Page 24 of Twisted Legacy

I let her have that one.

“Just because it has been, doesn’t mean it still is, and what about when she leaves here? What if I was just the warmup, and whoever jumped me plans to do it again? I need her to have a fighting chance.”

“LaReaux, you’ve had years of experience fighting and you were still hurt. Even with your experience, my recommendation would have been to run from the danger, not confront it head on. That goes triple for Breland.”

“I know that, dammit. Don’t you think Iknowthat? I’m not saying she’s gonna be assassin level in these short weeks, but if she knows the steps and it’s second nature to fight back, maybe she can do that and surprise them or incapacitate them long enough that she has a chance to run away.”

“There are self-defense courses offered at other gyms, and the campus has a seminar twice a year.”

“I don’t want some raggedy ass old man telling her to use pepper spray and stab someone with a key, or some creep pretending to show her how to fight. I want her learning correctly and improving and you’re the only one that can do it.”

“LaReaux…”

“You’re the only one I trust to do it, okay? Just you. It has to be you.”

That gives me pause. Does she even realize what she just said? I know trust for her has to be hard, especially now. “Fine. If I do this, you’ll have to do something for me.”

“Something like what?”

Like drive two towns over, meet me in an alley, and let me fuck your brains out, because pretending it didn’t happen isn’t working. Pretending I don’t want it to happen again isn’t working. Of course, I can’t say that. “Answer a question. How did you sleep the last few days?”

“Fine. I’ll let LJ know when to meet you at the gym.”

“LaReaux, answer the question, honestly.”

“I did.”

“I can hear the strain in your voice. You sound tired. Did you sleep at all?”

“No.”

“You know you need sleep to help you heal.”

“Tell that to my nightmares. I woke up screaming and scared the shit out of LJ. I didn’t want to keep her up too, so I decided not to sleep at all. I can’t have nightmares if I’m awake.”

She’d been tossing and turning, but it had been almost a week since the last time she woke up screaming. That’s why I came back to campus before them. “I thought they were getting better.”

“So did I, but I guess not.”

“Do you think something triggered them the last few nights?”

“I’m not a shrink, and before you say something, no, I don’t want to tell him and hear what he has to say about it, because the only thing that I did differently was finally having my bed to myself.”

The implication of that hangs heavy between us. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to keep your night terrors at bay.”

“What are you apologizing for? I’m a grown ass woman. They’re just dreams, and eventually they’ll go away. It’s not like you can sleep in my bed and wake me from my nightmares forever. I mean, how would that even work here at school? Where would-”

I cut into her rant. “Thea.”

“What?”

“If your dreams get too bad, just call me.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“I mean, it. It doesn’t matter what time it is. You call me. Understood?”

“Wolfe-”

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