Page 58 of Rebel Summer

Once I heard Dax’s water turn off, I trudged into the bathroom. In the shower, I did my best to scrub Lucas off my skin. I brushed my teeth, turned out the lights, and climbed into bed.

The silence sat heavy, emphasizing every creak, every rattle, and every ticking clock. The sounds must happen every night, but it felt different now. I forced another deep breath into my lungs and convinced my fingers to unclench their hold on my sheets, only to grab them again at the eerie hum of the wind outside my windows.

It was the second bang of the shutters against my window that did it. I reached for my phone in the dark.

ME

Are you awake?

DAX

Yeah

ME

I’m not nervous. Okay?

DAX

Okay.

ME

But I was thinking the other day when I was in your apartment that your couch looked super comfortable. Way better than mine. So, I was just wondering if I could sleep on it tonight?

There was a pause in our exchange, and my heart died a little inside every second my text went unanswered. I sent the words out into the universe, immediately wishing I could gather them back up.

I was fine. I would be fine. Nothing had happened. I was nearly ready to tell him to forget it when my phone lit up.

DAX

I’ll sleep on yours.

I don’t know why I felt like crying when Dax entered my apartment carrying a pillow and a blanket a minute later, but I did. So, of course, I didn’t look at him. I busied myself with tucking a blanket around the cushions on the couch, since I didn’t have extra sheets. I got him a glass of water. And an extra blanket. I made sure he knew where the bathroom was, even though it was literally his house. I told him I had chocolate milk and that I’d get him a glass.

My trembling hands had just grasped the jug from the fridge when I felt him behind me. His hand stopped me from grabbing the milk. He pulled me away, leaning forward to shut the fridge door before slowly gathering me into his arms. Like I was a fragile wounded bird, and he didn’t quite know what to do with me. I didn’t know what to do with me either, but my face pressed against his chest, and when his arms encircled my waist, my world finally grew quiet.

He smelled like soap and sun, and I breathed him in. Ever so slowly, his arms pulled me tighter while I nuzzled my face into his collarbone.

Dax pulled back, his dark eyes intense on mine. “I should have done a lot more than just punch him.”

I smiled lightly at that, amazed at how my anguish over the last thirty minutes lessened at his words. Dr. Barb always spoke about the power of sharing a burden with someone. I had understood that in a therapy sense, but this felt different. Dax had done that just by showing up. I pressed my face back into his shirt once more. He had offered it, and I wasn’t ready to give it up yet.

“I called Beau and told him where to find him. I doubt anything will happen, but I feel better at least having him aware of everything that went down.”

“Thanks,” I said, touched that he would have thought to do that.

Dax held me for another minute, not speaking, until he bent over, picked me up at my knees, and carried me to my bed where he proceeded to tuck me in. My skin ignited everywhere his fingers lingered and grazed. He pulled my comforter up to my chin and raised his hand as if to brush my hair off my face before he seemed to think better of it and stepped back.

“Go to sleep, Ivy. Things will look better in the morning.”

He was halfway through the kitchen when a smile crossed my face.

“You called me Ivy,” I said proudly, turning to watch him kick off his shoes at the door and turn the light out before settling onto my couch.

“Don’t let it go to your head.”

“Too late,” I called out.

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