Maggie Norris and Luke Vaudest come with attitudes of stone-cold, rude, sarcastic snakes. Every single time the pair have clashed, it has never ended up being a good thing. The two are more than fine with never crossing paths, again.
Until Maggie d...
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"True friendship is when two friends can walk in opposite directions, yet remain side by side." — Josh Grayson ————————————————————
Chapter 26 <—————————————>
Luke
I'd never felt so fucked in my life.
Past my father, past Beatrice and Vance. Past my mother. Past the event.
None of it compared to the moment I had Maggie in my arms.
I'd been watching over her for the past eight hours.
I told her I'd go to sleep so that she wouldn't be embarrassed of what had happened, but I hadn't. I couldn't. Fuck that.
I didn't want her to think for one minute that I wouldn't hold up to my promise of being here, so I stayed awake, and watched over her, just in case.
I was sleepy as shit since I'd only gotten two hours of sleep. But, the thought of her waking up, and thinking that she was danger fucked with me in ways I couldn't understand. So, fuck sleep.
I never let my hand fall from her. I stroked, traced, and watched every inch of her face until I memorized the lines. I'd figured out that when her eyebrows scrunched, she was closing in on a nightmare. When her nose crinkled up, it meant that she was calming back down. When I pulled her closer to me, her lips always twitched, so I took that as a good sign.
Or, maybe I took it as an excuse to keep her close.
I didn't know what the fuck was going on with me. Or where or when or how every time she put those big green eyes on me, my heart began to jump. And, sometimes, damn near stop altogether.
I couldn't even fully recall the moment it started. The dance, maybe. The champagne game we played? Maybe it was when I saw her with my brother, and nearly collapsed with fear of anyone harming her. Or, when I saw her nearly cry over that bitch of a boyfriend, or when I'd nearly kissed her.
I nearly fucking kissed her.
I wasn't a good enough man to have had the strength to pull away. She would have had to stop me, I nearly begged her to stop me, but she hadn't. She had leaned in right with me until the room service came. As annoyed as I was, I couldn't deny the relief.
And, then now...here we were.
I'd never seen her so afraid in my life. I didn't think Maggie was capable of being scared, honestly, or at least not showing it.
But, that was the thing. If something had put her in that much distress, it had to leave an impact on her. It wasn't too clear, but one thing was.
Whoever the fuck interrupted her dreams wouldn't touch her, again.
I knew normal nightmares and terrors happened, but this couldn't have been one. The fear on her face had been genuine. Her screams were real, and a part of me wondered if the nightmare had been, too.
