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He followed me wordlessly back to my room. Once we were inside with the door closed things started to feel a little awkward, but I pushed through, knowing he needed to sleep, and so did I. I pulled off the sweater I was wearing, then sat on the edge of the bed to toe off my slippers. I looked to Nick, who was just watching me, seeming unsure.
“Come on,” I urged as I pulled back the comforter and climbed into the bed. “I’m not gonna bite. Just lie down with me.”
He pulled his wallet and cell from his jean’s pockets, placing them down on the nightstand, then he lay on top of the comforter beside me, leaving enough of a gap that we weren’t touching.
“This is weird,” he announced after a few moments of silence.
“I know,” I agreed. “But I feel better knowing you’re here with me.”
“Strangely, I do too,” he agreed. I turned onto my side to face him, and he did the same. I was attracted to him. Who wouldn’t be? He was spectacular to look at and he was a good, strong, brave man who had been through Hell and found his way back out again. But that wasn’t what I was feeling or thinking as we lay there looking at each other. All I was thinking was that I wasn’t alone. Not physically and not emotionally either. He knew what I felt. I saw it in his eyes. He knew my pain because he lived it every day. We were two broken people giving each other the solace of not being alone in that moment.
He reached across and took my hand in his, squeezing it tightly for a moment before he loosened his hold but didn’t let go.
“Goodnight Evie,” he whispered.
“Night, Nick.” I closed my eyes and within minutes I was asleep. I just hoped he was too.
CHAPTER 15
NICK
“Morning,” I greeted as I walked into the kitchen the next morning.
“Did you sleep in your room?” Aleks asked with suspicion. He was making coffee. He couldn’t function in the morning without at least three cups.
“I slept in Evie’s room,” I replied honestly.
“What?” Kailan asked as he looked up at me from where he sat at the counter eating cereal.
“What the fuck?” Harris growled. He was also sat at the table, glaring at his laptop, until that glare turned on me. “What did you do? If you hurt her…”
“Fuck you! I would never hurt her and you fucking know it!” I snapped.
“Easy brother. Of course he knows that,” Aleks agreed with me as he moved to my side and held my arm, likely worried I would go for Harris. Who could blame him? I had been volatile, to say the least, for the last year. I drank way too much and I knew it, but it was the only way I knew to deal with all of my fucked up parts. But that morning I was calmer. I had slept for almost five hours, solidly with no nightmares. It had been a very long time since that happened.
I had been afraid to let myself sleep at first. My nightmares had been violent in the past and I was terrified I would hurt Evie if I slept beside her. Instead I had just laid there, clutching her hand, and watching her slip into peace as she slept. She had been so beautiful, laid on her side with her other hand tucked under her cheek, her face relaxed and free of all of the pain and fear I had seen etched on it since I met her.
Eventually my eyes had become heavy and I couldn’t fight the battle to stay awake any longer. I dropped off and slept better than I had in years. When I had woken we had still been facing each other, our hands joined. Again I had just watched her for as long as I dare, before slipping out of the room and back to my own.
Now, having showered and dressed for work, I felt more revitalized than I had in so long. Evie had done that for me.
“Evie woke up in the middle of the night and came down here. She asked me to come and stay with her. She didn’t feel safe sleeping alone. I…I actually fucking slept too with her there,” I admitted.
“Is she okay now?” Harris asked as he looked towards the stairs.
“She’s still sleeping. I don’t think she had any nightmares while I was with her,” I shrugged.
“Sorry Nick. I shouldn’t have said that. I just feel so protective after everything she’s been through,” Harris sighed.
“We all feel protective, man. It’s all good.” I moved over to pour myself coffee, handing Aleks the cup he had already poured.
“I told her everything last night. She asked me what had happened to us,” I explained as I leant back against the counter and sipped the too hot coffee.
“How did she take it?” Kailan asked.
“She was upset, but I think it helped her too. She knows that we get what she’s going through now, or some of it, at least. She said she wants to sit down with us all this morning and tell us what she knows.”
“We can’t push her,” Harris warned.
