Page 23

Chapter 22

SIX MONTHS IN HIDING

“Good session today, Eden. You’re doing really well.”

I smiled into the phone, feeling better than I had since my abduction in March, six months ago. I hadn’t even realized everything I was carrying inside until I started these phone sessions with my psychiatrist. She was a pro at drawing the repressed feelings out of me and giving me the tools to deal with each one.

“Thank you, Lilibet. It’s been weeks since I had a nightmare,” I bragged.

“That makes me so happy. I’ll talk to you again next week, okay?”

“Sounds good.”

“And remember—”

“Do whatever it takes to feel safe,” I parroted. That was how she ended every session with me.

Her laugh sounded like tinkling bells, and I wasn’t sure how I could like someone so much even though I’d never actually met her. “You’re learning, dear,” Lilibet sang before we said our goodbyes and hung up.

Jamie had recommended Dr. Lilibet Lynch after Dane called her and told her about my nightmares. The two had gone to med school together, and Jamie often called on the woman when one of their “clients” needed help.

Dane turned off the circular saw he was using to cut plywood when I walked into the back yard. He was wearing a heather-gray Henley that stretched over the bulk of his shoulders and jeans that fit in all the right places. Despite the cooler September weather, sweat dampened his forehead. Swiping the wetness away on his shoulder, he flashed me a smile.

Dammit, why is a sweaty man working with power tools so dang hot? And to top it all off, he had a ball cap on backward.

“How did it go?”

“Good. Lilibet is pleased with my progress.”

“She should be,” he said, pulling off his work gloves and stowing them in his back pocket before tilting his head back to look up at the sky. “They’re saying the hurricane should make landfall late tonight.”

I looked down at the two stacks of plywood cut into squares lying on the lawn. “I don’t think we have this many windows,” I remarked.

“I cut extra. Thought I’d go board up Charlisse and Cooper’s windows too. I called Charles, and he said they already have plywood cut from the last hurricane a few years ago, but I’ll drop by and hang them for him.”

“I’ll help,” I offered, and he lifted a skeptical eyebrow at me. “I can hand you the screws or something.”

“M’kay,” he said, walking to the stack and picking up the tape measure before stretching it across the piece of wood he’d been working on. He bobbed his head, apparently satisfied, and added it to one of the stacks. “These are for Charlisse’s house.”

Dane bent, giving me a spectacular view of his ass in those jeans, and picked up a huge stack in both arms. I rushed over and tried to grab the remainder, but the damn things were heavy, and I was only able to carry one.

“Come on, Hercules,” he teased.

Two hours later, we had all the windows covered on our house and the two neighbors’ homes, and we had a big plate of Charles’s brownies on our kitchen counter.

“The man’s a national treasure,” I commented, sliding one off and taking a big bite. “This frosting should be in the Smithsonian.”

“I’m going to fill up the gas cans for the generator,” Dane said, reaching for his keys.

“I’ll get some blankets and pillows ready. Your closet or mine?” I asked, giving him an eyebrow wiggle.

He laughed. “Yours is bigger.”

“That’s what she said,” I shot back, earning me an eye roll from Dane.

“Go take a shower, Wildcat. It’s going to be a long night.”

It was indeed a long night. I did surprisingly well, despite being closed up in a closet for hours during the worst of it. Dane and I ate brownies and played Uno with music from his phone in the background to distract from the storm raging outside the house.

Lilibet was big into music therapy, and she’d told me to experiment with different styles to see what calmed me the most. Turned out it was rock ballads from the eighties, and I listened to a playlist of Foreigner, Journey, Heart, and lots of others while I went to sleep each night.

The final notes of “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” faded away as the wind finally subsided, and Dane pushed to his feet. “Sounds like the worst of it has finally passed. I’m going to check the house and then fire up the generator.” The electricity had gone out about halfway through the storm, but, of course, we had lots of flashlights in our little hideaway.

Once we got outside, we found that our house had weathered the storm well, but Charlisse hadn’t been quite so lucky. A large water oak tree had fallen through the roof of her bedroom and blocked the door to her closet, trapping her and Cooper inside. Thankfully, they were physically unharmed.

As the rescuers worked to free them, I looked up at Dane in the moonlight that was finally peeking through the clouds. “Do you think we should—”

“Offer to let them stay with us for a bit?” he filled in, and I nodded, grateful that he seemed to read my mind. “For sure, but we’ll have to move my stuff into your room. It wouldn’t look right if newlyweds had separate bedrooms. Are you okay with that?” His brown eyes darted back and forth between my own.

Was I? I guessed it would be okay. After all, he was a constant presence in my room when I had a nightmare. But he’d always sat beside my bed, not slept in it.

Reading my thoughts once again, he said, “I can sleep in the chair or on the floor.”

Hearing him say that out loud left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I shook my head. He’d worked his ass off helping neighbors all day, and he deserved a soft place to sleep.

“No, it’s fine. The bed is big enough for both of us.”

“All right. Let’s go move my stuff.”

Several neighbors were gathered in Charlisse’s front yard watching the rescue efforts, including Charles and Mimsy. The latter was dressed in sneakers and a red floral muumuu, handing out paper cups of coffee to neighbors and first responders. We stopped to inform her that we were going inside to get a room ready for Charlisse and Cooper, and she wrapped us both in a hug, bursting into tears for about the fiftieth time that night.

When we finally extricated ourselves, we went in and transferred Dane’s clothing and personal items to my suite. It looked strange to see men’s clothing hanging on one side of my closet, but I didn’t mind. My friend and her precious little boy needed a safe place to stay, and that was all that mattered.

We’d just gone back outside when we saw Mimsy escorting an exhausted Charlisse across the street. Dane jogged out and took a sleeping Cooper from her arms while I curled my arms around her and squeezed her.

“I’m so happy you’re safe. How is Cooper?”

A small smile broke through her tears. “The little stinker slept through the whole thing, including a tree falling through the damn house and all the banging and chainsaws.” Her bottom lip trembled. “I was so scared, Eden. That tree came within a couple feet of landing right on us.”

I swiped at the tears on my face as I led her inside. “But it didn’t. You’re both fine and safe. That’s all that’s important.”

She cast one last glance at her house across the street, and I thought the poor woman was going to collapse, but she straightened her shoulders with resolve.

“You’re right. A house is just a house, and my baby is okay.” Her hand gripped my upper arm as I closed the door. “Thank you both so much for letting us stay here.”

“As long as you need,” I assured her, guiding her to the bedroom where Dane was laying Cooper on the bed. “Let me grab you some pajamas.”

It was three in the morning by the time we were ready for bed. Dane showered first, and when I came out from the bathroom, I noticed he’d set the overhead light on the dimmest setting.

“We can turn that off if you can’t sleep with it on,” I told him.

“Nah, I could sleep with the light of a thousand suns on me right now.”

I could see the fatigue etched onto the planes of his face, and I suddenly felt bone tired as well. It had been a long-ass day. Feeling the awkwardness like a dense fog between us, I climbed onto my side of the bed and faced the veranda door, away from Dane, before tapping the touch lamp to turn it off.

The mattress sank with his weight, and from the sound of his breathing, I could tell he was facing me. He was so big, I could feel the heat of his body against my back—even though we weren’t touching—and my breathing picked up.

“What’s wrong?” he said into the darkness.

“Nothing,” I lied.

A second later, I heard the soft click of one of the push lights and twisted my head to see Dane resting on one elbow, the blue haze of the light forming a halo behind his head. He was so close, and one of my hands fisted in the sheet as I attempted to control my heart rate.

“Remember what Dr. Lynch said. I won’t know the things that trigger you unless you tell me.”

He was right. Exhaling through my mouth, I turned until I was on my back, looking up at Dane. “When I was taken, Ethan grabbed me from behind. I guess it just makes me… nervous.”

Dane nodded like he understood. Like I wasn’t acting crazy, even though sometimes I felt like it. He never made me feel like that, instead validating my feelings at every turn.

“M’kay,” he murmured. “I can take the floor. No biggie.”

“No,” I said sharply. “It’s my issue. I can sleep on the floor.”

His lips crooked up on one side. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen, babe.” He slowly reached for my left hand and tugged, rotating until we were both resting on our right sides, me behind him instead of the other way around. Then he placed my hand on his hip. “That better?”

I breathed out a long breath I hadn’t realized I was holding in my lungs, the air gusting against his broad back. This was better. I didn’t feel confined like this.

“It’s… good. Thank you.”

Dane reached up and turned off the small light before burrowing down into his pillow. “You’re in control, Eden. Never forget that.”

And as I closed my eyes and drifted into the first comfortable waves of sleep, I felt like it.