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I took the quilt and spread it out. “Hmm, it’s small,” I said, even though it really wasn’t. “We’ll have to share, I guess,” I said with a mock frown, which had Aiden smiling. I scooted over until I was sitting next to him and then snuggled us both under the quilt. Aiden’s arm went around my shoulders and I tucked myself up against his side.
“You wouldn’t be trying to put the moves on me, would you, Ash Valentine?”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I responded. “Your virtue is safe with me, Aiden Vale.”
His laugh rumbled through his chest, soothing me. When his breathing evened out and his arm relaxed around me a few minutes later, I smiled to myself as I realized he’d fallen asleep.
I sent out a silent prayer to anyone who was listening that, for once, it would be a dreamless slumber.
“No! Danny, hang on, I’m coming!”
The scream ripped me from my sleep, and I crashed to my knees in my eagerness to get out of bed and get to Aiden. I slipped on the hardwood floor as I staggered to my feet.
“Danny!”
Aiden’s room was across the hall from mine, but it felt like it took a lifetime to reach him. He was thrashing around violently in his bed. His body was covered in sweat and his damp sheets were wrapped around his lower body. Most of his pillows had ended up on the floor, as had the duvet. Fear gripped me as I watched the nightmare play out. The ones he’d had back in the city had always ended quickly and had never been so all-consuming.
“Aiden,” I called as I crawled across the king-sized bed to get to him. He nearly hit me with his flailing arms, but I dodged them and put my hands on his face. He was moaning and tears were running down his face.
“Danny, no,” he whispered brokenly.
“Aiden, wake up!” I shouted.
“I’m sorry…”
“Dammit, Aiden, wake up,” I demanded. His pain was ripping me wide open, so I couldn’t even imagine what it was doing to him.
His body’s jerky movements slowed, then stopped, but he didn’t open his eyes. He just kept moaning, and the hot tears kept falling.
“Aiden, baby, look at me,” I murmured. “It’s Ash. You’re safe… please, I just need you to open those beautiful eyes of yours and look at me.”
His eyes fluttered briefly, then finally opened, and I breathed in a huge sigh of relief when they focused on me. He lurched to a sitting position, his hands coming out to catch mine as he tried to steady himself. Aiden drew in several deep breaths, then wiped at his face. His eyes fell to the shambles his bed was in.
“Fuck,” he whispered harshly. He looked at me and said, “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He immediately began checking my body.
“No,” I said as I pushed his hair off his face. “No, Aiden, you didn’t.”
“I’m sorry,” he said with a shake of his head. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Wake me?” I said with a disbelieving laugh. “Aiden, I don’t give a shit about you waking me. I’m worried about you. When was the last time you slept all the way through the night?”
His eyes fell away from mine and he waved off the question. “I’m fin—”
“Fine, I know,” I said tiredly. “So you’ve said.” I knew I was being unfair, but it stung that he didn’t trust me enough to tell me the truth.
Turnabout’s fair play, huh?
For once, the voice in my head wasn’t Billy’s.
And it wasn’t Aiden’s.
It was mine.
I was being a hypocrite. I was keeping Aiden at arm’s length because I was struggling with my own trust issues, but here I was, frustrated that Aiden was doing the same to me.
I settled my palm against Aiden’s damp cheek. His tears had finally stopped and his skin was cooling down. “Try to sleep, Aiden,” I said softly. I went to stand up, but he caught my wrist.
“Ash,” he whispered.
I settled back on the bed. Aiden’s eyes were once again downcast. It was unusual for him not to look at me.
“Will you please stay? Just… can I hold you for a little while?” he finally managed to get out.
My throat was too tight to respond, so I nodded and then moved to get beneath the sheet. Aiden reached down to snag one of the pillows off the floor for me, but I bypassed it and settled my head on his chest. His arms went around me. “This okay?” I asked, since I wasn’t sure if the position would be comfortable for him to sleep in.
“It’s perfect.”
Those were the only words he spoke. It wasn’t until Aiden drifted off a little while later that I finally took a deep breath and closed my own eyes.
I knew I was alone as soon as I woke up, which was an odd thing, considering how used to sleeping alone I’d gotten since Billy had stopped regularly spending the night once his career had taken off a couple of years before. To be so aware of the fact that Aiden wasn’t in bed with me was strange.
