“Ellery!” He raised his voice, frantic to wake her. He hated this helpless feeling as he watched her flail about in panic. “Ellery, wake up!”
Deep in her nightmarish world, she continued to whimper, the sound of it tearing a ragged hole in his heart. In desperation, he sat on the bed and scooped her up into his arms.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured in her ear. “You’re safe. I’ve got you.”
Her arms cinched around his neck, her whimpers progressing to quiet tears.
“Shhhhh,” he whispered, rocking gently. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
Her breathing steadied, her pinched forehead relaxing, along with her grip. He leaned back against the padded headboard, adjusting to get comfortable. Gazing down, he brushed her hair away from her face, exposing a soft, smooth cheek. She burrowed against him, and something warmed in his chest where the scarred side of her face was tucked against him.
If I could absorb her pain through my skin, I would.
The thought surprised him. He’d never considered himself particularly altruistic, but Ellery brought out emotions he’d never felt before.
Her lips parted, warm air tickling his chest, and he bent to press a tender kiss to her forehead, her fresh scent filling his nose.
That didn’t mean anything. It was like a kiss you would give a child, wasn’t it?
As the minutes ticked by, his eyelids drooped. He ought to leave before he fell asleep. He leaned to the side, tugging her arms from his neck, but she whimpered in protest.
“Shhhh,” he soothed, contorting to lay her gently on her pillow, brushing his mouth across her cheek in a gentle caress. Expression calm, lips parted in sleep, she lay on her bed, the picture of wounded innocence… the scar a shadow on the pale skin of her face. He watched her for a few minutes to be certain the nightmares were gone. Finally satisfied with her peaceful expression, he made his way back to his room.
His arms had never felt so empty.
CHAPTER 7
Consciousness clawed into Ellery’s mind. She rubbed her eyes, attempting to unglue her eyelids as a delicious aroma wafted across her nostrils.
Bacon…now that’s a reason to get out of bed if I ever smelled one!
Sunlight spilled though the blinds, indicating she’d probably slept later than she’d meant to. She fumbled for her phone on the bedside table and checked the time. 8:52. So much for waking up early to get some research done for her business ethics class. Still a little dizzy from the lingering effects of the pill she’d taken, she padded into her bathroom and splashed water on her face. The grogginess was awful, but at least she’d gotten a good night’s sleep.
Vague memories of a terrifying flashback lingered in her mind, but the anti-anxiety drug must’ve shortened the duration. Without the benefit of the medication, a nightmare would typically go on for hours as she relived the accident, flames licking at her skin while she struggled to escape the crumpled car, screaming for someone to help her. She would waken with her heart pounding but fall back into the same torturous scene the moment her eyes closed. But in last night’s nightmare, the firefighters must’ve pried her out quickly, before she’d had much time to suffer. If only that had happened in real life…
Donning her jeans and one of her new tops, a lightweight cotton blouse with a blue-striped print, she headed downstairs, her stomach gurgling at the savory smells.
“Morning,” she said as she rounded the corner into the open kitchen where Logan and his mother were standing near the stove.
They sprang apart, jerking around to face her with rounded eyes. Had they forgotten she was in the house?
“G’morning,” Logan mumbled. He was wearing a tight T-shirt that accentuated the outline of his muscles, and his shorts left his bulging calves exposed, too. He hadn’t been kidding when he said he’d been working out every day. He could’ve been a model for a gym advertisement. He’d probably dressed like that for the express purpose of torturing her. If so, it was working.
“Did you sleep okay?” Nancy asked.
“Better than I expected,” Ellery answered honestly. No use worrying them with more details. “It was a very comfortable bed.”
He and his mom exchanged a look, and she knew something was amiss.
“Why do you ask?” On the back of Ellery’s neck, hairs prickled with apprehension.
Logan’s gaze shifted to the floor.
“We heard you call out during the night,” Nancy said. “Seemed like you were having a bad dream.”
“I’m so sorry.” Ellery’s face heated all the way up her to her forehead. During all her previous nightmares, she’d never made enough noise to rouse Kara in the adjacent bedroom. Then again, Kara had always slept with a noise machine that sounded like a thunderstorm. “Did I wake you up?”
“No biggie,” Nancy said. “We were just worried about you.”
“I’m fine,” she said, mortified that she’d been so loud. “Did it go on for a long time?”
Logan was still refusing to make eye contact, but Nancy spoke up again.
“Nope. Just a few seconds. It was nothing, really. Don’t even know why I brought it up.” Nancy opened a nearby cabinet and took out three plates. “Do you mind setting the table for me?”
Knowing Nancy had read her discomfort and shifted the attention, Ellery tried to express her gratitude in her wobbly smile. But she couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that she’d made enough noise to wake them. She might as well accept the fact that she was going to be single all her life. What guy would want to marry someone so scarred, both inside and out?
She caught Logan’s gaze, only for a brief moment, but long enough to see his fretful expression. She couldn’t quite put a finger on the intense emotion behind those compelling green eyes, but it had to be some form of pity. Ugh! Pity was what she hated most in the world, and what was dished out for her every time she turned around, like living on a steady diet of soggy boiled asparagus.
Though she wanted to skip breakfast and hide in her room, her stomach protested the idea with a gurgle that echoed across the tiled kitchen, bringing a smile to Nancy’s face and making Logan’s shoulders shake with laughter.
“Good thing breakfast is almost ready,” Nancy said as she piled napkins and stainless ware on top of the stack of plates in Ellery’s hands.
In the end, Ellery was glad she’d stayed to eat, marveling at herself for downing three entire blueberry pancakes with maple syrup in addition to strawberries, pineapple, and four slices of bacon. No other mention had been made of her nightmares, though Logan’s nervous glances confirmed that he’d heard her as well.
“That was delicious,” Ellery said, pushing up from the table and gathering the other plates, now empty like her own. “What time do we need to leave for the wedding?”
