Page 102 of Promises in the Dark

I felt like I was losing control of the walls I’d built, but fuck it, I needed this. She had done far more than just calm my nightmares, she was soothing my soul. And I wanted to let her see the real me—not the hardened soldier but the scared boy who’s been hurt too many times.

If I could just allow myself to be vulnerable for one night, maybe I could put my walls back in place in the morning.

“Please.”

No demand this time, just a fucking request.

Her eyes widened, like she hadn’t expected me to ask for anything. It was almost too much to handle, how good it felt seeing her like that.

“I’ll stay,” she said, nodding, making this too fucking real. “And for a night, we can pretend none of us is broken.”

And for one night, that was all I fucking needed.

Chapter 28

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Being a soldier had taught me a lot of things—how to handle a gun, how to survive in the middle of nowhere, and perhaps most importantly, how to go without sleep for a long fucking time. It was a survival skill, a necessity when you were out in the field, surrounded by enemies on all sides.

So, while Red slept next to me, all peaceful and shit, her hair spread out on the pillow like some kind of goddamn halo, I just stared. She looked so damn innocent, so untouched by the bullshit of this world. Her pale skin, glowing in the moonlight, was like porcelain—fragile, breakable—and it almost made something inside me ache. The fuck was wrong with me? I could just sit here and watch her all night.

It was 5 A.M., and I’d been awake for hours, too fucked up by the nightmares that always come creeping. But I’d be damned if I let them touch her. I wasn’t about to let my own twisted demons hurt the one person who’d somehow crashed through the walls I spent years building around my fucked-up heart.

I slept in short bursts, waking up every hour or so, just long enough to keep the nightmares from sinking their claws in too deep. Some shit you couldn’t ever shake.

With a sigh, I reached out, brushing a lock of hair from her face. Her skin was so fucking soft beneath my fingertips. It was in these rare quiet moments, when the world seemed to stop, that I’d allow myself to believe—just for a second—that maybe I could find some shred of peace in this shit life.

She woke up, stretching, her body moving under the sheets like she didn’t have a care in the world. Her green eyes blinkedopen, still foggy with sleep, then they found me and widened just a bit.

“Morning,” I murmured, my gaze drifting down her body as she shifted in bed.

Her hair was tousled from sleep, and her eyes were slightly puffy, but her features were still beautiful. “Hey,” she mumbled sleepily. “Are you still awake?”

I sat up, leaning against the headboard, pulling her a little closer without even realizing it. “Yeah,” my voice was low-pitched and raspy, a result of a night spent wrestling with my own demons.

She stretched again, her back arching in a way that made my blood heat up. “Couldn’t sleep?” she asked, tilting her head to study my face.

“Mhm,” I replied simply, my hand finding her hip and gripping it. “Nightmares.”

She nodded, her lips pressing together like she was thinking about what to say. “Same ones?”

“Yeah,” I sighed, rolling my shoulders in an attempt to loosen the tension. “Usually are about my father.”

She reached out to touch my face, smoothing the wrinkles from my brow with her thumb. “Was he violent towards you?” she asked, her voice soft, careful. Like she wasn’t sure if I’d blow up or shut down.

Her question brought back memories I wished I could forget.

I remained silent, not wanting to confirm her suspicions. I grabbed my pack of cigarettes from the night stand and lit one, taking in the comforting taste of the harsh tobacco.

“He was,” I said finally, the words ripping open wounds I’d long since buried. “Beat the shit out of me when I was a kid. Sometimes he still does... in my dreams.”

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, leaning her weight onto my chest as she wrapped her arms around my torso, her head resting on my shoulder like she could somehow protect me from all the crap I carried. “I can’t even begin to imagine what that must have been like for you.”

I took a long drag on my cigarette, holding it between my lips as I stared at nothing in particular. “Not your fault, Red,” I said, my voice cracking as I pushed the words out.

She ran her fingers through my hair and cradled my chin, slowly turning my face towards hers, so our eyes were locked together. They were soft, almost too soft, and I hated how much I wanted to fucking break.

“Still, no one should have to go through that,” she said, like she didn’t understand I was past all that.

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