Page 12 of Cursed Fox

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"I appreciate it." Wes cleared his throat. "So tell me what's happening?"

"Jimmy wants to quit the NFL to keep Nancy safe. Nancy refuses to let him do it. I have to agree with her. Tonight she's spending the night."

"And you?" Wes cautiously asked.

"Sleeping on the couch."

Wes went silent and I knew what he was thinking. My assumption was confirmed when a few moments later he asked, "Have they gotten any better?"

"Nope," I replied honestly.

"Nancy is going to want to comfort you."

I guessed as much. She seemed like the nurturing kind.

"I already warned Jimmy to keep her away no matter what they hear."

It was the best thing I could do considering there was no way I was leaving her alone. I didn't care how big or tough her son looked. From now on, Nancy was my responsibility.

"That might not be enough."

"Then I won't sleep." I refused to subject anyone to my night terrors. It was bad enough that I had to deal with them. I didn't need anyone else to as well.

Wes sighed in frustration. "You can't go days without sleep, Lex. I know you don't want others to know about the nightmares, but you can't keep it from everyone."

I tensed at the accusation. "The guys know about them." The seven of us who made up the team in Willow Creek were a tightgroup and knew everything about one another. There were no secrets. They were very aware of the nightmares and why they happened. Hell, they’d been with me during one of the reasons I had them.

"I'm not talking about your team."

I didn't like where this conversation was going. "I don't want to talk to anyone else about them."

I lived a very simple life for a reason, and I preferred it that way. There was no danger of someone getting hurt if I kept them at arm’s length.

"Eventually, someone’s going to come into your life and make you think differently. I hope when that time comes, you don't push them away."

Wes ended the call and I thought about the woman upstairs. Already she was making me feel things I didn't want to feel.

She's just an assignment. A favor.

If I repeated that over and over again, eventually I would be able to convince myself it was true. Otherwise, I was going to ruin another person's life with my cursed ways.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Nancy

It sounded like someone in agony.

That was the noise that woke me up in the middle of the night. I wasn't a heavy sleeper to begin with. I blamed that on being a single mother. Over twenty years of worrying about the other people who slept in the house with me didn't go away just because they no longer lived with me.

There it was again.

I threw the covers back and swung my legs over the side of the bed. Whoever was making that noise was severely in pain, and I wanted more than anything to comfort them. I was halfway down the hall when I heard it again. It wasn't coming from my son's room. I nearly collapsed at the relief of that. The knowledge that those noises were coming from him would've broken me.

That left only one other person.

Lex.

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