"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
"Yeah." A broken laugh escaped me. "It really is."
She laid her head back down on my chest, and I felt some of the tension ease out of her body.
"I'm still angry at you," she said quietly.
"I know."
"I don't know if I can ever fully forgive you."
"I know that too."
"But..." She hesitated, and I felt her fingers curl into the fabric of my shirt. "I'm glad you're here. Right now. I'm glad I'm not alone."
I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, breathing in the scent of her shampoo.
"There's nowhere else I'd rather be."
She fell asleep in my arms sometime around four, her breathing evening out into the slow, deep rhythm of true rest.
I stayed awake, watching the shadows shift on the ceiling, holding her like she was the most precious thing in the world.
Because she was.
She always had been.
And this time, I wasn't going to let her go.
Chapter 5: Betty
Iwoke up slowly, drifting up from the deepest sleep I'd had in weeks.
At first, I was disoriented. The couch was too warm, and there was something solid beneath my cheek. Something that rose and fell with a steady rhythm. Something that smelled familiar.
Hudson.
Memory flooded back. The car chase. The terror. Asking him to hold me.
And he had. All night, apparently.
I was still curled against his chest, my leg thrown over his thighs, my hand fisted in his shirt. His arms were wrapped around me, one hand splayed across my lower back, the othertangled in my hair. Like even in sleep, he couldn't bear to let me go.
I should move and extract myself from this position before he woke up and realized how thoroughly I'd wrapped myself around him like some kind of desperate octopus.
But I didn't want to.
For the first time in weeks, and maybe for the first time in years, I felt safe. Truly, completely safe. The constant knot of anxiety in my chest had loosened sometime during the night, and lying here in Hudson's arms, listening to his heartbeat beneath my ear, I felt something I'd almost forgotten existed.
Peace.
I let my eyes drift closed again, just for a moment. Just to enjoy this feeling before reality came crashing back.
His hand moved on my back, a slow, gentle stroke that sent shivers down my spine.
"You're awake," he said, his voice rough with sleep.
"So are you."
