Page 41 of Hot Shot
“Laura!”
My thighs cramp, ache with each push of my skates but I can’t stop. Can’t give up.
She needs me.
I’m the only one who loves her.
Stretching out a hand, I try to grab her. But I can’t reach. She’s too far.
“She doesn’t belong to you anymore.”
I stumble, the echoey voice floats around me as though coming from above.
Except I know it’s not. It’s from up ahead, next to Laura, and when her sweet laughter rings out across the ice, I know all my efforts are wasted.
I can’t get to her.
I’ll never reach her.
Never touch her.
Never be able to hold her again.
Should never have held her in the first place.
I wake to the sensation of being watched—touched.
I know it’s Blake. There’s no menace behind the presence. Only a soothing calm.
I should let her know I’m awake, that I know she’s here, but I don’t want her to stop the gentle stroking of her fingers through my hair.
It’s selfish. I obviously woken her up with my shouting. I must have done it last night and the night before too, although I didn’t wake after those nightmares.
I know why bad dreams have begun plaguing me again.
I haven’t had one since the day Blake arrived and now, with the looming need to tell her everything hanging over me, my subconscious is letting me know it’s time.
If I leave it any longer, hide this last secret from her when I’ve already told her everything else…
Squeezing my eyes tight, I make a promise to myself.
I’ll tell Blake the truth about Laura tomorrow.
And I’ll accept whatever her reaction to the news is.
Even if she never wants to see me again.
Blake
I stifle another yawn and try to focus on the words in front of me.
Three hours of sleep are doing a number on my concentration. Not to mention my ability to keep my eyes open.
Last night after being woken by Bran having another nightmare, the third night in a row, I stayed in his room when he settled. I couldn’t leave him alone like I had the two nights before.
I sat on the end of his bed and watched him sleep for a few hours, until he began to stir and the world outside the bedroom window began to lighten.
Only then did I slip back across the hall to my room where I lay there listening to him go through his morning routine.
