Page 75 of Undeniable

Having lain down, I closed my eyes and tried desperately not to think of him as I tossed and turned. But it was useless. I swore I was never going to sleep again.

Aggravated, I let my mind wander. He’d brought Twizzlers on our trip to Willowwood because he knew they were my favorite, yet he called me an entitled princess. He didn’t want me to be friends with his friends and all but told me I wasn’t cut out for living in the city, but he told me he missed my smile. He couldn’t seem to stand me one second while the next, he was asking me to dance like nothing had changed.

And for a few minutes that night, it felt like nothing had. His hands still felt so good against me. His touch was possessive and dominant but was edged with restraint. On the dance floor, I could feel his desire through each brush of his fingers. Against my skin or even through the thin fabric of my dress, the need was there.

It was in the way he looked at me and hung on to my every word, even if they were few and far between. He watched my expressions like he didn’t really need my words and knew my every thought by gauging my subtle reactions.

Over and over again, our entire dance played out behind my closed eyelids. Every touch, every whispered word, every hopeful expression was on repeat. And all of it was happening against the soundtrack of his earnest and heartbreaking declaration of regret.

As I finally drifted off to sleep, my mind consistently led me back to one thought: how much I missed dancing with him, too.

The scream tearing up my throat was hoarse. It was sharp and heavy on my tongue, yet I didn’t know if I was actually screaming. I couldn’t hear it. I couldn’t hear anything besides crying. Endless crying and tears. The sounds of a cry I’d never known and would never hear.

Nothing would break through it. The sound of those tears and that pain felt like it was going to drown me if it didn’t stop.

“Ivy,” a muted voice from somewhere in the distance said my name. I heard it, but there was still more crying. I clung to that voice and suddenly realized that it was another nightmare—thesamenightmare.

There was still a dense fog of sleep and panic surrounding me. Then I felt the tears against my cheeks and streaming down my face as the voice spoke once again. It was closer, and the world around me was sharpening as I tried to catch my breath and remind myself it was just a dream.

There was a stiffness in my body, in every one of my limbs, my fingers, my neck. But it quickly abated, and I began shaking.

“Ivy,” the voice said again, clear and sharp the third time.

“Just a dream. Just a dream,” I repeated over and over again. A sob I wasn’t expecting broke free and that’s when arms wrapped around me.

But not just any arms, James’s arms. I was aware enough to know who it was that held me.

And then it all came flooding back. The fog lifted fully, and I sucked in a sharp, stuttered breath. James was asleep right next to me and it was probably the screaming, or maybe the sobbing, that woke him up. It was on the tip of my tongue to apologize and tell him to get back in bed, but he felt too good.

His front pressed into my back and with the weight of his arms around me, holding me as close as possible, I let it ground me. He was warm and safe, and I couldn’t shy away from it.

“It was just a dream,” he murmured into my ear, brushing my hair away from my damp face and neck. His lips brushed against my jaw and my breath stuttered again. “It was just a dream, baby.”

More tears broke free, but they weren’t from the lingering terror of the nightmare.

We lay like that for so long that I thought he might’ve fallen asleep until he asked, “Are you okay?”

What a loaded question. I wasn’t okay, but I still nodded.

“Do you want me to move?” Without hesitation, I shook my head.

I snuggled back into him, and he tucked my head beneath his chin, which lay above me on the pillow. The arm that he’d braced around me, I pressed tighter to my body and said, “Stay.”

TWENTY-SIX

James

My first thoughtwhen I woke up was that my cock was viciously hard. Like hard to the point of pain, and I didn’t understand why until I remembered that I’d spent the night cuddled up with Ivy.

My dick had been pressed against her ass the entire night. I’d tried to put a little distance between us once—for at least a minor reprieve—only for her to shift backward until she found me again.

Even in her sleep, she hadn’t wanted me to leave.

Waking up in the early morning hours to her screaming like she was dying was terrifying. I’d never woken up so quickly in my life. My thoughts were singular—make sure Ivy’s okay. Without a second thought, I jumped into her bed and tried anything I could think of to wake her from the nightmare.

She was shaking, tears streaming down her face. Each breath came out in a violent, ragged gasp, but she’d finally realized it was only a terrible nightmare. After that, she clung to me and told me to stay.

Little did she know I was never fucking leaving. I was never letting her go.

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