She clenched her aching ribs, as she cowered into the corner, the air from her lungs literally knocked out of her as he had sent a blow to her abdomen. For a moment she forgot where she was until he came back into view, pacing back and forth. She knew that this was the end; that he was going to kill her; he was just planning the right way to do it.

“Please,” she begged. “Please, why are you doing this to me?”

Her eyes lined with tears, but none fell. If he had caught on that she was weak he’d take advantage of it.

“Shut up,” he growled, his eyes dark and empty.

His hand went to her throat cutting off whatever air supply she had left. The life was being sucked out of her, each little breath she took she savored, knowing that with time it could be her last.

“Riles, baby you need to wake up!”

She jolted awake, cold sweat dripping from her forehead and back. As her eyes shot open, her whole body shook and it took her a moment to realize that she was holding her breath.

“It felt so real,” she whispered, hand pressing to her chest to steady her ever-fast heart rate.

“What was it?” He wrapped his arm around her soothing her back with his large hand.

Thankful by his gesture, she fell into his touch, resting her head against his shoulder. His body instantly comforted her; he ran her fingers up and down her spine sending chills run through her body. With every touch that he sent her way, he always seemed to surprise her, with how comforting they could be.

“It was nothing,” she murmured, nestling closer into his body.

His pressed his lips against her temple, knowing that if he pushed the subject she’d end up breaking down crying. It had only happened a handful of times since being together, but he knew she’d talk when she was ready.

Soothed by his touch, she melted into his warm naked skin; the slow hum of his heartbeat was steady enough to calm her down. She knew that there was no more sleeping for her for the rest of the night.

“But maybe I’m just in love
When you wake me up”

From his lips still placed a top her head, he could hear her soft mumbles and it only took him a minute to realize that she was singing herself to sleep. He had noticed her do it maybe once or twice before, and every time he seemed to get goose bumps when she sung. He didn’t think that she knew how beautiful her voice actually was. As he nestled his face into her peach scented hair, her voice slowly faded and his grip grew tighter. He hated that she awoke in the middle of the night, but if it meant he could be as close as he was right now to her, he’d do it every night.


XXX

As the sun peered through curtains of his bedroom window, he woke up to an empty bed and the smell of bacon drifting through his nostrils. It didn’t take him long to find his way out of bed, in search of her.

There she was standing with one of his oversized dress shirts and Marshall begging for food at her feet.

“You’re such a good-boy,” she cooed. “Now we wont tell your daddy that I’m giving you human food.”

She picked a piece of bacon from sizzling pan and tossed it to the brown-eyed pup, who generously took it with one bite.

Tyler smiled as she moved about the kitchen wrapping his arms around her back snaking them around her waist. He pressed his lips to the side of her neck causing a laugh to escape from her throat.

“Ty,” she giggled. “Ty, stop!”

“Well someone’s in a better mood,” he smiled spinning her to face him.

“Mhm. Are you hungry?”

He patted his stomach, taking a seat behind the bar.

“Yeah starving.”

She placed a plate of bacon, eggs, and French toast in front of him, in which he took his fork and immediately began to eat. She let out a yawn as she leaned her head against her hand, and watched him eat. He didn’t even notice her watching him. He didn’t realize how hungry he actually was until he picked up his fork.

“How’d you sleep last night?”

She let another yawn escape. In all honesty she never did sleep, she tried singing knowing that music always seemed to calm her down, but this time her dream felt too real to even allow her eyes to close.

“I didn’t, after you woke me up.”

He gave her the most concerning look she’d ever seen. Instantly she regretting telling him that, she never slept. She still wasn’t used to having someone care about her as much as he did, and she was learning day by day that sometime he didn’t need to know everything that was wrong, because eventually he’d try to fix it.

Reluctantly he put his fork down, moving quickly to the other side of the bar where she was standing. Swiftly, he swooped her up in his arms, carrying her bridal style towards the couch. He crashed into the sofa, holding her on top of him.

“Tyler!” She laughed, as his arm tightened around her body. “What are you doing?”

“We’re going to sleep. Right here.”

She shook her head but gave in. Just as her eyes had began to close the warmth of his body, soothing her into a peaceful sleep it was disturbed by a disheveled, half awake looking Freddy.

“What the fuck is going on out here?”

He stretched his arm over his head scratching at the back of his neck, his eyes still barely opened.

“Good morning grumpy!” Tyler smiled.

“You two are so goddamn loud. I thought it only happened at night, but I guess not.”

Both of their cheeks turned red, his grip on her growing tighter as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

“I’m sorry Fred, there’s food in the kitchen to make up for it!”

At the sound of food, he had left them, leaving Riley to curl her body back into Tyler’s. He let his lips linger at the top her head, knowing that the extra touch would instantly allow her to fall back to sleep. He hadn’t noticed before until she had let out another yawn at how exhausted she actually looked, and knew that the nightmare that had occurred the previous night must’ve been pretty bad for her to lose sleep over it.

“Hey Ty, did you ask Riley if she could watch Marshall next week?” Freddy said, entering the room with a plateful of food.

Riley shot up from where she was lying, the same concerning face that Tyler had on previously now written on her face.

“Yeah I’d love to do it! How long are you going to be gone?”

“We have a couple away games in Jersey and New York. And Freddy was going to with me.”

She nodded her head leaning it against his chest.

“Yeah,” She yawned her eyes closing. “I’ll invite Brit over, we’ll have a girls weekend.”

Tyler laughed, running his hands up and down her spine, allowing her eyes to shut fully and sleep to overcome her body.