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“Mnh,” I groaned. “Wait,” I forced my eyes back open.
Lachlan paused at the end of the bed.
“Are you sure this is, like… legal? And are you okay with all this?”
He gave a faint smile, slipping one hand casually into his black jogger pants. “It’s not exactly orthodox to snatch a random woman from a grocery store and take her to my house, but it’s not illegal.”
“Oh, this isn’t your usual pickup technique?” I joked, my voice drowsy.
Lachlan made his way back around the bed, his eyes brimming with silent laughter. “I think there are probably easier ways to get women in my bed.”
“Ew,” I said with a scrunch of my nose.
He shrugged, a smile still tugging at the corner of his perfect lips. He sat on the edge of the bed, drew in a breath, and looked out the wall of windows that overlooked the forest below. “I’m not sure what’s come over me, to be honest. I’m usually a lot more boring than this—or predictable, at least.” He flicked a glance my way. “But I’ve been thinking about you since we met. When I saw you were about to keel over in the canned goods aisle, I guess I just acted. And now I’m creepy instead of predictable.”
“Super creepy,” I said solemnly. Except that you’ve done nothing but think about him, too, you dweeb.
His light, hazel eyes swept over me. “You really could have died, you know.”
I swallowed, and then winced. “Who dies from strep?”
“About five hundred thousand people a year,” he said, his eyebrows raising slightly. “Usually because it goes untreated.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” Lachlan leaned a little closer to me, searching my expression. “I’m glad you agreed to come, Laurel. Really.”
“It didn’t sound like you were giving me many choices,” I replied wryly.
“There’s always the hospital,” he shrugged, standing again. “But my bed is a lot nicer than theirs.”
And you’re way more fun to look at than the nurses, I thought, my eyes growing heavy again.
“Alright, I’ll be back,” he said. I nodded, letting my eyes close. He gave another soft laugh. “Ah, Laurel. You are cute.”
I smiled, wondering if I had dreamed that last thing he’d said. Then I drifted off to a heavy sleep. It was the kind of sleep that overtook me at the end of a long day of vacation. Or, more accurately in the last two years, the kind of sleep that knocked me out after a full twenty-four hours of work.
And that was bad.
Really bad.
Those were the nights the shaking and crying happened. The deepest sleep is what triggered my strange, wakeful dreaming that transported me back to that painful night that ended with me on my knees and my heart shattered.
How badly do you want to fix this?
I couldn’t let this happen while I was in someone else’s house. Would not let it happen.
I can’t live with a dead fish anymore. You don’t care about me.
I tumbled down, down, down, like Alice through a rabbit hole. But there were no pills to take that would make this madness end.
Show me how much it means to you, Laur.
* * *
A sharp pain lanced through my nightmares, and my eyes flew open. I stared at the natural wood, vaulted ceiling, and my brain spun on its axis, slowly winding down like a coin flattening its whirl before settling.
“Sorry,” an assuasive voice said.
