Page 51 of Healing Souls

Her eyes widen. “Um–uh yeah. All good. Why?” she stammers.

I rub the back of my neck as I debate what to say. Unease comes over me, standing in front of her alone. But when I look back at her eyes, it’s like they call to me. Silently begging me to say or ask the right thing.

“Do you want company tonight? I can stay with you. Well, I can sleep on the floor if you want me to.”

Harley’s shoulders drop, and exhaustion takes over her face as she whispers, “Yes, please.” She opens the door wider, allowing me to enter.

Chapter Fourteen

Harley

“Ryker?”Iwhisper.

“Harley,” he responds, amusement clear in his voice.

“Are you still awake?”

He lets out a light chuckle, and the moon shining through my open curtain shows me his silhouette as he sits up from where he was lying on the floor.

I felt like such an asshole, but I didn’t think I could handle him lying in bed with me. I know I did it once before, but I was distraught and think I just needed comfort. But now I don’t know how to feel.

Laying here for the last two hours listening to his breathing hasn’t helped me fall asleep and feel relaxed. Not at all.

And now I have no idea what I’m doing or why I said his name. All I know is I want him to wrap me in his arms and hold me. But it feels so ridiculous. I shouldn’t need that. Especially not from someone I haven’t known for long.

But just like when he knocked on my door, he knows what I need without me even having to ask. “Do you want me to come up there?”

I clear my throat that now feels insanely dry and mumble a soft, “Yes.”

I hear him moving before the bed dips behind me. I tense and can’t force myself to relax. I can feel his warm breath on the back of my neck as he whispers, “Breathe, little flame.”

I attempt to take a shaky breath, but it turns into more of a gasp. Ryker grasps my hips and rolls me over, so I’m facing him. My entire body freezes with fear. My stomach twists with anxiety and frustration.

I shouldn’t always be so scared. This is weak, Harley.

One hand stays on my hip as his other hand comes up to cup my cheek. With the moon giving us a soft glow and being so close to his face, I can just barely make out his dark eyes.

“What do you need, babe?” he says so softly that I barely feel his breath on my face.

I close my eyes and inhale his scent that seems to never leave him. Leather and soft Irish spring hits my nose, and I exhale. Allowing myself to be honest, I murmur, “I–I don’t know.”

“You don’t sleep at night, do you?”

“I do. Just not well, I guess.” I shrug.

A light scoff comes from him. “When was the last time you slept through the night?”

His thumb brushes over my cheek and I crack my eyes open. “The night you and Grayson stayed with me,” I mumble.

“And before that?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’m going to hold you, okay?”

I nod against his hand on my cheek, and he pulls me closer to him by my hip, my head lying on his shoulder. He tugs my leg up by the back of my knee, so my leg is resting on top of his, then he moves his hand around to my back and slowly runs his hand to the edge of my shirt.

Slipping his hand under, he gently rubs my back. I tense as his fingers brush over the scars. I know he can feel them because he pauses on them for a split second, his fingers lightly caressing the raised skin before he moves on, rubbing up and down my back.

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