Page 369 of Dark Love

That isn’t a mattress. It’s a man I’m lying on.

Vex talked me into coming back to his place again to watch a movie. It wasn’t hard. I didn’t want to be alone and scared in my home. I must have fallen asleep on him…again.

Did I really think this wouldn’t happen when I went home with him?

None of this is real.

When I go home and go to work—

Work!

“What day is it?” I hop up, slamming my hand down on Vex’s chest.

“Dahl, what’s wrong?”

“What day is it?”

Hebarely lifts an eye open as he gently pulls me back towards his chest. “Why does that matter? Go back to sleep. It’s too early.”

I’ve probably already lost my job. “What day is it?”

“Monday.”

Monday. Am I late? I reach over and grab his wrist to look at the gold watch he always seems to wear. Vex slept fully dressed last night on top of the comforter just like he did the night before, which was incredibly considerate.

“What are you doing?”

“Work. I need to go to work. It’s Monday.” Real people have jobs, and I don’t want to lose mine.

“Call in.” Vex blinks his eyes open but doesn’t move his arm from where it’s wrapped around me, keeping me anchored to the bed.

“I can’t.” That’s not exactly true. My job is pretty flexible about stuff like this, but I’m still pretty new and don’t want to take a random Monday off… which would make people ask questions. Questions that I don’t want to answer because as soon as I walk out of Vex’s place I’m going to pretend this whole weekend was a bad dream.

A dream I don’t even need to tell my therapist about.

“Yes, you can.” Vex stares me straight in the eye. “Stay with me.” His rough voice is still filled with that sleepy edge men in the movies have.

Those words tug at my heart. More than almost anything, I want to curl back into his safe, warm arms and fall back asleep.

But dreams can’t last forever. “I can’t.” With a tug to the weighted blanket, I slip out of his arms. Regret runs through me. Maybe just this once I could call in. It really has been a hard weekend.

But isn’t that how all your problems started?

You just asked for one more day to hide from them and it turned into a mess. “What am I going to wear?” The outfit from yesterday was only worn for a few hours.

“Check the closet.”

Huh? I turn back to the bed where Vex has pushed up onto an elbow. It’s not right that a man can look that sexy without doing anything.

Don’t think about him like that.

You two aren’t dating.

He’s just been a nice guy taking care of you. Once you walk out the door that’s it, you’ll never see him again. “Huh?”

“Go check the closet.”

Why would I check the closet? This isn’t my house. My clothes didn’t suddenly appear out of thin air. “Huh?” Maybe it’s just my sleepy brain hearing things.

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