Chapter 18. She Ran

Curled in Colton’s arms in bed, my head laid on his chest as I listen to his heartbeat’s steady rhythm. I doze in and out of peaceful and contented slumber. Something keeps waking me when I start to fall deeply, and I can’t seem to put my finger on it, like a dream or a feeling that’s just out of sight and appears to jump in to haul me back whenever my consciousness drifts away. An unease or a threatening nightmare, maybe, it’s a sense of wrong, and try as I might, I can’t seem to fall into blissful darkness for any length of time. It’s almost dawn, and I have barely dozed for more than twenty-minute slots at a time. I’m frustrated and exhausted, yet I can’t seem to rest.

Colton, however, is completely out cold, wrapped up around me protectively, his face buried in my hair as he silently inhales and exhales so peacefully that it at least brings me a sense of calm. His preferred full-frontal body position wedged against my side as I lay on my back, held in his arms and using hi