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“I’m here,” I whispered into the night. “You did everything right.”
“It’s been two years,” he rested his chin on top of my head, “two whole fucking years, and I still have nightmares about walking in on him beating the crap out of you.”
I let out a shaky breath. “I still have nightmares,” I admitted. “But I didn’t know you had them.”
“I know you have them,” he stated, which surprised me. He ran his fingers down my neck, causing me to shiver.
“You do?” I had thought I’d done a pretty good job of hiding my continual nightmares from him. Early on, after it happened, it had been impossible to keep them from him. But as time passed, I thought I had been sneaky enough that he didn’t know. I should of known though, that Trace being Trace, he knew everything.
“Yeah,” he sighed. “Sometimes, while you’re sleeping…you whimper and break out in a sweat and I know you’re dreaming about what he did to you. When you have those nightmares, no matter what I do, I can’t get you to wake up.”
I frowned, staring at the bonfire. “Why do you think that is?”
It had been a few weeks since I’d had the last nightmare, but they were always the same. Aaron was above me, his foot kicking into my side and his fists battering my face. Trace never came to save me in my nightmares and I couldn’t wake up until Aaron had delivered the fatal blow.
“I don’t know,” I felt him shrug, “I guess you’re in such a deep sleep that you can’t wake up.”
“We’re one messed up pair,” I mumbled.
He chuckled, playing with a piece of my hair. “We’re not messed up. We’re perfect for each other, Olivia. Absolutely perfect.”
/> “And why is that?” I asked, tilting my head back to smile up at him.
He kissed the end of my nose. “Because there’s perfection in everything.”
“I thought you told me perfection doesn’t exist,” I flattened the collar of his shirt as I remembered a conversation we’d had several years ago when we were crossing things off of my list.
“It doesn’t…not in the way people believe.”
“What do you mean?” I gazed at him quizzically.
He took a deep breath, gazing at the fire for a moment, before looking down at me. “There’s beauty in everything, Olivia. So why can’t there be perfection too?” His tongue flicked out, moistening his lips. “People spend too much time dwelling on the bad in a situation…when if they dug a little deeper they could find something good in it.”
“Does that mean you found something good in what happened to your dad? To me?” I asked. I wasn’t asking the question to be mean, I was curious.
His jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed but eventually he answered. “It took me a while, but yes.”
“And what was it you found?”
He tightened his arms around me. “If my dad hadn’t—died,” he choked, “I would’ve probably been at some party or doing something stupid, and I wouldn’t have been there to help you with your tire. Hell, I wouldn’t have even been a mechanic.” He brushed his nose against my hair. “I miss my dad every single day, but I know that if he hadn’t died I wouldn’t have you.” I was surprised that he was being so open with me. Trace wasn’t one to talk about his feelings, I knew that and I respected it, but it was nice to hear how much he cared. But I hated that he felt he had to lose his dad in order to gain me.
“And what good did you find in what Aaron did to me?”
“This is going to sound so cheesy,” a smile played on his lips as he looked to our right where there was a forest and Marcus’ kids were playing hide and seek.
“I promise not to mock you for your cheesiness,” I rested my head against his chest, looking up at the stars.
“Mhmm, sure,” he hummed.
“Tell me.”
“I knew I was in love with you before that day, I was just a pussy and wouldn’t tell you,” he chuckled. “But what Aaron did to you, made me fall even more in love with you, because after that I knew we could get through anything…together.”
“That is cheesy,” I giggled.
“Woman, you said you wouldn’t mock me,” he nibbled on my earlobe.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” My eyes fluttered closed as he trailed light kisses down my neck.
