“Okay, I’ll hold you,” he insisted, as if I’d been asking him to do so. Then he wrapped me back up and pulled me into him, acting as the big spoon to my little one. Before long, I fell asleep, and for the first night, in too many to think about, I slept through the night without waking to nightmares.

Chapter 14

When I woke up, there was no one in bed with me. You would think panic would have set in, that I’d wonder if Tucker had seen the error of his ways and realized I was too crazy to hedge his bets on. You would think that I wondered if him staying long enough to hold me until I fell asleep had been about making sure I was okay before he left and found the quickest way to ditch me. You would be right.

Insecurities were a bitch like that, and they didn’t just go away because you wanted them to. My whole whirlwind thought process was quelled somewhat by finding the note that was left for me on the dresser though.

Mina,

Got called into work and needed to go home to get some clothes to wear. We will talk later, don’t forget, dinner tonight. It’s our starting point.

Yours,

Tucker

Well, I guess I couldn’t really complain about that. And no, I was not going to think too much on his salutation either. Then again, what exactly did ‘yours’ mean? Shit! Nope. I wasn’t hopping the train to crazy town again. I was going to get up, shower, wash the remnants of tears from my face, eat something, and find my roommate so I could apologize to her. Not only did I bring drama to her doorstep, but she missed extra work for me last night, and I’m sure her boss didn’t think too highly of that after she told him she’d be there.

Once I was clean and clothed, I moved into the kitchen to get the food portion of my morning going. Luna was seated at the little two-person table we had as our breakfast nook. It was also the dinner table, but it’s all that fit in the space allotted.

“Morning,” she offered up before sipping at the steaming cup in her hands. Luna was sort of an oddball. She only drank tea, but she fixed it like I would make coffee with plenty of other flavors. I had yet to try it, and today was not going to be the day. Instead, I grabbed the orange juice – pulp free because I wasn’t a monster – and took the seat on the other side of the table.

“I’m sorry you had to come back last night.”

Her head snapped up, so that she was staring at me as she sat her teacup down on the table. “You think I care about having to come home?”

“Well, your job,” I insisted.

“Screw my job, Mina! You were in a bad place last night, it was my brother’s fault for putting you there, and you’re my best friend. There is nowhere else in the universe I would rather be. Besides, it’s a good thing that I did come back. Wes panicked and wanted to take you to the hospital. He didn’t understand that you were just having a PTSD episode.”