the dark alone with it.His chest tightened painfully.
“Yeah.”The word slipped out before he could stop it.“Come in.”
The door opened slowly.Tessa stepped inside, framed in the hallway light before she closed the door behind her.Her hair was loose around her shoulders, oversized t-shirt hanging to her thighs.She looked softer at night.Real and touchable.She could be his if he wanted.
She was dangerous.Her worried gaze met his.“Brick, you’re shaking,” she pointed out.
He hadn’t realized that.Brick forced his hands to remain steady on the blanket, but she had already seen.She saw too much.Always had, since the moment they met.
“Nightmare,” he muttered, voice low.
She edged closer, careful, like she was approaching a wounded animal who could snap at any second.Smart, because he was exactly that, but she also didn’t back away.That was a plus point.
