Page 80 of Pucking Strong

“Henrik,pleasewake up.” Fighting fire with fire, I wrap my arms and legs right back around him, doing everything I can to trap down his flailing arms. “I’m not hurting you. Just wake up.”

I feel it the moment he does. The pained groaning stops, and his muscles spasm as he fights my hold. I instantly let up, relaxing all my muscles so I’m just holding him, not holding him down. “Shh. You’re okay. Henrik, it’s me. It’s Teddy. You were just having a bad dream again.”

He grunts, trying to shift out from under me. “I’m awake,” he says on a breath.

“Are you sure?”

He taps my shoulder. “Let me up.”

From beyond the wall, Karro cries out again. “Teddy, come back!”

He curses in Swedish. “Karro—”

“No.” I push myself off him. “I’ll go to her.”

He grabs my wrist. “I should go—”

“No,” I say again. Glancing down, I take in his sweat-slicked, naked form. His chest is heaving. His pupils are dilated. He looks panicked and scared. “She doesn’t need to see you like this.”

With a groan and a nod, he lets go of my wrist. I slip off the bed, hurrying back into Karro’s room. She’s sitting up now, clutching tight to Teddy the Bear. “Morbror’s hurt?”

I find her a smile and cross over to her bed. “No, honey. He’s not hurt. He was just having a bad dream. Do you ever have bad dreams?”

“Yeah.”

I sit down on the edge of the bed and place a hand on her knee. “So, then you know. It’s not very fun, is it?”

She shakes her head, her lower lip trembling.

“Oh honey, he didn’t mean to scare you. Your morbror loves you so much. You’re the most important thing in the world to him.” I help her get settled back against her pile of pillows, resetting her stuffed animals in order of emotional importance.

“And you?”

I shift her stuffed giraffe to the end of the line. With a name like Mister Sparkles, it’s no wonder he’s practically in exile. “Me what, honey?”

“I’m important to you?”

I sit up, blinking back my sudden tears. Reaching over, I cup her face, brushing the velvet softness of her cheek. “You’re so important to me. And I’m so glad I met you. We’re best friends now, right?”

She nods.

“You’re my little warrior princess. You’re so strong, honey. I wanna go on all your adventures with you. Like Puffin and Jean-Bob and Odette. Can I do that?”

She nods again as I hand her the rainbow unicorn to wedge in next to Teddy the Bear.

“You know, as soon as these casts come off, we’re gonna go ride horses on the beach and learn to surf. Won’t that be fun?”

She snuggles into the blanket as I tuck her in. “Yeah.”

“And you’re gonna do ballet again, and you’ll teach me all the steps. We’ll make Morbror do it too.”

She smiles weakly, her fatigue taking over now that the rush of her adrenaline is leaving her. “In a tutu?”

I smile back, brushing a hand over her braided hair. “And ice skates.”

Her smile falters as she squeezes Teddy the Bear. “He was yelling.”

“Not at you. Never at you, honey bun. Henrik would pull down the sky for you. You’re his most favorite person in the world.”

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