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I let the calm I only felt when I watched him sleep wash over me. I wasn’t sure how long I stood there before the rumble of my stomach reminded me that I hadn’t eaten anything of substance most of the day.
I slowly closed the door to a crack and headed for the kitchen. The oven was set to warm, and when I pulled the door open, the smells that greeted me made my stomach force out a painfully loud growl.
Whatever she’d made smelled like heaven, and I was willing to bet that had I been there when it first came out of the oven, it would have been even better.
I placed the plate on the island and inspected the contents. The chicken breast had just the right amount of breading and was fried to a perfect golden brown. The buttery greens smelledlike garlic and spices, and the roasted potatoes were so tender they melted in my mouth after exploding with flavor.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten anything so damn delicious. I wasn’t much of a fan of greens of any kind, but I would have gladly eaten Deva’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I closed my eyes and took another heaping bite, letting out a groan of pleasure that sounded an awful lot like the sound I’d made when I blew my load all over the shower earlier.
If everything she cooked was this damn good, I was going to have to start upping my workouts to twice a day.
Deva
My eyelids flew open,the inhale I’d made in my sleep freezing in my lungs as I strained to listen to the sounds of the house, trying to identify the sound that had yanked me from a deep sleep.
It was the middle of the night, but rays of muted silver moonlight slicing through the closed blinds of my bedroom window made it just bright enough for me to see as my gaze bounced frantically around the room.
I was alone. No one was here. It took me a minute to realize I wasn’t in my old room at the Oakes’s house, but once I remembered I’d set myself free of that life, I emptied my lungs of the breath I’d been holding on a relieved sigh.
I shot up to sitting when I heard it again, a distressing, pained sound, like someone was suffering.
Without thinking, I threw the covers back and launched from the bed, the chill of the hardwood floors seeping through the soles of my bare feet and into my bones as I rushed to the doorand threw it open. I was down the hall and outside Cash’s room in mere seconds.
The nightlight plugged in over by his dresser cast a glow through the room and revealed his tiny body still curled up in his bed, his cherubic features slack with sleep.
He was out like a light. So what in the world was I hearing?
I almost had myself convinced it had been my imagination or a dream when I heard it again, and this time, I was able to pinpoint the direction it was coming from.
Much slower this time, I padded through the empty kitchen to the other side of the house where Laeth’s bedroom was.
My heart leaped into my throat as I paused outside his closed door. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. If I should knock and risk disturbing him. What if his room was his sanctuary? He hadn’t said anything to me specifically regarding his bedroom, but he could have just forgotten.
I stood outside his room for a good minute, at war with myself, until I heard it again: his shouts of “No,No!” loud enough to rattle the door, making the decision for me.
The door creaked softly on its hinges as I slowly pushed it open, but in the dead of night, it felt like it echoed through the house like a shotgun blast. I ground my teeth together on a hiss as I guided it open just enough to peek inside.
“Mister—” I started, but quickly caught myself. “Laeth? Are you okay?” I whispered, peering toward his bed.
He lay there in a tangle of sheets, the moonlight through his opened blinds enough to make the sweat coating his bare chest glisten like he was covered in silver glitter.
“Run, kid! Get the fuck outta here!”
What could he possibly be dreaming about, I wondered as I crept across the threshold.
“Laeth?”
“No.No! You gotta run!”
I couldn’t take it anymore. His voice sounded so agonized; his body lurched in sleep like he was trying to escape something. He was trapped in a nightmare that was tearing him to shreds, and I felt the overwhelming need to pull him out of it, drag him back into reality to make the pain go away.
I reached the edge of the bed and placed my hand on his sweat-slick shoulder. “Laeth!” I said, in a firm, cracking voice as I gave him a hard shake. “Laeth, wake up!”
His eyes popped open so wide the whites shone in the darkness. He bolted upright so fast I stumbled back.
“What the—what—” The sheets pooled at his waist, revealing rigid abs and well-defined pectorals that heaved and strained with each harsh, rattling breath.
