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Each day she settled a little more into a new lifestyle where she had control of her choices. It was a marvel to see her finding herself in new ways, not to mention the hot-as-fuck text session we had a few days ago. It almost felt like a fever dream, neither one of us commenting on it in person.
Of course, Serenity still had a heavy dose of trauma lingering in so many facets of her life, but that healing process would take time. For now, I just felt lucky as fuck to be a part of the it.
She’d been my wife for over a month now, and no war had broken out between our families. While I was still working diligently with Dante to find a way out of this situation where we all won, things were quiet.
Charleston acted as my second home, and I spent almost as much time here as I did in Chicago. Now that the NFL season was over, I wanted Serenity to meet some of my friends on this side of the map.
“Your room is just over there,” I said, carrying our luggage through my house. I pointed at a closed door, a guest room that was directly across the hall from mine.
“You don’t have any staff here,” she said, her hand lingering on the knob of her bedroom door. It was already well past midnight, since we’d left Chicago after I’d put in a late night of work. I could see the exhaustion lining her eyes.
“The size doesn’t really merit a staff,” I explained. “And that’s one thing I love about this place. I bought it under a different name, so no one knows it’s mine. It’s just off the grid enough to not merit attention and gives me exactly what I need.”
“Space,” she said, and I nodded. “Time to get away from the business in Chicago.”
“Exactly. Now it’s that for you, too. None of that will touch us here. You should be able to fully relax.”
Serenity smiled. “How long will we be here?”
“A week,” I explained. “Unless you want to stay longer, then I’ll rearrange some things.”
“I’m fine,” she said, then followed the words with a sleepy yawn.
I smiled at her, pushing past her and into her room to set down her luggage. “Get some rest, angel,” I said.
She dug through her suitcase and hurried to the bathroom, quickly returning in one of those sinfully tempting pajama sets she loved to wear in front of me. But she didn’t try to tease me tonight, she just plopped right onto the bed. “I love your sheets,” she said, burying herself in the covers. Her eyes were already closed.
My heart expanded in my chest at the sight, at the way she was so comfortable around me, and I closed her door quietly before heading to my room. I understood her exhaustion. Marrying me had drastically shifted her daily schedule. The strict regiments forced on her by her father were gone, and that was a huge change to tackle. Suddenly having freedom where there’d been none before meant Serenity was still learning about balance. She stayed up late most nights simply because she could, but I could see the lack of sleep was weighing on her.
After unpacking, I triple-checked the security systems I’d installed when I bought the place. It might’ve been off the grid and under another name, but that didn’t make me naïve. If someone wanted to find me—like a begrudged father-in-law hell-bent on revenge—he could. The system was in place to give me an edge. I didn’t think he was that stupid though, because crossing onto private property gave me grounds to shoot him.
I thought about the guns I had hidden around the house and checked them too. I promised myself when I got out of the family business, I’d never use one again, but I would break that promise if it came down to protecting Serenity.
Once I was satisfied we were locked in and safe for the night, I finally made my way back to my room, only to stop outside my door.
“No,” a low whine came from Serenity’s room. “No! Please!”
I bolted through the door, already reaching for the gun I had stashed behind a mirror in her room, but stopped when I saw her thrashing on the bed. Relief barreled through me that she wasn’t under attack, not physically anyway.
“Serenity,” I said gently, sinking onto the bed and smoothing my hand over her face. Her brow creased like she was in pain. “Serenity,” I said a little firmer.
Her eyes snapped open, fear icing over her usual warm blue color. She bolted upright, her eyes darting around the room like she didn’t know where she was before she locked eyes with me. Tears immediately rolled down her cheeks and she threw her arms around my neck, clinging to me.
I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into my lap to hold her closer. “It was just a dream,” I said, trying to soothe her. She was trembling.
“A nightmare,” she said, sucking in a breath. “Bad things happen in my dreams at night. I’ve been trying to control them, trying to think about anything else while falling asleep, but I can’t. It’s always the same. He finds me. He hurts you. Hurts me. And I can’t…” Her voice trailed off, and she breathed deeply again, her face buried in my neck. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to bother you.”
I held her tighter, shifting an arm beneath her knees as I stood from the bed, cradling her against my chest.
“You never bother me,” I assured her, walking her across the hall and into my room, kicking the door shut behind me. “From now on,” I said, gently laying her in my bed. “You sleep with me. And whenever the nightmares come, I’ll wake you up. I’ll assure you that you’re safe.”
She sighed, eyes tracking mine as I walked around the bed, shedding my shirt and pants until I was just in my boxer-briefs. I moved the blankets back, and the two of us climbed under them, settling on our respective pillows.
She turned on her side to face me, and I did the same, smoothing some of her blonde hair off her cheek.
“Talk to me, please,” she said. “Anything. I just…I can’t go to sleep without a distraction. That nightmare was a bad one. You got shot…”
Fuck, the pain that shaped the lines of her face gutted me.
