Damian settles more into the mattress. I don’t move until he’s closed his eyes and his breathing starts to shallow.
I let out a breath of relief, then check my phone.
Rosalie is at our estate getting patched up, and things look clear for the time being. Eivor hasn’t showed up at the house bringing a storm with him.
I walk out of the bedroom to check the living room, looking out of the front windows as the sun is setting. There’s no one out there. I make sure the front door is locked, and head for the back door.
There’s no one back here either.
It seems we haven’t been followed. Even so, I still feel anxious. I can’t settle down. My heart is racing and I keep thinking about how close to death Damian might’ve been. I saw him in that chair. I saw the gun to his head. If he hadn’t gotten out when he did, I might be preparing for his funeral right about now.
I swallow hard and walk into the bathroom.
I need something. A drink won’t do. I need something stronger to ease the anxiety creeping up my spine and making my stomach churn.
Even as I rummage the medicine cabinet, I think about the gunfire that had been flying everywhere. How both of us managed not to get shot, I’m not sure. Rosalie wasn’t so lucky, but it could have been worse.
I pull out several pill bottles, toss them to the side and look at the last one. Painkillers. Strong ones.
I open the bottle, pour a few in my hand and pop them into my mouth. After putting them back into the cabinet, I turn the sink on and scoop water into my mouth until I have enough to swallow them down.
Just knowing I’ve taken them is enough to ease some of the turmoil. I know I shouldn’t have…even if I’m bruised and battered, the amount I took was more than enough to ease my pain. Enough to send my head into a dizzy state of bliss after ten or fifteen minutes. I hope for this. It isn’t just something I know will happen, but something I desire.
I ignore the voice in my head that tells me I have a problem.
I finally let myself start to relax and head back to the bedroom. I peel off my clothing all the way down to my boxers and climb into bed. There’s not much room beside Damian but it doesn’t matter. I scoot in close to him with my bruised body and wrap an arm over the top of him.
He’s already out cold.
I watch his chest rise and fall with his breath, and the way his face smooths out when he’s asleep. It’s the most relaxed I’ve ever seen him.
I want to continue watching him to make sure nothing happens while he’s asleep, but I find myself growing heavier and heavier. I tuck my chin against his right shoulder where he’s not wounded too badly, and close my eyes. My dreams effected by the medication I swallowed down. Colorful and wild. Faces of the people I’ve loved and lost surround me in spinning circles. I’m not completely asleep, just hanging onto the very edge ofconsciousness. My body and eyelids are so heavy that I can’t move.
Still, I somehow can see myself from above. The two of us lying in bed next to each other. The sunlight peaking in looks like streaks of glittering gold. It turns into waves that crash down onto the beach my mind has created, and suddenly the bed is not a bed, but the sand… In my mind we lay in the warm sand of a South American beach and the sun burns our skin slowly as each second goes by.
Everything is hazy, yet I know exactly what’s going on at the same time. My hands lift, whether for real or not I’m not sure, and they bathe themselves in the golden heat, twisting and turning until they completely leave me. My hands crawl along the beach away from me, and everything starts to go dark.
I slip into a deeper sleep, one that I can’t remember without a fuzzy sheep’s wool coming over me and taking everything away.
I’m awakened by the feeling of warm soft lips on my bare shoulder. At first it’s hard to process, I’m too sleepy, but then I realize it’s Damian kissing my shoulder. I’m lying on my back now, and he’s trailing his mouth from my shoulder up my neck.
When my eyes flutter open, the room is completely dark save for the moonlight shining in through cracks in the blinds. I remember my dreams briefly, but the haziness of those abstract thoughts fades away as I wake up.
I still feel the fuzziness in my head, but it’s light and airy, instead of heavy and almost suffocating. Just enough of the effect of the drugs in my system to make me wonder what my dreams could have possibly meant.
My attention is caught by Damian as he kisses my jawline and I’m very quickly filled with heat that travels down my stomach into my groin.
“Mm, you’re here,” he whispers against my skin. His facial hair brushes against that sensitive spot along my jawline to my ear and I shiver.
I slowly turn my body toward him on the bed and drape an arm around his broad side. “I’m here,” I murmur in return.
“I was afraid when I woke up…it’d have been a dream,” Damian admits.
I brush my fingers along his naked back slowly. Everything about this moment is warm and tender. The way his lips press to my cheek, and the way his hand slowly places against my stomach.
“Not a dream,” I confirm. “I would never leave you here alone.”
Especially not after what had just happened to him. I can’t imagine leaving him alone ever again. Not unless I absolutely have to.
