I wasn’t going to send her back home where she could fall victim again to her mom’s shitty boyfriend. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to let her go off to some fucking shelter. What chance would she have at anything in life?
* * *
It wasaround dinnertime when Sam had released Salem from the hospital. She was still worn out and tired, so rather than go through the mess of cooking dinner, we ordered take-out from a restaurant close to my place. I didn’t usually take advantage of curbside pick-up, but tonight was different.
Sam and James both spoke with me while Salem was away from me before I’d left the hospital with her. They’d told me that even though Salem hadn’t been with Sebastian as long as the others, she would still need some time to reacclimate. They warned that things could appear absolutely fine one minute, then the next minute she could be in turmoil. It sounded a lot like what I’d gone through when I’d come home from Baghdad. Though, my issues mainly arose at night from the nightmares. But either way, I didn’t want to leave Salem alone in the car when there was an option for the food to be brought out to us. I had seen how skittish and terrified Brandon was to be left alone, and I didn’t want to risk something suddenly becoming a problem. I kept telling myself not to bust my balls over taking Salem home with me. After all, James was taking Brandon home.
We ate our dinner in the living room while we looked for something to have on in the background. James said that white noise, such as a TV, would help Salem start to feel like her surroundings were familiar. I left it on a re-run ofSeinfeld, thinking it was probably harmless and safe. I finished eating way before her and made a mental note to slow it down at our next meal. I leaned back against the cushions and tried to keep my attention on the TV, but it was nearly impossible. Both of us made stray comments about the show, and we even laughed at the same parts. I couldn’t help but feel like we had been best friends, and this was no different than any other night.
When Salem finished eating, she toed off the shoes Roz had picked up for her and curled her feet under her legs on the couch. She scooted closer until she had tucked herself against the side of my body, leaning her head on my arm. I froze, afraid to move an inch. My body instantly became addicted to her touch.
We finished watching the show, still making side comments. It had been so easy to be around her. We laughed at the same things and made jokes the other one laughed at. I made a comment about a commercial that had come on, but when she hadn’t replied, I looked down at her face and found that her eyes were closed.
I shut the TV off and quickly cleaned up the foam containers from dinner. I thought she’d possibly wake up from me moving around, but she was fast asleep. During her stay in the hospital, she wouldn’t sleep for very long. She’d maybe sleep an hour or two, but she’d wake up abruptly. I’d found it encouraging and a good sign for her recovery that she’d felt relaxed enough to fall asleep beside me after being in my house for only a few hours.
Standing beside the coffee table, I decided to try to pick her up and carry her to my room and put her in bed. Part of me was a bit apprehensive because I feared the movement might startle her. When I was sure she wasn’t going to wake up, I slid one arm under her legs and the other arm behind her back. Before I lifted her off the couch, her green eyes shot open and latched on to mine.
“Hey.” I smiled at her. “You fell asleep. I was going to carry you to bed,” I explained, in case she was getting nervous. She smiled contently and nuzzled her face against my arm.Huh, I guess she’s perfectly fine with me picking her up.
I took extra care as I carried her to my room so I didn’t accidentally bump her feet against a wall or corner. She smiled when I set her on the bed and thanked me for carrying her. I set the pajamas out that Roz had picked up for her and went to go change out of the clothes I had been in. Often, I’d slept naked, but that wouldn’t be a good idea at all. I was already worried that my body might embarrass me, and I didn’t want to make her nervous. I changed into a clean undershirt and a pair of boxer briefs. Staring at myself in the bathroom mirror, I began to wonder if sleeping beside her was a good idea at all.
After I thought I had given her enough time to have changed, I stepped back into the bedroom. She had set the clothes she had been wearing on the foot of the bed and was lying on her back. Her head turned toward me, and a smile spread across her face.
“Are you okay with me sleeping in the bed too? If not, I can take the couch tonight,” I offered.
“Garrett, that is sweet of you, but I’m not going to kick you out of your bed. Besides, I think I’d sleep better knowing you were beside me.”
I sat on the bed and smiled at her.
“I want you to sleep well,” I said.
“You were the only one who gave me a sense of security while I was there,” she murmured. Salem reached out and traced the hem of my sleeve over my bicep with her fingertips. Despite trying to fight it, her gentle laugh pulled me deeper into her green eyes. “While I was at that place, I had hoped you’d be at all the parties each night and take me to one of the rooms. You gave me hope and never hurt me.”
I nodded and smiled as her heavy eyes closed for a moment. When they reopened, she returned the smile. She was dead tired, and I needed to let her sleep. I thought about the background noise that James had mentioned and quickly grabbed my cell phone from the nightstand.
“Would you like me to turn on some background noise tonight?” I asked.
“Background noise? What kind of background noise?”
“Nature sounds or other atmospheric relaxing sounds,” I offered as I glimpsed at a background noise app.
“Sure, what are our choices?” she asked and moved closer to me on the bed. Her arm brushed against my leg, and she drummed her fingertips on my bare knee. It was extremely distracting, but I was able to regain my composure.
“There’s a rain forest.” I hit the sample of it on the phone and looked at Salem to see if it was of interest.
“Mmm, maybe. What other options do we have?”
“Wind chimes.” I hit play, and we looked at one another and laughed. “That’s a little too much noise. How about rain—”
I quickly stopped talking and swallowed hard.Shit. I recalled the waterboarding device from the kink house and wasn’t sure if it was something Salem had experienced. She said she hadn’t, but I didn’t know if she was just saying that during the questioning a few days ago. I didn’t want to cause a problem.
“Rain?” she asked, prompting me to continue. I nodded and paid close attention to her reaction. She seemed fine. “Is it gentle rain or a thunderstorm?”
“Um,” I dragged my attention back to the app and skimmed the choices until I found what I was looking for. “There are a few.” I played samples of the summer rain, which was light and subtle. Then there were a few thunderstorm sounds, which were both too loud and with the random rolling thunder, I thought it might not be a good choice.
“Ohh, I like the lighter one,” she decided.
“Light rain it is.”
