It wasn’t too much longer before the party started to wind down. I followed behind Anna as she said goodbye to Jack’s parents, promising to stay in touch and visit next time she was in town, before seeking out her own parents and bidding them farewell too.

I nodded to Dean who immediately headed to the door and stopped, waiting for us. As we stepped out of the hotel ball room, we made our way across the foyer and over to the elevators. Two secret service agents that I recognised from the lake house were waiting outside it, they waved us through quickly.

As the elevator sped us up to our desired floor, I felt slightly sick. I wasn’t staying in with Anna tonight. The accommodation was prearranged, and it would look weird if we changed them, so the agents were to be sleeping two floors below the family tonight. The night guards would take over their protection duty. I’d been dreading this part all day. I hated being separated from her; I worried about her like crazy when she wasn’t at my side. Thoughts of Carter haunted me when she wasn’t with me, but spending the night away from her would be even worse because I knew she would dream about him and there would be nothing I could do to prevent it.

I tried not to show Anna how worried I was as we walked to her hotel room. “Can I come in and check your room?” I asked, needing to make sure that she was safe. I knew that her room was okay because there had been guards outside it all day, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to settle if I didn’t look for myself. Realisation hit me that maybe I really was too overprotective, just like she always said I was.

“Sure,” she agreed, looking amused as she gave me a little tug into her suite.

My eyes widened at the luxury of the place as we stepped inside. She had a separate living area with a ginormous flat screen TV on the wall, sofas, and even what looked like a little kitchen area. She plopped down on the sofa as I headed to the bedroom and checked under the bed and in the closet and bathroom to make sure nothing or nobody was hiding in her room. When I had satisfied myself, I sat down next to her on the plush sofa. This situation was killing me. I knew she was going to be annoyed with me if I didn’t stop stressing out, but I couldn’t calm my jangled nerves.

One of her perfectly plucked eyebrows rose in question. Silently, I waited for her to scold me for treating her like a child or something, but she didn’t. Instead, she looked like she understood. “Ashton, I’ll be fine, will you stop worrying?”

I sighed. I really wished I could. My life would be so much easier if I’d never met her and didn’t have her to worry about. “I know you’ll be fine, I’m just worried about how many bad dreams you’re gonna have without me there,” I admitted. “And also, I’m gonna miss you in the bed,” I added, smiling weakly.

She laughed quietly. “I’m gonna miss you in the bed too,” she shrugged before continuing, “And maybe I won’t even dream, you never know. I haven’t had any nightmares for three months. Maybe they’ve stopped?” She looked like she didn’t believe a word of that statement at all.

“Yeah, I hope so. If it gets bad, then please call me,” I begged. “I’ll come up if you need me.” I took her hand, just needing to touch her before I left her.

A reassuring smile graced her lips. “I’ll be fine, but if I’m not, then I’ll call you,” she agreed.

I sighed, knowing that it was time to go. “Well, I guess I should let you get some sleep then. I’ll see you for breakfast, yeah?” I asked hopefully.

She nodded. “Yep,” she agreed and I kissed the back of her hand as she walked me to the door. She nodded tersely at the guy who was sitting in the chair outside her bedroom door. By her tight and defensive posture alone, I could tell she didn’t like him. I smiled and shook my head; she really had a problem with guards.

“Goodnight then, Anna,” I whispered, watching her face, silently wishing she would beg me to stay with her, screw the guards and her parents and their opinions.

“Night, Ashton.” She shook her head, and an amused smile pulled at the corner of her mouth. Probably because of me and how pathetic I was. I sighed as I stepped out of the door and closed it behind me. Every muscle in my body was tight, wanting to run into her room and throw her on the bed and never let go. I pushed the thought away and turned back to the agent outside her door as I reached into my pocket, fumbling for the scrap of paper that I’d written my cell phone number on.

“Hey, here’s my number. If there’s any trouble with Anna tonight, then give me a call. Any time, I don’t care,” I instructed, holding out the paper to him.

He grinned. “I think I can handle Annabelle’s trouble,” he replied sarcastically, sneering at me like I was a three year old.

I bit back my angry retort. “Look, I’m sure you think you can handle her, but I’ve been working with her for the last three months, if she freaks out or has a nightmare or something, then call me, okay?” My anger was growing by the second.

“Screw it, man. If she has a nightmare, then that’s down to her. You’ve got the night off, go enjoy yourself, you don’t get paid enough for her shit,” he said, shrugging arrogantly.

Fucking ass**le! My hand was itching to punch the smirk off of his face, but I swallowed my anger and tried to keep my voice normal. “What’s your name?” I asked politely.

His smile faded. “Mike.”

Clearly, my tone hadn’t been as polite as I’d intended. “Well, Mike, if I find out tomorrow that she had a bad night and you didn’t call me, you and I are going to have a big f**king problem. You understand what I’m saying?” I growled, looking at him warningly.