Page 55 of Forever Theirs

And that was everything.

* * *

I jerked awake.

Heart racing, eyes wide open, I stayed completely still while trying to figure out what woke me. Soft snores came from my right, telling me Aiden was still asleep. Straining my ears, I listened for any sounds outside the tent. Thankfully, a bit of too-early sunlight offered enough visibility for me to see that no one else was in the tent besides us.

No axe murderer in here. That was a win.

When no suspicious noises came, my lids slowly fluttered closed, too heavy to keep open without the earlier surge of adrenaline pumping through my veins. Only for them to snap open again at a pained, wounded sound from somewhere outside the tent. My breathing shallow, I slowly unzipped my sleeping bag just enough to quietly wiggle out without waking Aiden. Before opening the door, I grabbed the shirt on top of his pack, the one he set aside to wear on our trek back to Anchor Bay today. After slipping it over my head, I unzipped the door enough to slip through.

Inhaling the crisp, chilly morning air, I kept my senses on high alert while taking a second to appreciate the surrounding beauty.

Until the wounded animal cried out again, this time mixed with a thrashing sound.

My head whipped one way, then the other, gaze searching the small clearing. A tendril of smoke trailed into the air from the few embers left glowing in the center of the ring of rocks we used to contain the fire and smoldering remnants, but other than that, I found nothing.

I wasn’t scared or worried that whatever was out there would hurt me. My heart ached at the sound, knowing something was in pain, and I desperately wanted to help, do anything to stop its agony.

A soft whimper, one I’d heard before, had me narrowing my gaze on the single-person tent several feet from where I stood. Soft dirt coated the bottoms of my feet, and loose pebbles poked into the soft skin with every hesitant step I took toward Miles’s tent.

Pausing just outside the thin, domed canvas, I leaned closer, putting my ear as close as I could without actually touching it. A pained moan, clearly human now that I was close, made my breath catch and heart cramp.

Miles.

My fingers hovered over the door’s zipper, fingertips brushing the tiny metal. Another of Jubie’s soft whines floated in the air from inside the tent, the scrape of nails against the waterproof bottom. Breath burning in my lungs, I waited, pleading with anyone or anything that would listen that whatever Miles was dealing with, alone, was finally over.

Nightmares.

That was what Aiden said plagued Miles from his time as a SEAL and whatever happened during that last assignment. I didn’t need to know the details to understand it was bad, horrible enough that it still haunted him now, years later.

Swallowing down the building tears, I retreated a single step, then another until the back of my legs hit the edge of a camping chair. The same chair Miles had held me in last night, taunting and teasing his best friend to pull him out of his head. Lowering into the canvas seat, I stared at Miles’s tent as if just monitoring him would somehow offer the comfort I knew wouldn’t be welcomed if I ripped open that door and attempted to smother him with it.

But I couldn’t just leave. Not when I knew he was in there fighting a battle alone.

Reaching over, I tossed a few leftover dead branches onto the glowing embers, hoping the fire would catch just enough to chase the too-early morning chill from the air. After dusting off my hands, I tucked both knees to my chest, using Aiden’s large T-shirt as a makeshift blanket, pulling the soft material up and over my bent legs.

There was no way I could go back to sleep now.

Might as well stay up and keep watch over Miles.

Whether he wanted me to or not.

20

AIDEN

Iwasn’t sure what woke me, but I instantly knew something was wrong.

Bolting upright, I immediately looked to my left, where I last saw the woman who was becoming as important as air to both me and Miles. Panic surged at finding her sleeping bag tossed open, empty. With a curse, I pushed to my feet and lunged for the already-open door.

I couldn’t breathe. Terrible scenarios ran on a loop in my mind over and over, each time getting worse and more vivid. The second my bare feet hit the soft dirt just outside the tent and I took in the campsite, my world stilled.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

“Miles?” I hedged, taking a tentative step toward my utterly still friend.

He didn’t respond, gaze fixed on the slight frame folded into the chair from last night that I just might have bronzed to commemorate one of the best nights of my life. Pausing at his side, I fought the urge to reach out to him, to do fucking anything to get him to snap out of whatever memory he was trapped inside.

---