Page 13 of Cursed Fox

I moved farther down the hall to just outside the living room when the sound hit me again. Through the darkness, I couldsee Lex thrashing around on the small couch. I moved over to soothe him awake, but was stopped by an arm banding around my middle.

Before I could let out a scream, Jimmy's soft voice hit my ear. "Don't."

I turned on him immediately. "What do you mean, ‘Don't’?"

"Lex warned me not to let you near him no matter what you heard."

Jimmy's statement hit me square in the chest. Lex had known this would happen and had put measures into place. It made me wonder just how often he had nightmares.

"Did he say why?"

Jimmy shook his head. "No. But I think you should respect his wishes."

The sounds behind me only got worse the longer we stood there. Whatever dream he was having was definitely doing a number on him.

The only thing that stopped me from ignoring my son’s advice and going over to Lex was a conversation I once had with Missy. Her husband, Kyle, also suffered from nightmares, and the one time she’d tried to touch him, he’d hurt her. Of course, he hadn't done it on purpose, but in the throes of the nightmare, Kyle thought everyone was the enemy. I wondered if it was the same for Lex and that was why he’d warned Jimmy?

"I won't touch him, but I'm not leaving him out here alone."

My son raised an eyebrow at me, so I quickly added, "I'll stay on the chair, but I can't go back to my room knowing he's out here suffering on his own."

"Promise me you won't try to touch him or do anything to wake him up," Jimmy pleaded.

"I promise." It was like the roles were reversed—I felt like the disobedient teen even though I was lucky enough as a mother to have raised two very well-behaved teenagers.

"Okay. I'll be right back."

I didn't get the chance to ask Jimmy what he meant before he was storming off down the hallway. I was surprised with all the noise we’d made, despite trying to be quiet, that Lex hadn't woken up. In fact, he was thrashing around more than he had been when I first came out.

I walked to the oversized chair and curled myself into a corner. Seconds later, Jimmy came out with a big fuzzy blanket and draped it around me.

"I love you, Mom."

My heart melted. No matter how old he got, Jimmy was always good about telling me how much he cared.

"Love you too, son. Now go back to sleep. I promise not to move from this spot."

And I didn't. I stayed in the same position and thought about the hours since we’d shown up at Jimmy's apartment. Lex had seemed different after he came up from grabbing our bags. More distant than he had on the car ride in. He’d secluded himself away and claimed he needed to work. At the time, I hadn't questioned it. Now I wondered if maybe I’d missed some sort of sign. I would have to ask him when he woke up.

Eventually, my legs started to go numb and I stretched them out. I was just getting comfortable again when I heard Lex's deep timbre begging, "No, please don't make me."

I could see his eyes were closed even though he was no longer twisting side to side. I wished more than anything that I knew what he was dreaming about so I could help him in some way. But I’d made a promise to stay put, and that was what I was going to do.

Two agonizingly long hours later, and a lot more mulling in his sleep, Lex finally started to stir. I could tell the moment he realized he wasn't alone in the room. His entire body tensed up,and I watched in the sliver of light through the window as his chest rose and fell.

"How long have you been sitting there?" he asked without even looking my way.

"Long enough." I didn't want him to know I’d spent most of my night watching him sleep and wishing there was a way to help.

"I asked Jimmy to keep you away no matter what you heard."

I scoffed. "Yeah, about that. Where do you get off asking my son to do that? No offense, but I don't need anyone telling me what to do."

Lex's eyes popped open and immediately found mine. They were the most intense green I had ever seen in my life. "It was for your safety."

I pointed up and down my body. "As you can see, I'm perfectly fine."

"This time." Lex scrubbed his hands over his face. "You can go back to bed. I won't be getting anymore sleep tonight."

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