Page 26 of Keeping My Girl

Her eyes snap open, and she immediately goes into defense mode, clawing and kicking and screaming.

I grab her, holding her tight and saving herself and myself from any more harm. “It’s all right. It’s me. It’s Nico. It’s all right, I’m here, I’m right here,” I tell her in rapid succession to try to calm her down.

“Nico?” she asks as she slowly wakes up fully and becomes aware of her surroundings.

“Yes. You were having a nightmare,” I explain before releasing her and climbing off her bed. I stand at the edge, waiting while my jaw tightens. I don’t know what she was dreaming about, but I can guess. I hate that she can’t even sleep without being haunted by her past. If I could, I would erase all those bad memories from her mind so she would never have to relive them ever again.

“A…a nightmare,” she repeats. “I-I’m sorry.” Her voice cracks with soft-spoken guilt as her peculiar eyes focus on me. A little gasp comes from her mouth before her fingertips touch her lips, a look of horror on her face. “Did I hurt you?”

“No,” I say with a shake of my head. She’s always so damn afraid of hurting me. The very thought causes a grin to tug on my lips, but I quickly school my expression and ask her, “Do you want to tell me what your nightmare was about?”

She hesitates, and I figure she won’t tell me since she rarely opens up to me, but then she surprises me by saying, “It was about them. That family. Talking about what happened to them today must have trigged another nightmare.”

“It’s okay to talk about them…or anything, Lina. I’m here to listen anytime you need me,” I tell her seriously.

My words seem to have a calming effect. “Thank you,” she whispers, and I can hear the emotion in her voice.

Sometimes I wonder how she survived all those years all alone with nobody to confide in or to vent her frustrations to. She only had herself to rely on. Even though she’s so damn strong, I’m afraid if she keeps bottling up everything inside, one day she’s going to just…burst. Lucky for her, I’ll be there if or when she finally does.

I get up, ready to return to my room to try to get some sleep when I feel her hand grasping mine in a quick, firm grip. I stare down at our connection, her hand looking so damn tiny in mine.

“Nico?” she asks, and her voice sounds so small, so innocent.

My gaze meets hers. Blue and green…like the ocean. “Yeah?”

“Will you…will you stay with me tonight?” she asks, biting her lower lip nervously.

“Uh,” I start. Damn, I know I should just go back to bed because she might regret this in the morning; but for some reason, I can’t say no to her. And definitely not when she’s looking at me with those big puppy dog eyes and begging me to sleep next to her and keep her safe. “Sure,” I say, relenting.

She lets go of my hand and crawls under the covers, watching me cautiously as I sit down on the bed over the blankets and lean my back against the headboard.

She turns on her side, facing me, and I watch as her eyelids grow heavy until she can no longer keep them open. When her breathing evens out, I slowly reach down and run my fingers through her long, silky hair. “Go to sleep, cuore mio. I’ll be here to slay all the monsters that try to get into your dreams,” I promise her.

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