War of Hearts by Nina Levine

Author:Nina Levine
Language: eng
Format: epub

20

Zara

* * *

Sleeping in jeans is the most uncomfortable thing in the world.

The most comfortable thing in the world is waking up to Fury spooning me, those big arms of his holding me tightly.

He makes me feel safe.

“Are you awake?” I ask.

“Yeah.” The husky tone in his morning voice is something else. I need a whole lot more of it in my life.

A few moments pass before he unwraps his arms from around me, and rolls away. I miss him instantly.

I turn to face him. “Thank you for last night.” I was a mess when I texted him just before midnight. I’d spent the three hours before that telling myself I was okay, that I could make it through the night by myself. I tried to downplay my anxiety when he called; I felt so dumb to reach out to him for help.

He shifts his attention from the ceiling to me. “Do you have a lot of nightmares?”

“Some.”

“How often?”

“A few times a week.”

“And being scared while you’re home alone. Is that usual?”

I nod, feeling defeated and like a failure. “Yes.” My voice cracks as I answer him. These are things I’ve tried to make go away, but instead of succeeding in that, they’ve gotten worse. Or maybe it’s not that they’ve gotten worse, but that each time compounds in my mind, making it all feel like a mountain I can’t scale. I feel like I can’t make it over the top of this mess and get to the other side.

He sits up, swinging his legs over the bed and standing. Jerking his chin, he says, “We’re gonna have some breakfast, and then I’m gonna show you some shit you can do to defend yourself if you need to.”

Before I’ve left the bed, he’s out of the room and down the hall.

“Ah, I’m going to need a shower first,” I call out.

“Make it fast, princess. I’ve got shit to do today,” he calls back.

I’m pretty sure it’s messed up that I like him calling me princess even though he started calling me that in a mean way. But that’s because I don’t think he uses it in a mean way anymore. I need to remind myself, though, that I like him in a different way than he likes me.

I throw myself in the shower and make it as quick as possible. That I’m no good with fast showers means that Fury has time to cook bacon and eggs before I join him.

He eyes me as he transfers the eggs to our plates. “That’s your idea of a quick shower?”

I shrug. “I tried.” Sliding onto a stool across from him, I say, “I’m not trying to be ungrateful here, but I don’t eat bacon. So you can have all of that.”

He stops what he’s doing. “Who the fuck doesn’t eat bacon?”

“Me.”

“Fuck, are you vegan?”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

He shakes his head. “Not a bad thing, but I’m not down with any evangelical vegan bullshit. I’ll do a lot of fucking things for you, Zara, but listening to that shit isn’t one of them.

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