Page 62 of Fearless

And then it’s Cole on top of me, hips wedged between my thighs.

Cole grinning at me like a maniac as he bears down on me, suffocates me, takes what wasn’t his to take.

But it’s Cillian who saves me from the nightmare.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CILLIAN

My eyes open and I think I’m on a bad acid trip.

Red—everywhere.

A bed? A massive fucking bed?

What the fuck?

I sit up and look around, finally remembering what planet it is I’m actually on.

Jesus. Is this how she’s been waking up every morning? Like she’s in the middle of some deviant’s wet dream?

I rub the sleep out of my eyes. She’s moving upstairs tomorrow. I’ll give her one of the spare bedrooms and, if I have to, I’ll tie her down to the bed to make sure she doesn’t try to run away in the middle of the night.

Oh, and I’ll be telling Cole he can fuck off back to his own house.

I glance up at the bed and there’s movement. Why is there movement? How long have I been sleeping?

Pulling out my phone, I check the time.

05:08

The sooner I can wake her up and get her the fuck out of here the better.

Too early? Will she hit the roof?

Maybe. But I kind of like that, sick little bastard that I am.

I get up from the sofa and walk the few steps to the side of the bed. She’s all twisted up in the bedsheets, and from the looks of it she’s not having the best sleep anyway.

Nightmares again?

What is she dreaming about?

The mattress shifts under my weight as I sit down beside her.

I just sit there watching. For a long time.

She’s tossing and turning. I want to go to bed, but I don’t want to leave her down here. Like this. To wake up tothat. The garish walls and the whips and shit.

“Meisie?”

She stirs but she doesn’t wake.

I could carry her? I’m getting used to carrying her around. She’s quite fucking useless at walking in my presence.

Before I can talk myself out of it, I slide my forearms under her and pull her across the bed onto my lap, holding her while I sit. Her dark hair spills over my arm, her lips even more red and full looking because of the light. I watch her again, mesmerized by whatever movie is playing out inside her head. I don’t know what that movie is, but I want to know. She screws her face up and sucks in a breath, holds it, then lets it out in a few short bursts.

Her eyelashes flutter and for a second I panic.

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