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“Last night, I was woken up by a sound, like something going thunk. I thought I was dreaming, but I heard it a couple of times, so I got up to see what it was …”
He glared down at her. “You got up to see what it was?” Nick repeated incredulously. “You thought someone was inside your home in the middle of the night and you went to check it out yourself rather than call the cops? Have you never seen a horror movie?”
“Sometimes my neighbor’s cat gets in here. She knocks things over, I thought that was all it was,” Aggie defended herself. “But then I thought I heard someone closing the front door, and when I came in here, I saw a light shining under the door. I went to look and someone was running down the stairs.”
She could feel anger vibrating through him but his voice was calm and controlled when he spoke. “You're not hurt?”
“No,” she said in a small voice.
“Did you file a police report?”
“No. You're mad at me,” she said sadly. She didn’t want Nick to be disappointed in her.
“No, I'm not.” Beneath her, he relaxed a hair. “I'm angry someone broke in here while you were home alone and asleep in bed. And I'm trying to figure out why you didn’t call the cops. Or me,” he added.
Both her shakes and her tears started up again. “Because I was scared. If I called someone then it was real. And I didn’t want it to be real. I wanted to believe it was just the cat.”
Guiding her head back down to rest on his broad shoulders, he touched his lips to her forehead. “Shh,” he soothed. “It’s okay, you're safe,” he murmured against her hair.
Aggie clung to him. “I'm sorry,” she stuttered through her sobs. “I'm sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“Shh,” he kissed the top of her head, “don’t worry about that now.”
She wept for a long time while Nick just held her, his presence comforting her more than he could ever know. All her pent-up emotions from the assault, which she had been keeping back through sheer force of will, came tumbling out in those tears.
At last Nick stood with her. “You're exhausted, you need sleep.” He began walking with her toward her bedroom.
“Nick, can you stay the night? Just to sleep I mean. I'm scared,” she whimpered, embarrassed to ask but too tired not to.
“It’s okay to be scared, Aggie.” He balanced her with one arm as he turned down her covers then set her down on the bed. “Pajamas?”
“There’s a nightgown on the back of the bathroom door.” She raised a hand and pointed in the vague direction of her ensuite.
Nick retrieved the pink satin nightgown, then helped her take off her dress and change into her nightie. She was glad that his gaze didn’t dwell on her bare breasts. She was way too tired to weigh the pros and cons of sleeping with Nick this early on in their relationship. But Nick was the perfect gentleman that she’d known he would be.
Lying her down, he disappeared into her bathroom again, reappearing a minute later with a bottle of pills and a glass of water. “Your arm’s bothering you,” he said as he tipped a small white pill into her hand and held the glass to her lips so she could swallow the painkiller.
She wondered how he’d known that she was in pain. Sometimes he seemed to be able to read her mind. Removing his navy shirt, brown chinos, and shoes, leaving him in only a pair of blue boxers, he lay down beside her. He pulled the blankets up to cover them both, then tugged her into his arms. He was on his side and gently flipped her over so he could spoon her against him, her back to his front.
With his arm locked around her waist, his warm breath whooshing on the back of her neck, and the feel of his hard body curled around her, Aggie finally felt safe. Safe enough to let go of all her fears and anxieties and drift off to sleep.
August22nd
2:39 A.M.
Aggie knew that she was dreaming, but she couldn’t make herself wake up.
She was back in the parking lot, walking to her car, only her car kept getting further and further away. She knew he was watching her. She could feel his eyes on her. The anticipation of knowing that he was coming for her was killing her. She wanted to stop walking, to go running back the way she’d come and get help. But she didn’t. She kept walking.
Then he was there.
He was twice her size and seemed to be growing. He grabbed her around the neck, lifting her feet off the ground, then tossed her away like she was nothing.
Her body slammed into the ground and she skidded along, scraping layers of skin off in the process. She tried to crawl away. She got nowhere. He was on her, pinning her to the ground, grinding his erection into her stomach.
She screamed as loud as she could and thrashed as hard as she could.
His hands gripped her shoulders, shaking her.
