Page 28

Willow

I heaved in air like it was my first breath. My eyes burst open as far as they could. My chest rose and I panicked my lungs, and heart would explode from my chest before I could stop it.

Something touched my hand, and I jolted upright, eyes darting around the room until they landed on a dark figure hovering by the bed.

I startled, terrified that my nightmare had come true.

Quickly, my limbs ran out of space and my fingers lost their grip on the messed sheets and I tumbled off the bed with a crash.

Fading bruises screamed as they slapped against the hard floor.

Tears streamed as I held myself close to the floor, my hands over my mouth trying to muffle sobs.

Beyond the bed, I could hear shuffling, breathing and finally, a deep sigh. It certainly wasn’t the sound of my ex-boyfriend coming to harm me.

Suddenly, the bedside lamp on the other side of the room flicked on, shrouding the room in a warm glow. The shadows disappeared instantly.

“I promise there’s no one else here.” It took a moment for me to realise the voice was Jack’s.

“Jack? Are you okay?” I croaked.

“Am I okay? You’ve had a night terror and you’re checking on me?”

“Yes,” I whispered. He replied after a beat.

“I’m fine. I think I’d fallen asleep downstairs while we were watching TV. I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”

“It’s not your fault, Jack. It’s not your responsibility to fix me.” I turned my head into the side of the bed, facing him as best I could despite the barriers.

“You need to stop thinking you need to be fixed. You’re not a toy that has missing limbs or a computer that won’t start up.

You’re human and you’re hurting. It’s not my responsibility, but I promised myself, your friends, and family that I’d do what I can to help, and I will.

Soon your hurt heart will be replaced with confidence and a new life, that the current you, could never imagine existing. You need to be kinder to yourself. ”

I sat in silence. Jack was so sweet, so kind, and I wasn’t sure why I deserved this. I wasn’t sure how a man like Jack Lambert existed in the same world as Cain Heller. They were polar opposites. His mere existence made my world a safer one.

I hauled myself up on the bed, assuming he’d be there too. When he wasn’t, I looked around in confusion.

“Jack?”

“Yes?” he replied softly.

“Where are you?”

“I’m on the other side of the bed. On the floor.”

“Why are you on the floor?” I crept over the bed, finding the dishevelled wisps of grey hair peaking over the side of the mattress.

“Because I scared you when you woke up. I guess the last thing you needed was a man lurking over you in the dark.”

More silence.

“You can come out now. If you want to,” I suggested.

“Will you come out too?”

“I already am.”

I returned to the far corner of the bed from him, clutching Angus to my chest.

When he popped up, his eyes met mine instantaneously. They were bright and full of warmth, like I hadn’t just woken him with screams. He pulled up on the bed and perched on the edge.

I pulled my sleeves over my fingers nervously as he looked me over cautiously.

“Are you okay?” he whispered.

“I want to be, but I don’t think I am,” I replied honestly.

My eyes zoned in on the space over his shoulder. I was exhausted. The nightmares were taking over every night of sleep. Until now, I’d dreamed only of the horrors of that night or before. Tonight was the first time they’d dared to encroach on my current circumstances.

“Can I ask what the dream was about?” Jack asked tentatively.

The open door beyond him caught my attention. When my grip on Angus tightened, Jack shifted from the bed, closing the door.

“How do you know?”

“What?”

“What I need before I know I need it?”

“I-I guess we’re not so different, Willow.”

He returned to the bed, his head thudding against the headboard. He was close enough to touch, and I found myself shuffling closer until our elbows grazed. “Willow. The dream.”

I sniffed .

“I came home… to your house. And I called out your name, I think I wanted to tell you something. You sounded angry with me, but ignored it, because you don’t get angry.

You said you were in the kitchen, so I started to walk in there— ” I inhaled deeply before continuing, “ I was pulled into the alcove opposite the stairs. I tried to shout for you, but he kept threatening me. Then he threatened you and I thought he’d already hurt you, but I couldn’t handle the thought of you hurting because of me. ”

Panic rebuilt itself word by word as I rambled. Without notice, Jack tugged me into his side. My head landed on his shoulder, and I rocked softly as he rubbed my back. With his other hand, he stroked the hair away from my face, brushing it down my back as tears soaked his cotton T-shirt.

“The only person who deserves to hurt is him. And the best way for you to do that is to find a way out of the darkness and into a light that he’d never recognise. Whether you see it or not, your future is the brightest light.”

“Thank you. Again.” I hiccupped a laugh into his chest, and he groaned into my hair.

“You need to stop thanking me. If I didn’t want to help, I wouldn’t be doing it. I’m a stubborn old man.”

I giggled, the sound was a surprise to us both as we blinked at each other in awe.

“There she is. If I could record that sound and listen to it every second, every day for the rest of my life, it still wouldn’t be enough. You deserve to laugh without restraint again, Willow.”

We fell into a comfortable silence and my eyes slowly closed. The gentle rise and fall of his chest soothed me with a comfort I hadn’t felt in at least a decade, I’d just never realised. Despite my efforts to stay awake, to thank Jack for everything he was willing to offer, sleep called for me.