Almost Had Me (Passion Book 2)

Chapter Four

I was woken by a sudden scream.

My eyes flashed open instantly, and I was rolling out of bed, ready for whatever was to come. My first fear was that Doug had come for my sister. But when the scream came again, it was distinctly
coming from right next to me.

Eddie's skin was covered in a sheen of sweat. He was shirtless, and his chest was rising and falling fast. His hands were curled into the bedsheets, and he was twisting, crying out.

"No!" he screamed.

I threw myself back onto the bed, resting my hand on his shoulder. I shook him gently yet firmly, hoping to wake him.

"Eddie," I said in a panicked voice. "Edmundo!"

His eyes popped open, and they were bleary with sleep. They were unfocused, but when they landed on me, he calmed.

"Buck," he whispered.

"I'm here," I murmured, kissing his forehead.

He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against his chest. He was still breathing hard, but he was beginning to relax; I could feel the tension leaving his body.

We laid like that, for what felt like hours. I was afraid of upsetting him after whatever that had been. I didn't know him to have nightmares, though we'd only spent a few nights together.

I wished I knew him better, so I would know how to comfort him, but I was out of my element. I dealt with high stress situations every day, but I wasn't sure what to do.

He'd obviously had a nightmare, but I didn't know how to help.

"Are you okay?" I eventually asked.

I heard him swallow.

"Yeah. I'll be fine. Nothing new."

"Do you have nightmares often?" Lifiting my head, I gazed at him, wanting to read his face.

He hesitated before answering. "Not often."

"Bullshit,"

He frowned, his dark brows furrowing. "Why the hell does it matter?"

I jerked away from him. "Why are you mad all of a sudden?" I demanded.

"Does it matter if I have nightmares? What does it have to do with you?"

"Nothing. But I want to help if I can."

"You can't help me with this."

"Fine," I snapped, sitting up. I wasn't in the mood to be cuddling with him if he was going to be am asshole.

"Buck -"

"Just fucking leave it."

He sighed, resting a hand on my back.

"I have a dark past."

I perked up at that. He didn't talk much about his past, and this was information I could file away to analyze later.

A dark past. What could have happened to him? I knew that he'd done two tours of Afghanistan, but he never talked about that, never gave me more details.

"Your nightmare was about your time in Afghanistan," I murmured.

He stiffened beside me but said nothing. I knew I was right.

"I don't want to burden you with the details," he said eventually.

"Why not? I'm your partner."

"Just drop it, Evan. It's not something we're discussing."