“Falco!” As the louder name escapes me, he suddenly jerks and bolts upright with a knife glinting in his hand, his eyes wide and wild.
Our eyes meet as he pants harshly, fury twisting his expression, but it quickly fades as recognition takes over. “Aerin?”
“Hi.”
“What are you doing here? Is everything okay?” He notices the knife and lowers it, clearing his throat. “Sorry.”
“Bad dream?”
“Something like that.”
“I couldn’t sleep and I was worried about you so…I’m here.”
Falco’s shoulders slump and he nods, returning the knife to its home under the pillow. Then he holds out his hand to me. “Come here.”
31
FALCO
Aerin hesitates, clutching at the hem of her pajamas as she stares at me. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I nod quickly, eager for the one thing that will calm me down, consequences be damned. The moment she takes my hand, I’m grounded back in reality and not caught in a nightmare where my dreams tore between the death of my ex and the death of Pidge.
Aerin is safe.
She’s right here.
And now she’s in my arms.
I cuddle her tightly, drawing her as close to my body as she can get. When she’s nestled in, I kiss the top of her head. “Could you not sleep either?”
“I was worried about you,” she murmurs, her breath tickling my bare chest. “I needed to see you were okay.”
“I’m okay.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“What were you dreaming about?”
I gaze up into the darkness above me as the lingering tendrils of the dream worm around my mind. “Nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me. Please.” Aerin shifts against me and her head lifts just enough that her eyes glint with the small shimmer of light creeping in through the window. “After everything…surely you trust me?”
“I trust you.”
“Then what were you dreaming about?”
“Pidge. My ex. Soldiers from my unit. People I care about always end up dead and I’m never—” The words claw at my throat and I swallow hard. “I’m always too late.”
“Not with me,” Aerin says softly. “You’ve always saved me.”
“I have.”
“And you care about me.”
“I do.” More than she can ever know.
