He Comes at Night

The Pattern

Whole NEW edited chapter, finally getting this story up and moving after a year!!!

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She could still feel his body pressed against hers, invading her space and squeezing her until she felt like a prisoner in his grip. His touch was cold, sending shivers over her skin as she reminisced of the nightmare.

The thoughts of the memory were uncomfortable and hard to kick. Though none of it was real, Nina found herself avoiding Jax in the days following, which was hard given the fact that they were partners.  

Luckily, there were no labs scheduled and their conversation remained minimal at most. Reduced to a good morning and 'did you get the notes from yesterday?'

"So how pissed is your dad? I already know he's blaming me for you sneaking out," Trish pressed, braking Nina out of her trace. They sat together on the soft grass after cheer practice, soaking in the last of the warm days of September. 

Not remembering how long she was reflecting on the nightmare from that night, Nina shook the feelings she had and focused on the conversation, not wanting Trish to sense anything was wrong.

Three episodes in two weeks was a pattern. A pattern she did not want to admit to anyone that was happening. Especially not her friends, because although they were always there for her, Nina couldn't help feel like deep down, they thought she was crazy. 

"To be fair, you are the reason I even went out. You practically begged me to come," Nina reminded her as she grabbed her duffel bag from the grass.

Of course her dad was angry when he found she disobeyed his orders and as always, he knew her best friend had something to do with it. Nevertheless, Nina took full responsibility for sneaking out. 

The morning she got home, Gavin waited for her on the couch, calm and collected, reading the newspaper with his glasses like it was the 1950's. His relaxed demeanor showed his anger was worse than what she anticipated. 

However, to her surprise, he never confronted her. He gave her a single look over his thick black rims and moved his attention back to his paper. They haven't spoken to each other in days.

Trish stood across from her with a slightly open mouth, "So you're telling you didn't get a single lecture? Not one?"

Nina shook her head. Honestly not even wanting to get into it, the whole interaction was odd and out of his character as a parent. She would have much rather been yelled at. Instead, he was just ignoring her. 

Lesson learned.

"So did you two have sex?" Nina blurted, diverting her attention from her family drama.

"Me and who?" Trish asked, looking over her shoulder to see who Nina was talking about.

"The fact that you have to look around to narrow down the candidate is frightening," Nina shook her head, "Jax Trish, did you sleep with Jax?"

The question was odd though, Nina never asked who Trish had been with. She never cared, but suddenly it was a thought that scratched the surface of her brain since that night. 

"That weirdo didn't want a single thing to do with me. He slept on the floor all night," Trish admitted, taking her thick hair and tying it into a top knot, "Never really been into the whole nice guy thing, you know that."

Nina laughed.

"That's probably why Carter annoys me so much. Like it's ok to be an asshole sometimes."

Shaking her head at Trish's logic, Nina felt the total opposite. Completely grateful that her boyfriend was who he was. And perhaps, that's why she warmed up to Jax so quickly, as he too seemed to be in the same.