Page 96 of The Fallen Man

Jackson pushed the comforter off and held up his hand to block the sunlight streaming in the window. “Fucking mornings. Who invented this shit?”

She laughed and turned over to burrow back under the covers as he got dressed.

“You’ll text me tonight?” he said, leaning over to kiss her.

“Yes,” she said, smiling shyly up at him. He kissed her again and smiled his cocky grin.

“See you tonight.”

He left her with one final kiss and jogged down the stairs. She stared at the cracked ceiling and tried to figure out what the hell she was feeling. Last night, she had gone to bed feeling like she could never tell him how she felt, determined to keep her mouth shut and take whatever he was willing to give her. But somewhere in the middle of her nightmare, he had whispered words to her that felt likeI love you. She didn’t know if they were or not, and she didn’t have the courage to ask, but this morning had felt like he had actually wanted her. And that was… terrifying? Euphoric? No, terrifying. No, euphoric.

Caitlin swung back and forth on the teeter-totter of her own emotions. By the time she made it to work, her stomach was a nervous knot of butterflies.

“Katie? Katie!”

Caitlin looked up at Jessica as she snapped her fingers. “What?”

“Earth to Katie. Are you with us? I said your name like five times.”

“Sorry,” said Katie, rubbing her scalp. “I was just thinking about something else.”

“I could see that. What’s going on with you?”

“Um… Jackson came over last night.”

“So he’s back in town? Did it get weird again?”

“No. Yes? I mean, he didn’t get weird. I think maybe I got weird.”

“What happened?”

Caitlin hesitated. How was she supposed to explain what had happened? “I had a bad dream, a nightmare, last night. And uh… I don’t know… he…”

Jessica was staring at her, waiting.

“He what?”

“Um.”

“You’ve got to give me something to work with here,” said Jessica. “He screamed at you? He beat you? What?”

“No! He talked to me in Ukrainian, and then we had sex.”

“OK, I’m not seeing a problem with this. Sounds like a great cure for a nightmare.”

“We didn’t use a condom,” said Caitlin and Jessica grimaced.

“Is there any chances of anything…”

“No, I’m fully covered on the birth control front and I’m not sleeping with anyone else, so, that’s not a problem.”

“But you don’t know if he is?”

“No,” said Caitlin. “He hasn’t mentioned anyone.”

“Well, he wouldn’t would he? Why didn’t you tell him to grab a condom?”

“I actually told him not to.”