Page 25 of Trapped with the Covert Ops Soldier

Chapter Six

She awoke with a start, shaking, sweating, and choking on a scream.

Abby sat up in bed and panted desperately trying to catch her breath, to calm down before her heart burst out of her chest.

Her bedroom door opened and slammed against the wall. Smitty stood in the doorway, breathing hard, dressed in his boxers and nothing else, his gaze darting around the room.

“Doc, you okay? What’s wrong?”

“Just a nightmare.”

“Just a nightmare?” Both his eyebrows rose and he stared at her as if he’d never heard anything so crazy. “You have this nightmare often?”

“Every time I close my eyes.”

The tightness in her chest loosened a bit and she suddenly didn’t feel like she was drowning anymore. She took in a long, sweet inhale of air.

“How long?”

“Since I got home.”

“Damn.” He came all the way into the room, closed the door and perched at the end of her bed. “You scared the shit out of me.”

“I did?” She examined the expression on his face. “Did I scream out loud?”

“Like you were being tortured.”

“Oh God, I’m sorry. I didn’t think I screamed in real life. I mean, I thought I only did it in my dream.”

He stared at her for a moment. “Tell me about it.”

His request startled a snort out of her. “No thanks. I’m not saddling you with my demons.”

“Abby, you know talking usually helps.”

“Yeah, my head knows it, but my gut doesn’t.”

He regarded her stoically for a few moments, then said, “It’s the attack, isn’t it?”

When she didn’t answer he kept talking. “I dream about it too sometimes.”

Questions spilled out of her mouth unedited. “Do you dream about killing people? Do you dream about how good it feels to kill them?” The last word shattered as it passed through her lips. A sob followed it. Then another, until her composure completely crumpled into a rush of crying and tears.

Smitty was suddenly there, wrapping his arms around her, hauling her across his lap and pulling her so close that every sob she took shook his body too. He mumbled nonsensical noises into her hair and rubbed her back while she soaked up his strength and serenity.

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