Page 78 of Deserving Maisy
Not thinking about anything other than finding who could be knocking so late, if someone was hurt—or worse, if Jason had figured out where she and Jack had gone, and was now on his way—she rushed to the front entry. Without looking through the peephole, she unlocked and opened the door.
Owl was standing there.
“What’s wrong?” Maisy blurted almost desperately.
“Nothing. I mean, I hope not. I was just…Stone seemed off today, and I wanted to check on him.”
“Oh, good! I mean—no, not good that somethingmight be wrong with Jack, but that it’s not anything more serious. Come in.” She stood back and held the door open.
“I know it’s late,” Owl said, not moving. “Lara told me I was being ridiculous, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to come over. Make sure he was all right.”
“It’s fine. It’s not that late,” Maisy said in a soothing tone. Owl looked stressed, and once again she was fiercely glad Jack had a friend like him. They’d been through some intense experiences together, and his disappearance had to be even worse for Owl than the others.
Reaching out, she took his hand and pulled him inside the cabin, then she shut the door quietly behind him. “We called it an early night, so we’ve both been in bed a while. He’s probably asleep, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you went and woke him up.”
“Oh no,” Owl said quickly. “I’d never do that.”
“Why not?”
“He doesn’t do well being woken up when he’s asleep. You know about his nightmares, right?” Owl asked.
Maisy nodded. “Yeah, he got them every now and then when we were in Seattle.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“Jack? No! Why would you even ask that?” Maisy asked.
“Because when he has a nightmare, he loses a part of himself. He’s not in his right mind. And if he’s touched, he gets violent.”
“No, he doesn’t,” Maisy said, confused.
“Yes, hedoes,” Owl countered. “He’s punched me more than once when I’ve tried to wake him up. I’ve learned to keep my distance and do what I can to snap him out of it.” Then Owl seemed to realize what Maisy had said. “Wait,he doesn’t get violent when you try to wake him up during a nightmare?”
She shook her head.
“Wow. Okay, that’s…that’s awesome.”
Maisy was still confused, more questions on the tip of her tongue, but a sound down the hall made both her and Owl turn and look in that direction.
“Fuck,” he swore. “Sounds as if my intuition was right on tonight. Stay here.”
But Maisy couldn’t. She recognized the agonized sounds coming from Jack’s room. She heard them every other night. He was having yet another nightmare, and every whimper and pleading word for faceless men to stop hurting him tore at her insides.
She pushed past Owl and practically ran down the short hallway.
“Maisy, wait!”
She ignored him and opened Jack’s door. As she’d expected, he was thrashing on the bed, the covers tangled around him as he fought an imaginary foe. Not imaginary, that wasn’t the right word. As he fought the memory of those who’d tortured him years ago.
When he briefly settled on his side, facing away from them, Maisy didn’t hesitate. She climbed onto the bed beside the man she loved. No matter what had gone on between them, she still loved Jack. With all her heart. She’d go to the grave loving him.
“Maisy—”
As far as she was concerned, it was only her and Jack in the room. “It’s okay, Jack, you’re okay. You’re safe here at The Refuge. Those men can’t hurt you anymore.”
He rolled suddenly, making Owl gasp, and pulled Maisyagainst him so roughly, she grunted with the impact. But he didn’t hurt her, simply buried his nose in her hair and held her to his chest almost desperately.
“I’ve got you, you’re good. Owl’s here,” Maisy murmured.
