I'm ALWAYS here

Chapter 6

"After the shooting, I had three months to recover. All the time I didn’t have sex with Josh. Then he told me that I'm all right. He wanted to make it up somehow, but I still didn’t want to. When I was raped for the first time, he liked it. Then he raped me regularly. I fought him, but every time he was stronger than me. I fell asleep alone and naked. I was terribly afraid of him, but I couldn’t tell anyone," I said, and started to cry. Rick pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly.

"Kate, how often he did it?" he asked worriedly.

"At first it was only once or twice a week, but then it was at least five times a week. Rick, please I don’t want him to hurt me," I said sobbing and I buried my head in his chest.

"Stop worrying. I'll be here. I want you to be safe. You stay here. I'll help you get out of it," he whispered, pulling me away from me smiled. He took my hand and led me to the table. We ate together and then I put the plates in the dishwasher.

"Tonight I'll sleep on the couch. You can lie down in my bed," he said as I sat back to the table.

"No, I can’t."

"You can and do it, Kate. You need to finally sleep well," he said with a smile. I couldn’t smile.

"Castle, I'll sleep on the couch. Sleep in your bed," I whispered.

"I don’t want to argue with you. Go to my bed and get some sleep. I'll leave you alone," he said. I nodded and went into the bedroom. I fell asleep almost immediately.

I woke up with a yank. I had a nightmare, again. I looked at the clock. It was 3am. I got out of bed and went into the living room for the Castle. He slept. I sat next to him.

"Castle," I whispered, and he just woke up.

"Is something wrong, Kate?" he asked.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked and he nodded, "Will you lay to bed with me?"

"Sure." He smiled and we went back into the bedroom together. When we lied down beside each other, Rick grabbed my hand.

"Why do you want me to be here?" he asked cautiously while squeezed my hand.