But why?

Ma is totally cool when she’s putting red lipstick and wearing red dresses. It means she’ll read me stories and put me to sleep. She’ll be there for me when them monsters voices start coming from the basement.

Ma is bad when she has no lipstick on and wears that white dress. That’s when she makes me sit on her lap and sings me that haunting song. That’s when them monsters come to take me away.

Uncle Reg motions at my rose. “Is that for her?”

“Yes!” I grin. “Ma loves red.”

A heavy sigh leaves his lips as he stands to his full height and pats my head. “Careful, princess. Red also means blood.”

Uncle Reg morphs into a shadow.

My heartbeat picks up.

No, no…

I shake my head.

It isn’t real.

Not real.

I need to take the red rose to Ma. She’ll read for me. She’ll put me to bed when them monster voices come.

The rose’s sharp thorn pierces my finger.

Ow.

The first droplet of blood hits the ground. Another follows.

Then another.

Before I know it, a pool of red surrounds me, its surface is like a mirror.

My breathing turns shallow when I look down.

Hollow black eyes stare back at me.

I shriek.

* * *

Present,

I startle awake, screaming and frantically studying my hands.

No blood.

There’s no blood.

There are no dark hollow eyes gaping up at me.

No monsters.

“Hey… hey…”

A hand clutches my arm. I claw and hit them.

The monsters won’t take me away again.

I escaped them. They can’t find me anymore.

“Elsa!”

My breathing catches at the sound of my name. I blink twice and realise I’m in a bed in a familiar room.

Aiden is trying to hold me to his chest. A scratch mark runs down his left pectoral muscle.

My eyes widen.

Did… did I cause that?

Aiden grabs both my hands in his. The same hands that I just used to smack him with.

A deep frown etches between his eyebrows as he watches me intently as if preparing himself in case I have another episode.

Oh. God.

The nightmare. I had an episode after the nightmare.

I close my eyes and a tear slides down my cheek.

“Hey.” Aiden brings my fingers to his mouth and kisses them one by one.

I slowly peel my lids open.

How can he kiss the same fingers that I just hurt him with?

No. He’s not only kissing them. He slides his lips over each fingertip as if he’s worshipping them.

“What are you doing?” I murmur through hiccoughs.

He offers an easy-going grin and speaks against my fingers. “Getting you back.”

“Getting me back from where?”

“From whoever was trying to take you away from me just now.”

A sob tears its way out of my throat and I let my head fall against his chest. My cheek rests to his hard muscles and I listen intently to his heartbeat.

His soothing, normal heartbeat.

I run the pad of my finger over the scratch mark on his chest. “I-I’m sorry… I’m s-so sorry. I didn’t mean to do this… I… I…”

“Shh,” Aiden’s arms come around my back and he wraps us both in the sheet as I cry softly into his chest.

I can still feel the prick of the thorn and see the blood.

So much fucking blood.

It’s on my hands, under my skin, and all around me.

Was that a memory or a nightmare? If it was real, how could there be that much blood and no one knew about it?

And who’s Uncle Reg? Is he a real person or a play of my imagination?

Careful, princess. Red also means blood.

A shudder shoots through me at his words.

“Another nightmare?” Aiden asks calmly.

I nod against his skin but say nothing.

He draws small circles at my back. I’m all sweaty and dishevelled, but that doesn’t stop Aiden from holding me close until his chest crushes my breasts and all I can smell is him.

And my scent on him.

And the scent of sex in the air.

He barely let me go to sleep and only after he wrenched two more orgasms out of me. I still feel sore and sensitive.

But right now? Right now, I feel something else.

I feel the familiarity of Aiden’s embrace and how much I need it. How much it’s just right to be in his arms.

No. It’s wrong.

I can’t fall for his games again.

I try to squirm away, but he only tightens his hold on my back as we both fall to the mattress facing each other.

He wraps his hand around my midsection and I place both palms on his chest. His heartbeat booms under my fingertips, and I instantly feel calmer.

It’s like my own custom-made lullaby.

“Just sleep,” he murmurs in that husky voice.

I shake my head.

“Why not?”

“What if they come back?” I sniff.

“I’ll be here.” He wraps a hand around my head and places it on his chest like that’s where I’ve always belonged.

Like he can’t have it any other way.

We remain like that for a few, and I’m too tired to fight anything at the moment.

“Remember when I told you that I’ll protect you?”

I nod, my eyes starting to flutter closed.

“That includes the monsters from your nightmares, Elsa.”

I make an unintelligible sound as sleep whisks me away.

Aiden will protect me from the monsters in my nightmares.

But how did he know they were monsters?

I never told him that.

Right?

20

Elsa

When I wake up in the morning, it’s cold and empty.

I slept cocooned in Aiden’s embrace, but he’s nowhere to be found now.

No sound comes from the bathroom either.

I sit up in bed and try to fight off the wave of disappointment that hits me out of nowhere.

Where did he go?

Did I scare him off with my nightmare yesterday?

I tell myself that Aiden isn’t the type that can be scared off, but the doubts jam into my mind anyway.

My backpack rests on a chair and my uniform is neatly tucked beside it.

If he took the time to do that, it should mean that he didn’t bail on me, right?

Tucking the sheet around my body, I stand up and glimpse out the window.

There’s no trace of his Ferrari.

My chest squeezes so hard like it’s on the verge of breaking.

Aiden stranded me in the middle of nowhere.

This feels so much like the first time we had sex; he just up and left without a word.

Back then, I gave him my virginity. Yesterday, I gave him my true, raw self.

He left after both times.

A wave of anger hits me — at myself, not him. Isn’t this what I want? What am I so disappointed about?

With a huff, I take a quick shower and change into my uniform.

I’m leaving this place and never returning.

Pressure builds behind my eyes as I glance back at the bed.

The bed in which he made me feel both pleased and safe — even if he was a dick about the first one.

He couldn’t have faked the care in his eyes. He couldn’t have pretended to hold me and soothe my nightmares after I scratched him.