Healing Sophie (18+) - RH//DDLG

51 - Grand Openings & Curtain Calls

Sorryyyy for the delay my brain has been soup .-.

Anxiety rose deep in Sophie's chest, growing and growing with every passing moment. He was going to get her.

The killer was drawing near, closing in on her. Her heart began beating erratically, thundering against her every bone and cell.

Run.

Why aren't you running?

She looked over her shoulder and gasped. The killer was only a few feet behind. One slip up and he would catch her. She took a deep breath and leaped to the side with everything she had. She breathed a sigh of relief as the footsteps behind her quieted.

A hand landed on Sophie's shoulder and she jumped, pulling her attention from the main character being chased on the TV. She turned to Victor and relaxed, settling into his side.

"I told you this would be too scary for you, princesa."

Sophie pouted. "I'm not scared."

"Aw, of course not. Such a big girl."

Sophie flushed and buried herself against Victor's arm. "You're being mean, daddy."

"I can be meaner." Sophie froze as Victor ran a taunting hand up her thigh.

"Shhh," Theo said dramatically, holding up a finger to his lips. "You're flirting too loud."

Theo's voice was raspy-sounding. He had been sick for the past few days and it only seemed to be getting worse. They were beginning dress rehearsals the next day and Sophie was worried he wouldn't be better in time.

"You sound like shit," Finn said. Theo whacked a hand against Finn's head and Finn glared at him with the force of a thousand suns. Sophie smiled, cuddling in between Victor and Chase. Her perfect home.

"You need to get better. We have dress rehearsals all week," Sophie said.

"Come nurse me back to health, Bambi. I'll show you where I need kisses."

Sophie giggled and threw some popcorn at Theo, each landing gracefully in his mouth as he threw her a wink.

She turned to look at the blonde to her right who had been quiet all night. She frowned and poked him in the side. "Chasey."

He turned to her and gave her a sleepy smile. "Hmm?"

She studied him for a moment before crawling into his lap and curling up to his chest. "Penny for your thoughts?"

He wrapped his arms tightly around her and sighed. "Just haven't been sleeping very well. I keep dreaming about my parents, about old arguments or things they said to me. I hate that I finally stood up to them and got them out of my life, but I still can't even sleep because of them."

Sophie frowned, unsure what to say that could help. She caressed her thumb across his arm. "I'm sorry."

"I get it too," Victor said. Chase looked up, surprised at Victor opening up. "I used to hide whenever my dad came home. Used to sleep with a knife under my bed for protection. When you helped me get out of there, I thought it wouldn't affect me anymore. I thought I could feel safe and move on. But it still follows me. I barely sleep some nights."

Chase was quiet for a moment as he processed Victor's words. "How do you deal with it?"

Victor ran a comforting hand across Sophie's thigh. "You guys help. And finding something that gave me purpose and that made me feel good has helped me. It's been shoving aside all the bad stuff in my head and paving way for the good stuff."