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“And what happened stays between us,” I inform him.
“Yeah.”
Not knowing what to do with ourselves, we sit in silence. No more strange men coming and going. No more drugs. No more mom.
In the quiet of the night, we are in our respective rooms trying to sleep, I awaken hearing screaming from Rowan’s room. He’s sitting on the edge of the bed, hitting his head with his fist.
“Stop,” I try to pull his hand away, but he is strong.
Rowan has always had a darkness in him. I’ve seen it more times than I count. Sometimes it seems like he blacks out and then realizes later what he did. This is one of those times.
On the bed, I position myself behind him and wrap my arms around his so it will stop him from hitting himself. “It’s okay,” I whisper.
“I killed mom,” he cries out.
“I know. You did it to protect us.”
She hated the fact that we were going to move out, so one day while we were working, she snuck in both our rooms and stole the cash we had been saving for an apartment and furniture. We were back to square one because she made sure to spend all of it on drugs. Rowan went into full rage, and he did try to strangle our mom that time. I talked him out it, saying he couldn’t protect me if he was in prison. And I knew it wouldn’t be long before she was dead anyway. But what I didn’t know, was that this time Rowan would succeed in giving her too much, causing an overdose.
I’m still holding onto him as tight as I can so he doesn’t break free. My head rests on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Rowan. We are free from her. She never cared about us. She used us for money. I’m going to let go, and you are going to relax.”
He nods.
Slowly I let go and pause to see if he moves, but he doesn’t. I move to sit next to him on the edge of the bed, and I lean my head on his shoulder, and he lays his head on mine. I don’t know how long we stay like that, but it comforts us. People might even call use too close, but they don’t understand the life we have lived, and the shit we have been through. It’s only ever been us. We only have each other. There is no other way about it.
Movement on the bed stirs me awake.
“I didn’t mean to wake you.” Hayden is rubbing my arm.
“It’s okay. I had a bad dream.”
He leans down to kiss my lips. “Killer got the video taken down. But we don’t know if there are any more copies. For now, we are good. Get some sleep, I’ll be right here.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CLAIRE
“Hungry?” Hayden brings me a plate of food in bed.
“I might be able to eat,” I take the plate from him. “Thanks.”
He weaves a hand through my hair and smiles.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
My mouth waters as soon as the blueberry muffins hit my mouth.
“You are the sexiest woman. But I like the mornings when your face is free from makeup, and you aren’t trying to impress anyone. And I might be falling for you, Claire.”
I stop mid-chew. “What?”
“I’m falling for you. And I think you feel the same about me, but you’re scared to admit it.”
Swallowing the food in my mouth, I stare blankly at Hayden.
“You’ve been my rock through everything. And already, we’ve been through some crazy shit. It’s taken me a while to even get to this point. It’s all because of you. You refused to give up even when I was at my lowest.”
Hayden chuckles. “Are you admitting you are falling for me, too?” He grins.
