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“Shh, baby girl. It’s Noah and Kade. We’ve got you. Can you hear me?”
“The smell, the smell. Make it go away. I don’t like vodka.”
I stare helplessly at Kade but he looks just as stuck as I am. We don’t know how to break her from this in-between wake and sleep place. “Come on, Letty. Come back to us,” he pleads, a desperate edge in his voice.
“Kade?” she questions, a haze still in her voice. “Kade?” she asks again.
“I’m right here,” he promises, holding us both tighter, keeping her locked in between us.
“Luca,” she gasps. “Where’s Luca?”
“He’s working, Ladybug. Noah’s here too. We’re here. We’ve got you.”
Silence follows his words and she shakes her head. “Ladybug,” she whispers, a confused lilt in her tone. I trade looks with Kade as the relief bleeds from his face. She’s still not fully awake. Fuck.
“Scar,” I say slowly. “It’s time to wake up.”
She shakes her head, her eyes drifting shut again. “It hurts. It still hurts. Kade, why does it hurt?”
“I know, Letty. I know. But you have to wake up, okay?”
“Make it go away, make the pain go away.” Her desperation claws its way up her throat and into my skin with her words.
Kade curses under his breath. Finally it dawns on me. “I think she took something to help her sleep.” I’m not sure what it was, but she talked about it with Declan before he left to go wrap some things up at the clinic.
“It hurts,” she cries and Kade curses again. Neither of us sure what to do. “Make it stop,” she begs.
“We’ve got you, Letty,” he promises. “We’re gonna make you feel good, okay?”
She doesn’t respond but sinks deeper into our arms, some of the tension bleeding out of her.
He feathers kisses over her face, catching her lips in a soft, chaste kiss. “Kade?” she questions.
“It’s me, baby. I won’t leave you.”
His comforting strokes turn into sensual caresses. “Are you sure?” I ask.
His eyes are strained as he meets my eyes. “Anything to make her pain less.”
I dip my head in acquiescence. “Okay.” I lift her hair off her shoulder and nuzzle into the skin where her neck and shoulder meet.
“Kade?”
“Yes, Letty. It’s me and Noah.” At the sound of his voice she releases a content sigh and I trail kisses down her back. “We’re gonna make the pain go away, okay?”
“Okay.” She nods her head as her body relaxes. We both lean away from her as we try to reposition ourselves and she instantly tenses.
Kade and I spit out curses at the same time. “She needs touch,” he whispers. “Gentle and slow.”
I nod my agreement and run my fingers through her hair, stopping to massage her scalp. She hums and I do it again. “Good girl,” I praise and the corner of Kade’s lips twitch. Not quite a smile, but I’ll take it.
He leans forward to press kisses from one collarbone to the other. She arches up into his touch and hums under her breath. I glide my hands down her back and over her hips, lightly massaging her as I go. Her eyes stay closed as she falls back into some form of rest.
She normally loves to be woken up by one of us between her thighs, but the nightmare and the likelihood she’s on medication makes me hesitate in pushing it too far. Kade must be of the same mind set as he stays above her sleep tank, never dipping lower than the skin already exposed. We both keep it to firm, affectionate touches until she slips back into a relaxed state of sleep. No more humming, no more whimpering, or begging or screaming.
Kade and I both sigh in relief as we change our positions again, keeping her tucked between the two of us. We both turn into her, our eyes meeting over her head. “No more sleeping pills,” he says.
I chuckle, but it lacks any sort of amusement. “Absolutely no more sleeping pills.” I hesitate. “You think she’s going to be okay the rest of the night?”
