Page 73 of Split You Open

“Rhett…” She breathes as her eyes come into focus. For a second, they well up with tears and I think she’s about to cry. Quickly, she blinks away the evidence of her distress, though, and leans against me.

“Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?” Wes demands.

He scoots closer to us and puts a hand on Blair’s shoulder. I can’t tell if it’s to steady her, or himself. Either way, it seems to relax Blair.

“Blair’s been having nightmares,” I tell him as she catches her breath. “Sometimes she needs help waking from them.”

“This has happened before? Often?”

At my nod, Wes sighs and wipes his free hand down his face.

“I guess I’m not surprised.”

“What?” Blair asks, frowning.

He gives her a small, sad smile. “I’m guessing you started having nightmares pretty recently?”

“They started right after Rhett and I left.”

Wes hums as if this confirms something for him. “No doubt caused by stress. You were already under a lot of it before you guys were ambushed. On the run for your life, injured, and knowing that the person you trusted the most had betrayed you? Yeah, that’ll do it.”

Blair sucks in a shaky breath and lets it out slowly.

“Any idea how to get them to stop?” I ask him.

Wes shoots me an anxious look. “Yeah, deal with at least one of the triggers of your stress and they should lessen.”

“I’m going to get some water,” Blair says suddenly, pulling away from me to get to her feet. “Sorry I woke you. Go back to sleep.”

I reach for her hand to prevent her from leaving but Blair slips away before I can catch her. Wes starts to rise but I’m already getting to my feet.

“I got her,” I tell him.

“You sure?”

I don’t bother to answer him. Wes might be the caretaker of the family, but I can be there for Blair when she needs someone too. Slipping out of the living room, I head for the kitchen. It’s dark but my eyes adjust. I find Blair across the room. Her hands are braced on the edge of the sink but the water isn’t running.

There’s not even a glass out.

As I approach, I can hear Blair suck in deep, shaking breaths to steady herself.

“Blair?”

I come up behind her, cautious and slow. As I wrap my arms around her waist, Blair stiffens. Rather than retreat, I step forward so that my chest presses against her back and I hold on to her tighter. Bending down, I nuzzle my face into the side of her neck.

There’s a thick moment of silence, then Blair lets out a soft sigh and melts into me.

My heart shudders under the enormity of the submission. Blair doesn’t need me. She doesn’t need Wes, or Santi, and she sure as shit doesn’t need Ledger right now. The fact that she’s allowing me to comfort her is humbling in the gravest sense of the word. Unable to help myself, my lips press against the side of her neck where her pulse thumps slowly.

“Is it weird that while I’m happy to be back, I miss this?” I whisper just beneath her ear.

“This?”

“You know… Just the two of us.”

She shivers before whispering, “I miss us, too.”

“You okay? Want to… I don’t know, talk about the nightmare or something?”