She stands there like she’s not sure what to do next or even how she got here.
“What happened, baby?” I ask.
Her throat bobs with a hard swallow, lips part, then close, words trapped in a void.
“Come here.” I hold my hand out.
She moves, one foot after another, then climbs onto my lap, her arms wrapping around my neck. I grab onto her, snaking an arm around her waist, something monumental shifting inside my chest. The other hand wraps the back of her head as she nuzzles her wet face in the crook of my neck, breathing shakily.
“Shh, I’ve got you,” I whisper.
This is so much different than what we usually have.
She’s not here for sex... she’s here forcomfort.
I hate that she’s so distraught, but a sick, twisted part of me loves it too. She wouldn’t be here, wrapped in my arms while fully clothed, if her night didn’t turn to shit.
Her fingers flex against my neck, then dive under the neckline of my pullover, ghosting along my shoulders.
My eyes close on cue.
I tuck her further into me, my thumb drawing a small circle at the base of her skull, fingers tangling in her braided hair.
“Breathe, baby, just breathe. In...” I inhale her scent, filling my lungs to the brim. “And out.”
She follows my lead, her lips parting against my skin. It’s not a kiss, barely an inhale, but it undoes me all the same.
“Good girl, again. Slowly.”
She shudders, but this time I don’t think it’s the tears. She moves her fingers higher, weaving them into the hairs at the back of my head, my heart stuttering at the contact.
“Don’t stop,” I whisper, fisting the side of her robe to keep myself anchored.
I want to grab her face and kiss that sadness right out of her. I want her eyes on me, I want her attention, her touch, but I stay still. She needs me to hold her, not dismantle her defenses, and as hard as it is, as foreign as it feels, it’s fucking divine.
Shetrustsme. She might get along with Noah best, might talk to him most, might laugh with Dash, and scold Hyde, but it’smeshe ran to when things became too overwhelming.
She starts calming down, melting into me, softening under my touch. Her muscles no longer as hard as stone. She’s still not calm, plagued by whatever the fuck happened, but she’s no longer shaking. Untangling one hand from around my neck, she wipes her face.
“Sorry,” she whispers. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about, baby. You can come here anytime. Want to tell me what happened?”
“Just a bad dream...” She nuzzles back into me, her wet eyelashes dragging along my pulse point every time she blinks.
She doesn’t elaborate and I don’t push, holding her for another hour. It’s the first time we neither start nor finish our moment with sex, and when she leaves after sunrise, calmer, and smiling, I let myself hope it’s not the last.
35
Millie
“You scared the shit out of me,” Hyde says, bursting into my dorm. “Why are you asleep in the middle of the day?”
I sit up in bed, frowning at him, then at the clock. It’s lunchtime already. I should’ve set an alarm after Creed’s arms, scent, and heat eradicated every bad feeling brought on by the nightmare. By the time I left his room, my eyes were heavy, body mellow, and I crawled into my bed forjust five more minutes.
“I couldn’t sleep at night,” I tell Hyde, pleased that it’s true. “Nightmares.”
He takes a seat at the edge of my bed, his hair a mess as if he ran his hands through it multiple times. “Evan?”
