The moment I slide underneath the covers, he begins tossing and turning. I try to stay as still and quiet as possible so as not to wake him, but it’s like he’s having a nightmare. I watch as he shakes his head like he’s telling someone no to something, but then he reaches his hands out in front of him. A few seconds later, he wakes up, and I see he’s drenched in sweat. His eyes are filled with fear, and he doesn’t seem to know where he is.
I reach over and gently touch his cheek. He turns to look at me, and slowly, I see the man I know return.
“Are you okay? You were shaking your head and tossing and turning. Did you have a nightmare?”
He thinks about that for a long moment and then shrugs like nothing ever happened. “I don’t know. Maybe I was beating up that Rob from IT guy in my dreams.”
I roll my eyes and smile, but I know it wasn’t that. He wouldn’t wake up in a cold sweat if he was dreaming about beating the hell out of Rob.
As I snuggle up against his side and he wraps his arm around me, I wonder if I should mention this isn’t the first time he’s acted like he was having a nightmare. On the nights we’ve spent together since Ronan tried to kill himself, Marius has woken up like this more than a few times.
“Are you sure you’re okay, baby?” I ask, looking up at him.
“Whenever I’m with you, I’m all good, Duck,” he answers before sweetly kissing the top of my head.
I wish I could believe him.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Marius
Ava’s partiesnever fail to serve up some good times, but as soon as I walk in and see that Rob guy again, I’m pissed off. Eden told me he was a total jackass. The shithead couldn’t even be nice to the damn server. Why is he here for what would be considered their second date?
I pull Eden aside the first chance I get before most of the partygoers start arriving, practically dragging her into the powder room on the first floor. “What the hell is he doing here?”
She looks incredible tonight in a dark green tank top dress that shows off her tan. I wish I had said something about that before I asked about that guy. I love when she wears that color. It looks incredible next to her black hair and green eyes.
Before I can say anything like that, she snaps back, “The same thing he was doing when we went out on a date, Marius. This is all happening because of what you insist on with us, not me. You want to make sure this never happens again? Then let’s go out there and tell everyone the truth.”
I lean in and nuzzle her neck just under her ear. She smells like that perfume I love and can never remember the name of. I always think of Eden when I smell it.
“Why does it have to be that? I told you I want to keep you all to myself.”
She pushes me away and shakes her head. “Then you can’t complain when I have to pretend to be with some guy Ava sets me up with. You can’t have it both ways, Marius.”
Seriously? All I want to do is keep our relationship to only the two of us for a little longer. How can she not understand how important that is to me?
“This isn’t fair. How would you feel if I showed up with some girl?”
Anger fills her eyes, and she takes a step toward me so we’re pressed against one another. “I’m warning you, Marius. We can’t go on like this.”
“Are you giving me an ultimatum?”
I love when she gets feisty, but I’m getting the sense she’s about a mile past that right now. Eden knows I only want to be with her. For Christ’s sake, if I didn’t constantly have to put out fucking fires with my brothers and their goddamned problems, I’d tell her I want to move away to wherever she wants to go. I’d buy us a big house, and we could live out our lives together.
That’s not the case yet, though. Matthias and Kellen seem to be okay, but Ronan is still dealing with everything from his accident. Sure, he’s got Kate by his side, so he’s doing better. I just can’t walk away from him completely yet, and as long as I have to live around here near my family, I don’t want to let them in on the greatest part of my life.
Not yet.
“You call it what you want, Marius,” she says in a serious voice that tells me that was, in fact, an ultimatum. “All I’m saying is this can’t go on indefinitely.”
I reach out to push her hair behind her ear. “Promise me you won’t kiss him. I know you won’t sleep with him, but even the thought of you kissing him bothers me, so promise.”
That gets me a look of confusion mixed with disgust. Never a good combination.
“Are you kidding me? What makes you think you can put all these rules on me but you don’t have to follow any?”
Leaning down, I sneak a kiss. “I follow a bunch of rules with you. Remember when you told me you hated that I didn’t put my toothbrush in the cup? I’ve never not put it away since that day. And remember when you said you didn’t want to see my socks on the floor near the hamper because that bothered you? Tell me, have you seen any recently? See? Those are only two very good examples of how I follow rules very well when it comes to you.”
