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“You’re not asleep?”

“We’re taking shifts.”

“Shifts?”

“Keeping you company.”

“Oh… it’s okay. Sleep. I’m tired too… love you… nite.”

I opened my eyes to darkness.

This time, that weariness that had been plaguing me for what had seemed like days on end and forcing me back to sleep every time I woke for a little bit, wasn’t there this time.

Nothing was pulling me back under.

I shifted, finding myself tucked up in a bed, soft sheets and pillows surrounding me.

I was clad in my go-to lounge and pajama wear of my gray sweatpants and a white muscle tee.

And I wasn’t bound by cuffs or ropes, or anything.

I could actually move about freely.

I pushed myself up against the headboard, blinking harshly at the fogginess swirling around my head.

I remembered being shot up with something, but it wasn’t that. This was distinctive.

It was nicotine withdrawal.

I started to take in my surroundings, trying to get my bearings, and the first thing I noticed was that I was in Caspian’s bedroom in his giant bed. But there was no sign of him.

In fact, as I looked over at the space beside me, there was no sign he’d even slept there recently. Also, the side of the bed that I was currently on was his side anyway.

I frowned. What was that all about? Why wasn’t he here?

I started as I laid eyes on a figure slumped forward in a chair in the corner.

It took me a moment to make them out through the dark.

Jesus. It was Ash.

There he was like it was all perfectly normal, clad in his all-black jeans and dress shirt, that tousled hair of his taking on more of a bedhead type of look than normal.

“Damn, I’d forgotten how sweet and innocent you look when you’re sleeping,” I spoke aloud.

“I’m not asleep.”

I jolted and slapped a hand to my chest. “Shit.”

“Just resting my eyes for a while.”

He opened them and those silver orbs cut right through the dark. Ironic.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, sitting forward in the chair.

I blinked, trying to put everything into place. “So, I wasn’t hallucinating or something? You were there… in that van… getting the cuffs off… at that farmhouse too?”

“I was,” he confirmed.