Rhys avoids everyone as much as he can. Every time he’s near Ollie, he looks pained and ashamed but no matter how many glares or pointed glances Theo sends him, he doesn’t hang around for long. And the prick still hasn’t apologised.
Ollie acts like she isn’t fazed but I can see the way her face falls whenever he walks away. It makes me murderous. If he doesn’t get his ass into gear soon and say he’s sorry, I’m going to beat it out of him. Theo’s convinced he’ll come around but I have doubts. The man is as stubborn as they come.
When we finally leave the barn, the going is hard and slow, the mud so thick that clings to your shoes and drags you down. By the time wereach our destination for the night—a surprisingly big farmhouse in the middle of nowhere—everyone is wet, dirty and too exhausted to move, let alone gossip.
Thankfully, setting up camp in the house is easy enough, and after using a temporary shower that we placed in the bathroom, I fall into bed with Ollie next to me and Theo on her other side. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m out like a light.
But I’m not asleep for long when a distressed whimper in the dark jerks me from my sleep. My eyes fly open and I roll over to the source of the sound.
Moonlight spills from the dirty window above us, illuminating Ollie as she lies beside me. Her sleeping bag is twisted around her trembling body as she curls up into a tight ball. Sweat beads on her furrowed brow, causing strands of her chestnut hair to stick to her face. Her emerald eyes are open but unseeing, clouded by whatever nightmarish memory she’s stuck in. Harlow sits on the end of her sleeping bag and whines as she stares down at her distressed owner.
On Ollie’s other side, Theo sits up and gazes down at her with a deep frown. “Ollie? Baby?” His whispered voice is almost too loud in the quiet stillness of the dark room.
This is the fourth night in a row that Theo and I have slept on either side of her, and the first she’s woken us up with whateverthisis.
A shudder rushes through her body, and something that sounds like a choked sob catches in her throat. A single tear trickles from her eye and down her cheek, but she doesn’t answer him. Doesn’t even acknowledge that he spoke.
Oh Fuck.
The sight is a stab to the chest. A need to hold and comfort her overwhelms me, but Theo beats me to it.
He bundles her up and cradles her against his chest. “Baby, I need you to come back to us,” he murmurs against her temple as he rocks her back and forth. “Whatever you’re experiencing, it’s not real. It’s just a memory.”
She looks so small and fragile in his arms. Nothing like the larger-than-life woman who isn’t afraid to stand up to Rhys or put her life on the line to save others. I hate it.
I shove myself out of my sleeping bag, ignoring the bite of cold air against my skin, and press myself against her other side. She’s still trembling, and her breaths are coming out in short, pained puffs. I push tendrils of her hair from her face, not daring to examine how right it feels to have her pressed up between Theo and me. I simply follow his lead.
“Come on, sweetheart. Let go of the memory.” I push my hand beneath her clothes and stroke the soft bare skin of her back. I’ve seen her lost to her dark memories before, and it’s still as harrowing as it was that first time. Although it’s never been as bad as this. “Come back to me and Theo.”
She shudders again. Only this time it’s accompanied by a deep, quivering breath. And then another one. And another. Until her breathing evens out and her body relaxes.
Relief rushes through me.Thank fuck. I sit back on my heels as Ollie blinks a few times and the panicked fog dissipates from her emerald eyes. Upon seeing her owner lucid, Harlow shoves between me and Theo and presses herself against Ollie while whining.
“Welcome back, baby,” Theo murmurs as he presses a kiss to her forehead. “That was a bad one, huh?”
She swallows hard and nods. “Yeah, it’s been building for a while.” Her fingers thread through Harlow’s fur as she hugs the dog against her side.
“You want to talk about it?” Theo asks.
Ollie shakes her head. “No, not right now. It’s still too raw.” She shifts in his arms, then blinks and glances around as if she’s only just realised where she is. “Oh, shit. I didn’t mean you wake you guys up.” She grimaces and tries to move out of Theo’s lap, but his hold tightens around her. She scowls at him. “You can let go of me now.”
“Sure, I can. Doesn’t mean I want to.”
“No need to apologise, sweetheart,” I tell her, drawing her attention to me as my hand strokes down her spine. “You weren’t loud or anything.”
Her body shivers beneath my touch, and I can’t help the thrill of desire and excitement that I’m able to get that reaction from her, even while she’s in Theo’s arms. While I’m still not completely sold on sharing her, it reassures my bruised, jealous ego a little.
And makes me wonder what other reactions I can draw out of her…
Bloody hell. Keep it in your trousers, idiot. The last thing she needs is for you to be a horny fucker after she just suffered through a waking nightmare.
Theo meets my gaze over Ollie’s head, and even in the moonlight, I can see the devilish twinkle in his eyes and the slight smirk on his lips. Is he thinking the same thing I am?
“Would you like some help falling asleep, princess?” he asks, his voice lowering to a purr as he places his fingers beneath Ollie’s chin and tips her face up towards him. “Just like last time?”
There’s a sharp intake of breath as Ollie’s eyes widen and flick between me and him. “I…” She licks her lips, drawing my gaze to her pink tongue and perfect lips.
Memories of how those lips felt against mine and how sweet she tasted flit through my mind.Fuck. I want to kiss her again. Feel her gorgeous body writhe against mine and drink her moans and whimpers. I want to know if she tastes as sweet everywhere else. But most of all, I want to give her pleasure and erase the horrors she’s just had to endure. My cock thickens in my trousers.
