Last True Hero by Gardin Diana

Author:Gardin, Diana [Gardin, Diana]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2015-11-10T08:00:00+00:00

18

Berkeley

Dare?”

It’s morning again, and we all know how functional I am at this hour. What hour? Any hour with the letters a.m. directly following.

So I’m groggy and confused when I feel his body convulsing beside me.

“Dare?” I say again, louder.

Holy crap. It’s his PTSD. He’s having a nightmare, and he can’t wake up from it.

I shove him onto his back from his side and climb on top of him. His eyes are squeezed shut tight, and he’s mumbling in his sleep as his body shakes with violent tremors.

“Dare!” I scream it now. “Wake up!”

His arms reach up, and he grabs my shoulders. Hard. I gasp with the force of it, but then use my palm to slap him across the face. Also hard.

His eyes fly open, wild and panicked. The brilliantly clear green draws me in as his glance darts to his hands still gripping my shoulders. His eyes widen and he instantly releases me.

“Shit, Berkeley! I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Did I hurt you? Shit.”

I shake my head firmly, not even considering that there’s a tiny hint of pain where his hands gripped me so firmly. It doesn’t matter. He matters, and so does the pain he’s in.

“I’m fine.” I shake my head dismissively. “Have you talked about them?”

He slowly sits up, gripping my hips to keep me seated on his lap. “Talked about what?”

“The dreams. Did you talk about them when you were in therapy? You must have done some therapy after your injury, right?”

He eyes me warily, and silence stretches out between us like a rope. I grasp the end of it, pulling myself back to him before he’s able to retreat from my question.

“They’re not going to stop, Dare. Not unless you share them.”

I read the panicked look in his eyes and instantly soften my tone. “I’m here. When you’re ready to talk about them. Okay? I can listen.”

He keeps his eyes locked on me, and then finally runs a hand through his disheveled hair. He nods tiredly. “Yeah. Maybe one day.”

I tilt my head to the side, assessing him. “One day soon?”

He hesitates and averts his gaze. When he looks up again, he looks sadly at my shoulders. I glance down to see I have red marks where his fingers gripped me. No bruising will result, and I don’t want him to worry about that. I grip his chin in my hand.

“Hey,” I say firmly. “You didn’t hurt me, Dare. But you are hurting. Every night in your dreams. And that’s not okay with me. Let me help you.”

I can see the torrent of emotions as they flicker through his eyes one by one. I know he’s never talked about the things that haunt him at night. He’s gone through something so awful he can’t even spill the words from his lips. But if he doesn’t find a way to expel it, it will consume him. I’m certain of that. And I can’t sit around and watch it happen, now that I know him.

“I don’t want to drag you into my hell, Berkeley,” he finally says.

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