Page 16 of With You

I huffed a laugh at his bad joke and rolled onto my stomach so I could sleep. “Goodnight, Roe.” I heard his soft ‘goodnight’ right as I drifted off.

* * *

We were being watched.

Two guys on the team had been wounded, one of them had barely been here a week. A window shattered right next to my fucking head as I gripped the kid’s vest and dragged him out of the street. Our intel said that a high value target was holed up in one of these houses but they must have been tipped off we were coming. The second we’d stepped into the small village, a sniper began to pick us off.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I took in the new guy’s injury and pushed down hard on his bleeding leg, it didn’t help. There was too much blood, too much, the bullet must have hit his artery. A pale hand gripped my wrist weakly and I looked away from the growing pool of blood to his terrified face.

“It’s going to be okay; you’re going to be okay,” I repeated it over and over, even after his breathing stopped and his pulse died under my hands. His eyes stayed open, staring at me with a look of frozen fear.

“Sam, Sam, wake up, honey. Open your eyes, it’s just a dream.”

Strong hands gripped my shoulders and a heavy weight had me pinned in place. I drew up my knees and bucked my hips upward as I twisted my body and pushed with both hands. Now he was underneath me and I drew my arm back, fist closed so I could deliver a blow to his face.

“Sam! Sam, it’s me!” A lamp turned on and I blinked against the glare as I took in my surroundings.

The hotel, right. I was in a hotel, not the desert and the body that had been on top of me was Roe’s, not the ghost of a dead man. He held his hands up non-threateningly as I stared down at him, blinking back to reality. It had been a dream. Just a dream of a terrible memory when I’d failed. I dropped my head into my hands and felt wetness against my cheeks.

Shit, I must have been crying in my sleep, which was why Roe had woken me up. His hands gripped my wrists softly and pulled them away from my face, his thumbs tracing soothing circles on my palms, helping my heart rate even out as the adrenaline left my body.

“I’m sorry,” I finally said when I’d gathered enough courage to look at him.

“Nothing to be sorry for.” There was no judgment or pity, just complete understanding of someone who’d also seen and done too much.

“You want to talk about it?” I shook my head, not wanting to relive the nightmare so soon, if ever.

“This helps,” I squeezed his hands. “Can I just-can I…” I didn’t know how to ask for what I needed, or if it would even be wanted after everything that’s happened between us. Roe seemed to read my mind and he opened his arms, drawing me down and holding me tight.

My hands wrapped under his shoulders and I laid my cheek flat against his chest, on top of the bare bit of flesh that I’d touched earlier. I slowed my breathing to match his and listened to the steady thump of his heart under me. I don’t know when I fell asleep but it was blessedly dream free.

When I woke the next morning, I was alone in the bed and the room was quiet. I rolled onto my back and pushed up to a sitting position. Though the room was still dark, a sliver of sunlight reached through the curtains and a quick check of my phone told me it was eight in the morning. I reluctantly got out of bed, grabbed some clothes and went to the bathroom to get ready.

Roe had left the room at some point and I was curious as to where he’d gone but also grateful to have the time alone to gather myself. The morning after a vivid nightmare usually left me groggy from lack of sleep but I felt refreshed thanks to Roe’s interference last night, even if it still had me feeling vulnerable.

When I couldn’t find an excuse to hide any longer, I opened the door and found Roe emptying the contents of a greasy brown paper bag onto the table.

“Good morning, I got us breakfast,” he said around a hashbrown that was hanging out of his mouth. His eyes were assessing as I walked across the faded carpet. I unwrapped one of the breakfast sandwiches and took a large bite, followed by a drink of the hot coffee. It was good, strong and it was just what I needed to face my embarrassment.

“Thank you for breakfast and for last night,” I made eye contact, refusing to be a coward.

“Anytime, Sam.” Roe didn’t joke or tease me about my nightmare or about our impromptu cuddling session afterward. We ate our breakfast in silence and cleaned up the trash, returning to the table after.

“Any idea what we’re supposed to do while we’re waiting to hear from Baz again?” I tapped my fingers, unaccustomed to having down time. Typically, this time of day I’d be in the office, or maybe the gym. If I was in the field, it was usually for surveillance work, which was boring but at least it was something. Even though we were technically on assignment, there wasn’t anything for us to do except wait for the phone to ring.

“Nope,” he brightened suddenly, a mischievous smile forming. “There’s no rule that we have to stay in the room while we wait to hear from him, is there?” I shook my head, wondering where this was going.

“Grab your shoes, we’re going out.” Roe shut his laptop and shoved it into his backpack, then bounced on his toes anxiously as he waited for me to lace my boots.

“Where are we going?” I asked, refusing to acknowledge that his excitement was contagious.

“It’s a surprise, don’t ask again, you know I can’t keep a secret.” I snorted, this was very true. At least the little secrets that didn’t matter much.

Fifteen minutes later, Roe turned the car into a parking lot and I squinted as I read the sign on the old building. ‘Henry’s Cryptid Museum.’

“What in the hell? What’s a cryptid?”

“Come on,” Roe practically jumped out of the car and I opened my door to meet him. He grabbed my hand and started dragging me to the entrance. I distracted myself from how good it felt to hold his hand by taking in the front of the building. Other than the original sign, it was very nondescript, giving me no clue as to what was inside. When we walked through the door my mouth dropped open in shock.

---