Page 15 of Final Temptation (Alpine Peak #2)

For nearly a week, I laid in bed with the same thoughts each night.

Sophie and I stumbling into a game that involved taking our clothes off.

Playing a game like that sober was something I’d never done before.

It reminded me of the many drunken nights I’d fucked around with other women, making any excuse in the book to get them in my bed.

Normally, it didn’t take a lot of convincing.

None of those experiences stuck around in my head for too long. They were fun nights in my past, nothing I cared to repeat.

On the other hand, last week… That was a memory I had stuck in my mind, shelved right next to our first kiss. I had every damn detail memorized, allowing it to replay on a loop inside my head.

The sweet taste of Sophie’s lips, how goddamn perfect she looked in her underwear, the confidence she had stripping off one article of clothing at a time.

Not to mention, my tattoo confession.

The plan had always been to keep that little fact about me a secret.

Lip tattoos tended to fade after a few years.

I made the decision on impulse one night, shortly after our first kiss.

I was craving a drink; I was craving her—anything to take my mind off the pain I felt every night when I fell asleep.

My impulses took over, and the pain of getting a tattoo sounded more appealing.

Then I tore my walls down, telling her honestly about my little secret. Based on the look on her face? She ate it up. Marking my body with anything having to do with her turned her on just as much as it did me.

Since that night, we’d gone about our normal daily routines. I spent my time at work, the gym, meetings, and taking inventory of every outfit she wore and tortured me with. She was in and out of the house, running errands, but mostly spending her days at home focusing on school.

I waited patiently for her to decide whether or not she wanted to go ahead with my crazy idea of becoming friends with benefits.

The type of idea and sliver of commitment I’d never offered to another girl.

I was torn between wanting Sophie but not wanting to commit fully. Don’t get me wrong, she was the type of girl who would be worth it. She’d make any guy extremely lucky someday.

My thoughts were all over the place; wanting her for myself, not being able to commit while I worked on myself, wanting to come up with any excuse to make her sort of mine.

The idea of her bringing home another man, hearing her sweet moans on the other side of the wall, and not being the person causing her pleasure, made me sick.

My eyes grew heavy, begging for sleep. Every night, it was a battle, allowing my body to have the rest it craved.

Ultimately, I’d shut my eyes after giving into my body’s needs, eventually being jolted awake from the same images that flashed through my mind like an old film reel.

Just to do it all over again, falling back asleep when I couldn’t fight it anymore.

I could feel myself tossing and turning, although this time, I wasn’t in bed—I was back in the car from the night of the accident. My body being rocked from the impact of the crash. The jerk of the collision shaking me awake inside.

The smoke, there was so much of it. My eyes squinted trying to see through the thick fog. I needed to get out of the car to get a better look. I opened the passenger side door.

“Logan, what’s happening?” I asked. He was pulling his hair in frustration, almost like he was trying to think of what we should do. Wasn’t the answer obvious?

“We need to call the police!” I cried. “There’s blood everywhere,” I added.

Broken glass reflected off the moonlight, mixed in with the gravel. It was scattered all over the place as far as I could see.

“Myles, we can’t call the police. We’re fucked if we do.” Logan’s steps crunched over the broken glass, back toward his car.

“We need to help him! He could be dying! Look at all the blood, Logan!” I didn’t care that I was drunk. I only cared that the person in that vehicle was okay. My steps sped up; I was running toward the car in a full-on sprint. But why couldn’t I get there?

I’m so close. Why does it feel like I have a bungee cord strapped to my back? The resistance is too much.

“Logan, help! We need to get them help!” I called out, but not before the bungee cord snapped. Except, it was Logan’s hands pulling me back. The pull he had on my sweatshirt yanked me backward, now feeling miles away from the crash site.

“HELP!” I continued to yell as my body convulsed.

“Myles! Myles!” I heard Sophie’s yell cutting off my call for help. Her voice was frantic, like she was screaming for me to come save her. Desperate for my help.

Logan continued to pull me further away from the truck and closer to Sophie’s voice.

“Myles, WAKE UP!” I followed her voice, hoping it would save me from the hell I was living through inside my head.

My eyes flickered open, Sophie hovering over me, the pain evident on her face. It took me a few seconds to realize I was having another nightmare, and Sophie wasn’t in it. She was here, in my room, trying to wake me up. For what reason, I was unsure.

“Myles, I think you were having a nightmare,” she whispered, her hands still on my chest from shaking me awake.

“Water…” I gasped, looking around for the glass I left on my nightstand.

Sophie hadn’t been in my room before, at least while I had been living here. But her instincts led her to know exactly where I had my glass of water. She reached over my damp body, covered in a layer of sweat—something I’d gotten used to—and retrieved the water for me.

“Thank you,” my husky voice escaped my throat, begging for the water that shook in my hands.

I sat up in bed, getting a better look at Sophie’s face. Her forehead wrinkled, and a lone tear rolled down her cheek, causing my heart to break internally. “You were screaming for help in your sleep. It really scared me, Myles. Tell me everything’s okay.”

“Fuck, I’m sorry, Soph.” I ran my fingers through my damp hair.

“You must have been having a really bad dream.” She gazed into my eyes, searching for answers. I wanted to confide in Sophie. I craved talking to someone about all my issues—someone outside of AA. Fuck if the thought of opening up to someone about all this didn’t scare the shit out of me, though.

Going against my norm, I took a chance and started talking.

“It’s not just any bad dream. I have the same nightmare almost every night.

It’s pretty rare that I don’t wake up a sweaty mess in the middle of the night.

I’m sorry if you heard me. I guess I never knew I yelled in my sleep.

It could be the first time, or maybe my parents never heard me. ” I took another sip of water.

“What happens in your nightmares?” she asked.

“It’s the night of the accident. Paige’s dad.

For the first month or so, before I got sober, the dream rarely happened.

I think it had to do with how drunk I’d get before bed.

Sometimes I drank so much before I slept, that way I would pass out—drink away the pain or some shit. ” I swallowed nervously.

God, it feels good to open up to her.

“Now that you’re sober, I assume the nightmares are more vivid?”

“Your assumption is correct.” I nodded.

Moments passed as I came down from the anxiety, Sophie’s presence calming me more than she knew.

“I’m sorry, again, for waking you up. Hopefully that doesn’t happen again?—”

“No. You don’t need to be sorry. I just feel horrible that you’re going through all this. I wish there was something I could do to help, anything.” There was pleading in her voice.

“Can you stay the night with me?” Having her around helped me.

It was hard to explain, but something about her company comforted me.

“Just sleep next to me for the rest of the night. Wake me up again if it starts to get bad,” I added, not wanting her to think I asked her to stay in my bed for any other reason.

“I can do that,” she agreed.

Relief washed over me as I turned onto my side, facing away from her, allowing her to crawl under the covers and get comfortable. “Thank you. Thank you for waking me up, for doing this. It really means a lot to me,” I whispered in the dark, releasing a sigh in reprieve.

Sophie was silent, her words non-existent. But when her arm snaked around my core, wrapping around my stomach like she was made for me, my problems seemed to fade away.

I reached my hand to meet her forearm, keeping it there for the rest of the night, sleeping in a comfortable silence I hadn’t felt in months.