“Yup.” He cracked a grin. “I was hoping that the self-defense lessons were helpful. Hadn’t realized you’d also taken up boxing.”
She groaned and rubbed her head. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. Honestly, I’m impressed. You managed to put a lot of strength behind that even while you were asleep.”
She let out a guilty chuckle as she pushed herself to a seated position. Her breathing had eased, but there was still a wildness to her eyes. They darted between the shadows, as if she kept expecting someone to emerge from them at any moment. Her features were drawn. Her hands were fists pressing into the mattress. She swallowed.
He sobered, his hand falling down to rest next to hers, but not touching. “What was the dream about?”
Pink flushed across her cheeks, and she glanced away. “It was nothing,” she murmured. “Just a nightmare.”
Whatever had just happened, it was not “just a nightmare.” You didn’t have to be a genius to figure that out. His hand rested on her shoulder. She flinched for a moment, then relaxed. Her gaze slid from the hand resting on her to look up at Cillian.
“You can talk to me, you know,” he said.
Embarrassment flickered across her face, and she glanced away. He could see her trying to repair the walls that shehad built around herself, the barriers that she pretended weren’t there in the first place.
“It was nothing,” she finally murmured. “Really. Just a bad dream.”
He shot her an exasperated look. “Amber. You were screaming. I know you don’t like to talk about your problems, and you try to pretend that everything’s fine, but I have eyes and ears. This wasn’t just a normal nightmare, was it?”
She swallowed, hesitating. Worrying her lower lip between her teeth, she took a moment. Cillian watched, and he could see the war in her eyes, as if she was debating just how much to tell him, how vulnerable she could let herself be. He waited, wondering what she would decide. He wasn’t going to push her, but he wanted to tear down her walls, to make her comfortable enough to tell him.
Eventually, she sighed, running her fingers through her mussed hair.
“I’ve been having nightmares about Eric for a while,” she finally admitted. “They weren’t that bad at first, and I figured they would go away on their own. Except they seem to be getting worse.”
“What are the nightmares about, exactly?” he asked, trying to keep his voice even, to hide the anger beginning to crawl through him.
She shrugged, fidgeting. When she spoke, she played with the comforter.
“I’m trapped with him again,” she said. “Sometimes I’m running down a hall, and he’s chasing after me, only the hall keeps getting longer and longer. Other times, he’s yelling at meabout something I messed up. I try to walk out of the house, but there aren’t any doors. That sort of thing.”
At first, he didn’t know how to respond. His mind flicked back to earlier, when she had dropped the flour. He remembered how terrified she had acted. He hadn’t been able to figure out what had happened then.
Now…
He tried to keep his expression even, but he could feel his blood beginning to boil. Red began to tint the edges of his vision.
“He was a horrible person,” Amber said, her voice shifting to nearly a snarl. “He made my life a living hell. Even now, he’s still fucking with my head. I just want to be able to walk away and never think about him again.”
Her voice cracked. Amber took a breath, her fingers knotting into fists around the fabric in front of her.
“I’m sorry,” Cillian said, managing to keep his voice soft and gentle. If Amber hadn’t needed him right then, he would have stormed out of the house and gone after Eric right then and there. He wanted to find the bastard and tear him to shreds after everything he had done to her. But he forced himself to stay. He could go after the fucker later.
“He’s not here, though,” he said after another moment. “And I promise you that he’s never going to get you here. We have alarms throughout the house, and I’m here. I’d like to see him try to get near you while you’re here. I’ll tear him to shreds before he gets anywhere near you.”
She nodded, shifting closer to him. He wasn’t sure if she even realized she was doing it. Her shoulder pressed against him, and her head leaned against his shoulder.
“Thanks.” She bit her lip, hesitating, though Cillian could sense some question pressing at her lips. He waited to see what it was, whether she would ask something. He remained silent, waiting for her to speak.
“Could you stay with me for a bit?” she finally asked, embarrassed. “I don’t really want to be alone.”
“Of course,” he said.
He shuffled further onto the bed until he was sitting next to her. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. For a brief moment, she stiffened, but then her body relaxed, and she nestled into the crook of his arm. Her eyes fluttered shut. It took almost no time at all for her breath to even out, and she fell asleep.
Cillian stayed motionless, not wanting to move or disturb her. He stroked the side of her arm, feeling her chest rise and fall against him. Her slow, even breath tickled the hairs of his arm.
