Forcing herself to her feet, she soaked a washcloth in cold water and pressed it to her face. It helped a little, shocking her into focus.
Then she took a deep breath and crept back through the bedroom. Grant was facing her side of the bed, his arm flung across her empty place as if he’d reached for her in his sleep. She loved him so much her heart ached with it, and she watched him for a few minutes, trying to settle her mind.
“Grant.” He didn’t even stir, so she crawled onto the mattress and squeezed his hand. “Grant?”
He mumbled something and tried to roll onto his back, but she had his hand. When she didn’t let go, he opened his eyes and blinked a few times at her. “Wren? What’s wrong?”
“I’m scared.”
He sat up, frowning. “Did something happen?”
“No.” The tears started again, and it took her a few seconds to get any words out past the lump in her throat. “I’m just really, really scared.”
Wren expected him to tell her everything would be okay, pull her down to her pillow and tell her to go back to sleep. Instead he got out of bed and yanked on the sleep pants he hadn’t bothered putting on earlier. After turning on the bedroom light, which made them both blink, he started to pick her up. But a small sound escaped his lips and he took her hand instead, leading her into the living room.
He hit the light switch as they went through the doorway, flooding his apartment in light. And then after settling her on the couch with the throw blanket around her shoulders, he went and turned on the kitchen lighting and got her a glass of water.
Her Grant, she thought, chasing the shadows away.
After she swallowed some of the water, he set the glass on the coffee table and sat next to her, taking her hand in his. “Talk to me, honey.”
“I just... I’m just scared for everybody. Scared for you.” He knew what she was afraid of, so she tried instead to explain why she was having a meltdown in the middle of the night. “I had a horrible nightmare and then I woke up and he was in my head and I started thinking about all the people he can use to get to me.”
“I can keep you safe. We can keep Patty and everybody else safe, too. The police are looking for him. Hell, the fire department’s looking for him. His picture’s been circulated everywhere.” He squeezed her hand. “You saw yesterday how we all take care of each other when somebody needs help. Just keep trusting us.”
“But what if he actually hurts somebody in your life. How are you all going to look at me if he hurts Patty? Or Cait? Or any of them.” Her heart ached just thinking about it. “If he puts one of you or your family in the hospital, do you think that’s not going to change everything?”
“That’s not how you do family, Wren. Your brother’s an asshole, plain and simple, but the people—the family—you have in your life now won’t turn away from you.”
“No. He’s not an asshole, though. Alex warned me over and over again that Ben was no good and I didn’t listen. He tried to help me and I rejected it and he kept trying to help me. And he almost got killed for it. Alex almost died, Grant. Because of me. Because I was stupid and trusted the wrong man.”
“The only person responsible for Alex being assaulted is Ben. It’s not your fault.” He blew out a breath and ran a hand over his hair. “Yeah, Alex had the right to be pissed. He could even tell you he told you so. But even if he did blame you, he should have worked through it because you’re his sister and cutting you out of his life is the one thing he can’t do.”
“Not everybody has a family like yours. And not everybody has this...brotherhood that you have, where everybody’s family and has each other’s backs no matter what.”
“You have it. You have me. You have this family. We have your back no matter what and we’re all here and ready to prove it to you if that’s what you need. You’re not alone.”
“Maybe I don’t know how to do this,” she said in a small, quiet voice.
“Do what?”
“This. I don’t know to be in a relationship with you. How to believe that no matter what, you’re going to still love me at the end of every day.”
“Where is this even coming from? I told you I love you.”
“I’ve had five men in my life tell me they loved me. My father loved us but he and my mother weren’t good together, so he took off and left all of us. Then there was a stepfather who loved us for a few years before he decided he loved his secretary more than he loved my mother. Ben told me he loved me. And Alex. Alex loved me until the day he told me he didn’t want me in his life anymore because of what Ben did. And then you told me you loved me.”
“I’m not them. And the only way you’re going to believe that, no matter what, I’m still going to love you at the end of every day is to let me be here at the end of every day. To let me wake up next to you every morning.”
“I won’t want to wake up to the look on your face if he comes after you again and really hurts you.”
“If he comes after me again, I’ll be ready. And relieved since showing his hand will get him nothing but a beating and a long time behind bars.” He pushed back the strands of hair sticking to her wet cheeks, tucking them behind her ear. “We’re okay, Wren. Do you believe I love you?”
“Yes,” she whispered, because she did. If she dug down beyond her fear, she knew this man loved her with every fiber of his being.
“And I know you love me. So we’re going to believe in each other and we’re going to get through this together, and everything else life decides to throw our way. Together.”
“Together.” She squeezed his hand and nodded.
