Hide (Mommy's House 3)

30

Bella's eyes opened to a dark room.

Her fingers stretched towards the other side of the bed, but no one was there. She patted around, feeling nothing but empty sheets.

Her breathing picked up and her lip started to tremble. She felt disoriented, a jarring feeling that washed over her and drained the blood from her face. Suddenly, she couldn't remember where she was, and her mind felt scrambled.

"Cole," she let out a weak whisper. Then, she screamed out, "Cole!"

Her heart slammed rapidly against her ribcage as her shaking fingers gripped the comforter. She pulled the blanket up over her bare chest as she heaved for air, her eyes moving around the dark room, desperate to catch a single indicative shadow.

But all she could see were flashes of Cole's dead body at her feet, Rich's determined face over her as he held her down, Norman's paralyzed grin, Kane pulling the gun on himself... then the shot, then the thud of a body hitting the hard ground.

Tears flew from her eyes. She cupped her fingers over her mouth. She felt panicked, like she couldn't get a proper breath of air in her lungs.

Quickly, the door next to her opened. She jumped at the sound and looked over to find Cole rushing into the room. A strip of light leaked in from the living area, illuminating his silhouette.

"I'm here, I'm here," he reassured her. He flipped a lamp on and the room lit up.

Bella sat frozen in the bed, her eyes squinting from the harshness of the light, her lungs reaching for air. She looked around the room, letting the calm familiarity of Cole's bedroom put her at ease.

She exhaled and settled back against the pillow behind her. Cole closed the door and slid beside her onto the bed. He was shirtless, pajama pants hanging low on his hips, and his hair was disheveled. She looked up at him, and his eyes were wide, trying to read her expression.

"Are you okay? Shit, I'm sorry," he told her. "James called, your dad was wondering where you were."

Bella's eyes widened as she stared at the wall ahead of her. She pushed her hair off of her sticky face and continued to breathe heavily. "What time is it?" she finally choked out.

He looked at the flip clock that sat on the nightstand. "Two-thirty."

"Shit," she cried out, tangling her fingers in her hair as she closed her eyes and huffed. Her father probably just got home from his shift - she could picture him frantically searching the house for her. "I never even told him I left. He's probably freaking out."

"He knows where you are now," Cole reassured her, his eyes still watching her. "I'll get you water. I'll be right back."

She watched him stand from the bed. She stared at his back, at the healed, white slashes that stretched across the skin. She caused some of those.

He disappeared from the room, and she stared down at the blanket, her fingertips gently touching the fabric. A tear slid from her nose and dropped onto the bed. She never used to cry this much, even when her mother left, she remembered wondering why she couldn't cry. Now, she couldn't stop.

Cole came back and handed her a cup of water. She didn't look at him, just stared down at the bed as she grabbed the cup from him.

"What happened?" he questioned. "Nightmare?"

She pressed the lip of the cup against her dry bottom lip and drank the tap water, her eyes refusing to move from the blanket.

"I'm sorry I left you. It was just for a second to answer the phone. I didn't think you'd wake up," he apologized again.