False Awakening by Cassandra Page

Author:Cassandra Page
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: dreams, nightmare, australian, sandman, dream catcher, morpheus, erebus, oneiroi
Publisher: Cassandra Page

Chapter Eighteen

“Are you okay?” I eyed Brad as he rolled his head from side to side as if trying to stretch out a kink.

“Yeah.” He rinsed our coffee cups, leaving them upside down on the drain board. “I just have a crick in my neck.” He glanced sideways at me, smiling faintly. “And no, I’m not blaming you.”

I felt surprisingly well after our impromptu nap on the couch. Of course, I’d awoken with my head pillowed against Jen’s shoulder, which may have had something to do with it. “Do you want me to give you a massage? Or a massage?” I raised an eyebrow. Jen had left half an hour before to go to the library—the real one this time—which meant we had the house to ourselves. I’d vacuumed while Brad was showering, and put a load of towels on the line, so I could relax without feeling guilty. And I knew exactly how I wanted to relax.

“Actually, I’m thinking I might get changed and head home,” Brad replied with a sigh. “See if the nursing home has called.”

Shame clenched at my gut, and I rounded the bench to give him a hug. Here I was, thinking about sex when he’d just been told his grandfather might never wake after all. “I’m sorry.”

“For what? You didn’t make my grandfather crash his car all those years ago.” Brad’s breath tickled my ear as he drew me close.

“For being insensitive. I’m an idiot.”

“You’re not.” He rested his cheek against my hair and I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with the spicy scent of his aftershave. “Maybe he’d prefer it this way,” Brad continued. “I don’t know that he’d even want to wake up, you know?”

“Yeah,” I said softly. Brad suspected his grandfather’s crash had been deliberate, a grisly attempt to join his wife after she’d passed away. I’d seen Mum struggle with Ollie’s absence. How would she have reacted if he’d been executed rather than imprisoned? I swallowed the lump in my throat, shoving the thought away. “That has to hurt.”

“It did at first, but I’m used to it now. Anyway, maybe there … there might have been some change. Maybe Leander’s wrong?”

“Maybe.” I winced as I heard the dubious tone in my voice. Way to go, Melaina. Thankfully, Brad didn’t ask me to elaborate on my thoughts. I didn’t want to have to tell him what Leander had said: that his grandfather’s dreams had been hollowed out. The phrase made me think of the crumpled, sad skin of a kiwi fruit after the flesh had been eaten. Brad didn’t need that mental image.

Keeping his arms around my waist, Brad took half a step back, leaning against the sink. A wan smile crept onto his face. “So Leander has a crush on you,” he teased.

My stomach swooped. “What? No!”

“He does. I’d bet a pile of money on it.”

“Are you thinking of the way he treated you before?” I asked. Brad nodded, and I wrinkled my nose. “I’ve known him since I was a kid.

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