Page 110 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

The rest of the night was more light-hearted. It wasn’t until the movie was over that I took a chance.

“Bells?”

“What’s up, sis?”

“I know you don’t want to talk about it with me, but have you thought about talking to a therapist? About everything that happened to you?”

“I—Cory wants me to, but I can’t do it right now. I need the pack to see me strong. I can’t do that and be seen seeing a therapist.”

“What about phone appointments? That’s what I’ve been doing since I’ve been here? I’m sure Dr. Campbell wouldn’t be opposed to taking you on.”

“I’ll think about it, Vi. I’m not sure I’m ready to face it, yet.”

I grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

“You’ll never be ready, Bells. Not until you heal. You live with it regardless and you need to learn to deal with it in a healthy way.”

“I’ll think about it, okay?”

“Okay,” I conceded. I couldn’t force her to do anything, but I wanted her to know her options.

“I guess I should go to bed,” Bells said. “I love you, Vi. I’m so happy to see you’re healing.”

“I hope you can do the same one day.” I hugged her tight.

After she left, I cleaned up the mess we made and looked over at the closed door. I wanted to ask Chris to sleep in my bed again. I never had nightmares when he was next to me. I didn’t want to seem needy though.

As I was thinking about all of this, there was a small knock on the connecting bathroom door.

“Come in.”

“I thought I heard her leave. How was your girls’ night?” Chris asked, walking through the door and checking to make sure Bells was gone.

“Good. We had a lot of stuff to talk about.”

I smiled at Chris’ blush, who was likely recalling the way I told her about us this afternoon before she asked me for the girls’ night.

“Can I take that stuff for you?” He nodded to the bag of trash I’d set to the side.

“Nah. We can drop it off on our way to training.”

“You think Elim’s going to want to train with me?” Chris asked.

“Are you kidding? He’s already texted me asking if you’re up for teaching him a few things.” I showed him my phone.

“I doubt I’ll have much to teach him. He’s really good already,” Chris answered, sitting down on the bed. “Are you going to sleep now?”

“I think so,” I replied, playing with the blanket. We sat there in a bit of an awkward silence until Chris sighed.

“Can I sleep here? I won’t try anything. I jus—I liked sleeping next to you,” he said, the blush re-appearing on his cheeks.

My heart fluttered in my chest and I smiled.

“Yes, please. I wanted to ask, but I didn’t want to seem needy.”

Chris let out a harsh breath of relief. I scooted down the bed until there was space, and Chris climbed in next to me. When I thought he was comfortable, I inched closer until I was right up against his arm. Chris lifted his arm and I inched forward again until I was cuddled up against his chest. He wrapped his arm around me, and I sighed.

“This is better,” Chris sighed right back.

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