I didn’t think, just pulled her into me, wrapping her tight, letting her bury her face against my shoulder. Her fingers clutched at me like I was the only solid thing left, and I held on, murmuring nothing words, rubbing her back until the sobs eased. I’d never had this before. Never had anyone trust me enough to fall apart in my arms.
I felt her ragged breaths begin to ebb, she was limp against me and completely wrung out. I stood carefully, guided her to the bed and tucked her under the cool, white covers like she was something fragile I had to protect with my whole damn life.
I brushed a hand over her hair that was softer than I’d ever imagined. I lingered slightly, trying to soothe away the chaos of the night with just my touch. “Sleep, Sheehan,” I whispered, planting a delicate kiss she would never have noticed on her head. “You’re safe.”
I grabbed a pillow from beside her and stretched out on the small, velvet patterned sofa, staring at the ceiling with my heart firmly lodged in my throat.
Turns out tomorrow I’d wake up with a tight hamstringanda sore neck, but I didn’t care. I’d have slept on hardwood, onconcrete, out on the carpet in the fucking hallway. It didn’t matter.
I stared at her for a while as she slept ,watching her breathe, finally at peace. I doubted she’d remember half of it tomorrow, and a part of me felt a sharp, hollow pang at that. But accident or not, I was glad I was the one she came to.
I closed my eyes and sank my head back into the cool, hard hotel pillow, adjusting it to try and seek some semblance of comfort. I finally exhaled. She was safe and she was here. With me.
Chapter 27
Orla
I wokewith a pounding in my skull and the distinct, stone-cold sense that I was not in my own bed.
My eyes cracked open to soft morning light filtering through unfamiliar curtains, the brightness slicing straight into my brain like a hot poker. The room was wrong. The bed was on the opposite wall, the mattress too firm, and the air smelled faintly of something warm, clean, and dangerously familiar.
Shit.
I sat up slowly, every motion sending a fresh pulse of agony behind my eyes. My mouth was dry as sandpaper; my tongue felt like a foreign object that no longer fit inside my jaw. The room swam for a dizzying second before it steadied into a reality I wasn't prepared for.
Definitely not my room.
There was a neatly folded T-shirt draped over the chair in the corner—heavy cotton, obviously a man’s. A pair of trainers I recognized sat by the wall. And the smell... it was unmistakable. Woodsmoke, laundry powder, and Tyler fucking Reed.
My stomach twisted into a solid knot of dread.Oh God.
The bed beside me was empty but the sheets remained perfectly tucked like it hadn’t been slept in. On the nightstand next to me sat some sort of survival kit that included a bottle of water and a packet of ibuprofen. My phone was nowhere in sight.
Panic fluttered through me as I shoved back the covers, patting the mattress furiously and uselessly.Please, please, please…where the fuck…
There. Half-buried under the duvet.
I snatched it up, squinting at the screen with one eye. One text lit up the screen waiting for me. I swiped my thumb across the screen, my stomach lodged somewhere near my throat.
Tyler:
In case last night is all a blur You’re in my bed. Meds on the nightstand. Drink the water. No, we didn’t fuck. I slept on the sofa.
Already asked Cara to cover you for my match today.
My stomach dropped again, but for an entirely different reason. Shit. He knew. He’d known exactly how I’d spiral, exactly which dark corners my mind would rush to the moment I opened my eyes. He’d had the foresight to lay out the facts before the shame-mode could fully settle in.
I fell back against the pillows, letting out a long, ragged exhale.
Fragments of the previous night began to flicker like a broken film reel. My knees giving way by the door; Tyler’s large, powerful hands catching me; the humiliating slur in my voice as I told him he was prettier than my ex.
And then…oh, fuck.
The crying. So much crying. And the bloody confession. Me spilling my guts about the breakup and the baby scan.Oh God, oh God, oh God.
The embarrassment was almost too much to bear. I was cringing so hard my bones hurt. Heat climbed up my throat, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t just the alcohol.
I dragged a pillow over my face wanting to vanish into the mattress.
