Page 57 of Thaddeus

“Fuck off,” I mumbled.

“Yeah, I know, it sucks when I’m right. Sucks even more you’re holding onto pride. And there’s something I know about you, Thad, you let your ego get in your way.”

“What the fuck?” I growled.

“Not in the field. You have your shit wired tight there. And not with the team—you don’t ever put yourself in front of us, or think you’re better. But when it comes to your personal life—ego and pride. And, brother, it’s gonna be your downfall if you don’t check that shit.”

I didn’t have the first clue what the hell Max was talking about. However, before I could get in his face about it, a loud screech came from upstairs and I was on my feet and sprinting up the steps.

I hit the top floor and heard another scream, this time accompanied by a shrill, stop her. Declan, Brooks, and Kyle were all out of their rooms and in the hall. I felt Max come up behind me as I opened Emerson’s door.

She was twisting and turning on top of the bedsheets, wildly kicking her feet.

Fuck.

Before I could think better of it, I was at her bedside. Both hands went to her shoulders and I tried to shake her awake.

“Emerson.”

“Please,” she wailed and her legs thrashed.

“Emmy, baby, wake up,” I snapped and shook her harder.

Her green eyes popped open but they were glossy with sleep and still in the throes of her nightmare.

“Emerson! Wake. Up.” I jarred her one more time and she blinked.

“Why didn’t someone save her?” she said the moment she was free of her dream.

Yeah, we weren’t doing this in front of an audience and we were not doing it in a tiny twin-sized bed. I scooped her up, and once I had her in my arms, I turned to leave. Brooks and Declan backed out of my way and Max was already at my bedroom door by the time I made it there.

He opened the door, flipped on the light, and gently closed it behind us once I cleared the threshold. Without a thought of personal anguish or what the contact was going to do to me, I put a knee on the bed and heaved us both on.

Once I had us both situated and Emerson was tucked close to my side, I finally asked, “You awake now?”

“Yeah.”

“You wanna talk about your nightmare?”

Her hand resting on my chest fisted my shirt and she answered, “Not much to talk about. We were back in that house and Declan’s throat had just been cut.”

“And you saw Autumn,” I finished for her.

“Yeah,” she whispered.

“You wanna talk about that?”

“She looked… she looked…”

“I know, agápi mou.”

“She looked worse than that when we found her. She didn’t speak for almost a year. She was just locked in her own head.”

Jesus Christ.

“And when she did finally talk, the most vile things would come out of her mouth, and I wished she would go back to being silent. Isn’t that fucked up?”

“The situation was fucked, but you feeling the way you did wasn’t.”