AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I laughed softly, making sure to stay quiet so I didn't wake up Damien.
"I thought you were someone come to kill me when I heard the door open up behind me and I couldn't see who was walking through it," I admitted.
"And yet you're still watching the movie," he muttered sarcastically. "That's nuts."
He was right, of course. It was also stupid, but I liked the thrill watching scary movies gave me. I shrugged and squeezed his hand.
He turned his head to the side and buried his face in my hair.
"Mmm..." he mumbled. "You smell nice."
I giggled, I couldn't help it. They both liked Dash’s scent.
Julian stayed awake with me through the rest of the movie.
We left Damien asleep under a pile of warm blankets and surrounded by fairy lights while Julian drove me home. For some reason he drove Damien's SUV, and I didn't ask why. Maybe they shared a vehicle? It didn't matter so I didn't ask. The ride was quiet, but not awkward, and he held my hand on his knee the whole way.
He walked me to the door, kissed me on the forehead, and waited outside for me to get inside and lock the door. Only then did he head back to the SUV.
Dash had left the lights on in the mud room and the dining room for me, but I didn't get the chance to tell him thank you because he was asleep in his bed. I know because I checked after I turned out the lights and headed up to my room.
His door was open wide and Binx was in the doorway, waiting for me. I scratched his little head and told him I'd be back. Then I went to my room and changed into sleep shorts and a tank top. I grabbed a pillow off of my bed and went back to Dash's room.
To my shock, Binx had listened to me and was waiting where I'd left him in the doorway.
Uninvited, I entered Dash's room and tiptoed over to the side of his bed he wasn't sleeping on. Very carefully, so as not to wake him, I pulled the covers aside and very carefully placed my pillow up against the headboard.
Dash didn't wake up when I got into the bed with him, but he did mumble something incoherently in his sleep, then rolled over to his side and wrapped his arm around my middle.
I didn't know if my being in there was a good idea or not, but I did know I wasn't ready to sleep alone when there was an unknown entity out there trying to get to me in my sleep.
I was out almost as soon as my head hit the pillow, and if I dreamed I didn't remember it.
And, just in case you were wondering, Dash acted like it was business as usual when he woke up beside me in the morning.
Chapter Eighteen
I sat the book down beside me on the wicker loveseat and rubbed my fingers against my poor, tired eyes. I had had a fascinating day watching Dash read tarot cards for several different ladies. It had been a long, but good, day and now I was exhausted.
But, no matter how hard I had tried, sleep had refused to come to me. I tossed, and I turned, and when laying there counting sheep hadn't worked for me, I'd finally decided to say to hell with it and gave up on trying.
I'd picked a book at random off of the shelf and settled down to read on the loveseat with my blanket from the bed, turning it into a cozy nest. I spent the last hour reading about herbs found in America, how to properly store them, and their many uses. The first fifteen pages or so had been very interesting. I'd lost interest not long after and had mostly been skimming ever since. Plants weren't really my thing, I had never tried to grow anything before, and didn't think I would be able to keep something alive and hoped I would never have to try. I liked learning about all the different uses each plant had, but they kind of bled into each other after a while, and they all sort of looked the same to me. I thought Julian would have been better off with the book on his shelf than mine, though, because he was really good with plants.
I should have gotten up off my butt and went to the shelf and picked out a new book, but the loveseat and nest I had made for myself was outrageously comfortable and I didn't feel much like moving.
Still not ready for sleep, I dropped my hand to my lap and looked out the window. I reached up with my other hand and pressed my palm against the cool glass.
The front yard, what little there was of it, was dark. The trees on the other side of the driveway slash road were black. The sky was lit up with stars and still it didn't brighten up the trees. It was dark, and, in its own way, beautiful. I still would rather not go outside and wander through the trees, no matter how beautiful it was. The woods were an entirely different story when the moon was full and shining brightly overhead. It made things a whole lot less frightening. The one and only time I had ventured into the woods alone had been on a night where the moon had been full of light and energy and had guided my way.
I was a city girl at heart, but I was beginning to appreciate the quiet of living out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the wilderness. Once, the quiet had bothered me, and even made it hard for me to sleep. I was used to hearing cars drive by, sirens going off, or people arguing in the next apartment over. Quiet, I was not used to. Even staying at Mr. Cole's house hadn't prepared me for the quiet of Dash's cottage. It was peaceful out here and I was really enjoying the quiet for once in my life.
Quiet was good. So was peaceful.
I jumped and pulled back from the window when a bunch of small objects came flying at me out of the dark. The book slid off the cushion and hit the floor with a loud thump as a bunch of small rocks rained against the window on the outside like hail.
"What the?" I muttered in a shaky voice.
A figure darted out of the shadows and moved into the soft light that Dash started leaving on on the front stoop after what happened with Chucky out there. He did it for my benefit, I knew. Tyson stepped into the glow, and he looked directly up and into my bedroom window. He waved his arms around wildly above his head and I grinned down at him. I didn't know if he could see my grin from all the way down there or if it was wasted on him.
