Chapter 34
Thirty-Four
Hayden
Present
Jaclyn wakes up with a jolt in my arms, breathing heavily. Sweat is running down the side of her face as she whimpers in my hold.
“Hayden-”
“I’m here,” I say instantly. I wrap my arms around her tighter and pull her closer to me. “I’m always going to be here.”
“He, he was out to get me, again. He’s always there.”
“Who?” I ask, rubbing her shoulder to calm her down.
Jaclyn leans into me and rests the side of her face against my chest as she calms down her breathing. I can feel how fast her heart is beating against my chest as she turns her body towards me.
“The man in the black hood.”
I furrow my eyebrows and look down at her. “Man in the black hood?” How long has she been having these nightmares? Did they start before everything happened or after? Jaclyn looks up at me, with tears in her eyes from the nightmare she woke up from. I look at the clock behind her and see that it’s 5:44am. “How long have you been having nightmares?” I ask after letting her calm down a little bit.
“About the black hood or that night in general?” she asks.
So, there are two different nightmares that she has?
I think she notices me tense up from her question because she runs her hand down my arm to hold my hand. She leans into my chest more and we both just lay back down against the headboard.
“I’ve had nightmares about the black hood ever since we started getting stalked by Eric.”
“Why did you never tell me about them?”
How did I not fucking notice?
“Because I knew you would worry about me.” Jaclyn looks up at me.
I wipe the dry tears from her face. “I’d rather worry about you than you just keeping everything in.” Jaclyn nips her bottom lip and nods her head. “What about the other nightmares?”
“The ones about that night, I got the day we last saw each other. That’s when they started and they stopped after a while. Every now and then they’ll come but it’s been a while since I’ve had a bad one. It’s just always the black hooded man.”
I stroke a strand of hair and push it behind her ear.
Hearing this makes me want to punch a fucking wall.
I already killed Marco and Eric but God, I wish I kept them alive so I could torture them forever.
I had to have Killian pull some strings to be able to get them out of jail so I could deal with them.
Rage blinded me when I killed them.
Killian watched me kill them and my brother was the one who pushed me back and said it was enough. Killian was enjoying the show and letting me take it all out because he knew I needed it.
He’s all about losing control when needed but my brother, he likes to always be in control, no matter what. He is very calculated and calm which is almost scary because you never see him coming.
But Killian, you have to really piss him off or do something to make him get out of control.
I’ve heard from my brother that Killian went out of control only once, killing anyone in sight. I still don’t know why because Rowan said that the only person who should tell me is Killian.
“You don’t ever have to worry about Marco or Eric.”
Jaclyn turns her head and looks at me. “Why?” I narrow my eyes at her but don’t say anything. She knows I killed them. I mean I did promise her I would kill Eric. “Hayden-”
“You think that after they touched you, after they touched what was mine, I’d let them live?”
“No but-”
“No buts. Anyone who lays a hand on you, I. Will. Kill. Them. No hesitation.” Jaclyn’s eyes widen as she stares at me. This is probably one of those overthinking moments she’s having. She’s most likely thinking whether or not she should run like last time or stay. “You might not agree, but I will do anything to protect the people I care about.”
The people I love. And I love you.
“Okay,” Jaclyn says.
“They are already dead. There is nothing I can do.”
Jaclyn nods her head. “I never told you what they did in that room because I was scared you were going to do something to them and I didn’t want blood on my hands since you would do it for me.”
“Princess, I would do just about anything in the world for you,” I say, sitting up and pulling her on top of me so she is sitting on my lap, facing me. “If you asked me to burn the entire world down, I’d do it in a second, no questions asked. You didn’t make me do anything. You didn’t ask me to kill them. I did that because they hurt what was mine and for that the only reasonable punishment was death. I’d kill them all over again and go to hell just so I could make their punishment last a lifetime. You didn’t make me do anything,” I say, holding her face in my hands and reassuring her.
Jaclyn doesn’t say anything, instead she leans forward and kisses me on the lips.
I close my eyes and enjoy the feel of her lips on mine. I make the kiss deeper and trail one of my hands to hold her neck. She moves her hips slowly on top of mine and I swear she is slowly killing me or testing my patience.
I thrust my tongue in her mouth and she moans gliding her tongue against mine. Her tongue against mine feels soft and makes the kiss sensual. An overwhelming feeling bursts in my chest, which always happens whenever I’m with her.
But kissing her is just a different type of pleasure.
Jaclyn pulls away and her breath hits my lips as she tries to calm down her rapid heartbeat.
I push a fallen strand behind her ear. “I want to tell you everything,” she whispers, her lips lightly bumping against mine from how close we are. “I just hate having to retell every detail.”
“I don’t want to rush you. That’s the last thing I want. I know they fucked you up in there and I wish to God it’s not as bad as what I’m thinking but I’ll wait for you. However long you need, I’ll wait for you whenever you’re ready to talk about it.”
Jaclyn smiles down at me softly and she runs her finger softly on my cheek. “Thank you.”
“Always.”