I frown, not liking his tone. “Yes, I let him, he was very nice. I sat with him on the train, and after talking for a few hours, he offered me a job and a place to stay.”
“Seriously? After everything you went through, you just went off with a stranger.”
I push myself up and glare at him. “You’ve met Jake. He’s fine.”
“I know I’ve met him. But you didn’t know him; anything could have happened, for fuck’s sake.”
“But it didn’t. I moved in with him, where he was living with his brother and nephews. Other than Noah, Jake’s all I’ve got, so don’t judge things you don’t understand. You gave up the right to worry about me when you left,” I snap.
He opens his mouth to argue, but quickly shuts it again, jaw ticking. We fall into silence, a little more awkward than before. I don’t lean against him again, and he doesn’t reach for me. My eyes are on the cartoon, but I’m not taking anything in.
“I should go to bed,” I mutter, getting up from the sofa. As I walk past Teddy, he grabs my trouser leg.
“Can you sleep down here again? I don’t want you out of my sight, not after last night.”
I look at my fingertip, remembering what I’d done—what I’d considered doing if I’d managed to make him leave. I slap his hand away. “I’m not sleeping on the sofa when I have a perfectly comfortable bed upstairs. I’ll get you some blankets, or you cansleep in Noah’s bed. He barely uses it anyway, so the sheets are clean.”
He stands up, following me up the stairs, into my bedroom. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“What do you mean? You—you can’t sleep in my bed.” I say, staring at him, bewildered.
He nods. “We’ve shared before.”
“I know that, but we weretogether.”
He just stares back at me, breathing louder, chest rising and falling quickly. Looking like he’s a second away from a panic attack if he’s forced to sleep in a different room.
“Fine,” I mutter.
We strip off our clothes quickly. Teddy gets under the covers before me, and I flick the light off, joining him. We lay still like bookends on the edges of the bed.
“This is weird,” Teddy says in the dark.
“Yep.”
He shuffles closer to me and reaches out until he finds my hand, then threads his fingers through mine, holding them between us.
“Night, Bay.”
I let out a soft breath. “Night, Teddy.”
BAILEY
“I toldyou that you’d hurt him. You’re sick, Bailey. Look what you’ve done; he’s lying there tied up and the fire’s coming. Why would you do that to him when you said you loved him? Maybe you’re incapable of love … he’s going to die, and it’s all your fault.”Hands curl around my wrists, holding me down.“Are you ready for your punishment, little mouse?”
There’s a yell in the distance, drawing my attention away from Shane. Two warm hands wrap around my body, pulling me against a solid chest. I almost break the surface of consciousness. Heart racing, I try to shake whoever it is off, dragging myself to the edge of the bed.
Shane lied to you.
No, he didn't. He tried to make me better.
He tried to control you by fucking with your head.
He—he was trying to fix me.
You never needed fixing.
“Bailey, wake up!”
