CHAPTER 22
DAMON
IT’S LATE THAT night when I go to bed. Victoria’s words are still reeling inside of my head as I ascend the stairs.
She fucking hates me.
Not that I can really blame her. I mean, I shot her, hired a man to attack her in the parkandkilled her father.
Any sane personwouldhate me.
But it doesn’t make her words hurt any less. No, they completely fucking gutted me.
As I approach my room, I hesitate and instead venture across the hall to Victoria’s room. Having her so close but feeling this emotional cavernous distance between us is killing me.
Slowly, I turn the doorknob and quietly enter her room.
“No,” I hear her gasp.
I’m about to turn around to leave, but then I realize she’s having another nightmare.
“Please! Stop!” she begs.
Approaching her bed, I stare down at her, wrestling with her sheets, determination etched on her beautiful face. I can’t help but notice the lamp that’s shining brightly beside the bed. She’s mentally scarred from that bunker they kept her in, too afraid of the monsters that could be lurking in the dark.
My hands clench into fists. This isn’t the first time or themillionthtime I haven’t thought about what I would do differently. Nolan Farrell wouldn’t have died such a quick death, if I had to do it all over again. I would have made him suffer, and I would have made Victoria watch. Maybe then her nightmares wouldn’t overtake her mind every night.
Victoria’s breathing becomes panicked, and I know she’s having the same nightmare she always does. The one where she can’t breathe because they’re drowning her.
Unable to stand by and watch her suffer in her dreams, I climb into the bed and lay beside her. Gently stroking her cheek, I call out her name until her eyes snap open.
When her beautiful blues meet mine, she practically leaps into my arms. “Damon,” she cries, her tears dampening my shirt.
I hold her, smoothing my hand down her back as I comfort her. “Shh, just a dream. You’re okay. You’re safe. I’m here.”
Her small hands curl into the fabric of my shirt, pulling me impossibly closer as if she’s trying to climb inside of me to stay safe.
Stroking her back until her breathing evens out, I tell her, “Go back to sleep. I’ll stay here and watch over you.”
Eventually, she falls back to sleep. And I stay up until dawn to make sure another nightmare doesn’t overtake her. But with her in my arms, she sleeps peacefully and the demons stay at bay.
When the sun begins to shine through the windows, I gently place a kiss to the top of Victoria’s head before slipping out of her arms and going back to my own room to get a few hours of sleep before starting my day.
Her scent is all over me as I climb into my own bed, and it takes me a while before sleep finally claims me. My dreams aren’t filled with monsters. No, my dreams are filled with Victoria – her laugh, her smile, her happiness.
And when I wake up sometime later…I’m alone…and completely and utterly miserable.
CHAPTER 23
VICTORIA
THE NEXT DAY I spend most of the day in the gym running my frustrations out on the treadmill. I’ve been feeling better physically; but mentally, I feel like I’m falling apart.
Damon woke me up from another horrible nightmare last night. The bad dreams have been coming more frequently now, and they leave me feeling rundown and angry, so damn angry. Angry at the fact that I’m not even safe in my own dreams at night. Angry that I’m letting those cowards win even though the fight with them is over since they’re dead.
I’m so sick and tired of feeling weak and vulnerable. I think back to all the times when I could have used some self-defense training to help me out of the situations I kept finding myself in. Maybe I could have escaped. Maybe the terrible things wouldn’t have happened to me if I’d have some way to fight back.
And it’s the determination that I want to do something to change that, to get some of my power back that has me leaving the gym and going to find Damon. He’s in his office, like usual, and is just ending a call when I enter the room.
