“I had them for a while after my parents died. For a few years. Dreams like the one I just had, where I’m in the car and I’m watching them die, but I can’t do anything to save them. After a while, the nightmares went away. Then Kaimi waved his gun in my face. I haven’t had a peaceful night since.”

She twisted her fingers into Dante’s t-shirt. The strength under her hands soothed her.

He ran his hands over her hair, rubbing her back. He pulled back to hold her hands.

“Laurie, if these nightmares are going to keep happening, I may need to start sleeping in your room with you. I can sleep on the floor in here just fine, but I can’t sleep in the other room when I think you’re being attacked in here.”

“I’m sorry, Dante.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I just can’t get them to go away.”

“No, I know. I know.” Dante embraced her again. “I just need to know you’re safe, okay? You can think about it and let me know what you’re comfortable with.”

“I’ll think about it.” She sniffled, trying to keep the tears at bay.

Dante repositioned himself on the bed so he could lean up against the wall, propped up by one of Laurie’s pillows. He held her for a long while.

Laurie curled up against him, her chest lying on top of his. She tucked her head up under his chin, and laid her hand over his heart.

He rubbed her back.

She fell into an exhausted sleep.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Dante

Dante woke up uncomfortable. Something poked his leg, and he felt someone sleeping beside him. Where was he? He couldn’t remember. In the dim light in the room, he began to make out Laurie’s sleeping form. Her knee prodded his leg. All at once, reality spun into focus. Dante was horrified. Not only had he slept in Laurie’s room, he had slept beside her. If his boss ever found out, he could lose his job. A disciplinary action at the very least. He would be pulled off the most important assignment in his career. Fuming, he berated himself for what he’d done.

Dante eased Laurie back onto her bed. He had to get back to his room. The clock read 7:00 a.m. It was long before he usually got up, but he was awake now. He crept to the door, and opened it. As he walked to his door on the balls of his feet, he heard a cough behind him. Whirling around, Dante flinched. Cheyn stood there, wearing a stern expression Dante had never seen before.

“What the hell are you doing?” Cheyn crossed his arms over his chest.

“Shhhh. It’s not what you think.” He held up his hands, palms out.

“It’s not?”

“Let’s go downstairs before we wake everyone up.” Dante turned without waiting for a response.

He was mortified. Not only had he stayed in Laurie’s room, but one of his own men caught him coming out. At least it was Cheyn and not David or Max. Cheyn was his best friend. Surely, he would understand, wouldn’t he?

They reached the living room. Dante turned to see Cheyn standing with his arms crossed, his legs planted outside the width of his hips. He looked furious now. Dante jammed his fingers through his hair.

“Listen—” Dante began.

“What the hell were you thinking?”

“Cheyn, it’s not what you think.”

“Really, are you sure about that?”

“She has nightmares. I can hear her on the other side of the wall. I wake up in the middle of the night and she sounds like she’s being attacked. I go into her room. I shake her out of them. I just fell asleep there last night. That’s all.”

Dante felt his face flush. Hearing himself say it aloud made him even more embarrassed. It was a pathetic explanation—he knew that. Dante ran his hand through his hair again. He started to pace the length of the couch.

Cheyn didn’t respond. He just narrowed his eyes at Dante and lowered his chin.

“Look you can ask her about it yourself. I might have to start sleeping in there at night,”

“Yeah, I bet.”

“No, I’d sleep on the floor, Cheyn. Jesus!” Dante threw up his hands in anger.

“I can’t believe you, man. You’re risking your career and this assignment because of a woman. Everyone at the agency is watching this assignment. It can make or break all of us, and you’re up there sleeping with her!”

“Cheyn, this assignment is no different—”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.”

“She’s just another witness to protect. We just do our jobs, like we always do.”

“No. I see the way you look at her, man. You made her breakfast, you took her up to that waterfall. She’s not just another witness. This is not just you doing your job. This is different. You’re different!”

Dante hesitated. Heat rose from the pit of his stomach. His chest tightened and his shoulder muscles flexed. He clenched his fists at his sides. He couldn’t believe Cheyn was so ready to think the worst of him.

“No. I’m not different. I’m just trying to make her time here easy on her. She’s here by herself. She doesn’t have any family to speak of. God, she’s had it tough enough as it is.”

“We have worked together for three years, man. Three years. And I’m telling you—this is different.”

Dante stood there. He didn’t know what else to say.

“You’ve gotta ask the boss to take you off this assignment.”

“No. I won’t. I hear your concerns, Cheyn. I do, but…” Dante put up a hand as he resumed his pacing.

“Man, don’t pull that kind of management bullshit on me. Be real with me.”

“Listen, I hear you, okay. But I’m not different. I’m just trying to make her comfortable here. Make sure she’ll stay long enough for them to find Kaimi and have a trial, okay?”

Cheyn headed for the front door.

“I don’t know what’s sadder, you lying to me or you lying to yourself.”

Dante ground his teeth together. A headache began to form at his temples. He would have shouted at Cheyn if there weren’t people sleeping upstairs. His voice shook, as he tried to keep what he said low and even.

“Cheyn, stop it. I’m not doing anything wrong here.”

Cheyn turned back around.

“Yeah, whatever. Look, you wanna screw up your whole career for this girl, fine. When the boss comes down on you, and he asks me what happened, I’m gonna tell him the truth. You got all sweet on her, and you couldn’t do your job anymore.”

Cheyn turned and went toward the front door.

Dante followed him, talking to his back.

“I’m going to do my job. Just do yours.”

“Fine. I’m just trying to help you out. But since you don’t wanna hear it, I’ll just go back to my job.”

Cheyn pushed open the front door and left, slamming the door in his wake.

Dante stood in the living room, fuming. How dare Cheyn talk to him like that! After everything they had been through together, how could his best friend try to make Dante out to be such a terrible villain? He’d accused him of sleeping with a witness and potentially endangering his whole team. Dante knew it looked bad with him coming out of Laurie’s room, but why didn’t Cheyn trust him? Why would Dante lie to him?

Dante went back up to his room, his thoughts nagging at him. He didn’t go back to sleep. He sat with his laptop doing paperwork, trying to push his anger and his hurt out of his mind.

***

Laurie

Laurie woke up with a start. She wasn’t sure what woke her so suddenly. She had the vague impression it was a nightmare, but it slipped away from her. She felt relieved, remembering the horrible nightmare she had about the tractor-trailer during the night. A shiver ran down her back, and she rolled onto her side so she could curl into a ball.

Laurie crossed her arms, rubbing her own shoulder—a gesture more of self-comfort than a need for warmth. The past few days had jumbled her nerves. She felt like they were tied in a knot, and she didn’t know what end she would pull out as each moment passed. Would it be the crying string, the laughing string, or just pure exhaustion? She wished she had some handbook, some guide to being a witness. She’d read countless books on being a lawyer and how to work with a witness on everything from making a statement to cross-examination, but she never came across a single book that even remotely described the witness experience.