Chapter 18 #2
She reaches for my hard cock and nods. But not a second later, I hear what sounds like a cell phone going off.
“Oh, shit,” Penny exclaims. “That’s the ringtone for my mom. I have to get it.”
She jumps out of the shower, and I follow suit. She quickly grabs the single towel off the hook, wraps it around herself, and goes to find her phone. I grab a towel from under the sink and follow her out to the living room.
“Is it happening again?” Penny questions into the phone. Her brows furrow, and she looks worried. “I’ll be there in less than twenty.” She hangs up and immediately heads to the bedroom to find her clothes.
“Is everything okay?” I ask as she starts to pull her shirt over her body. Or is it a dress? It shouldn’t be a dress.
She shakes her head. “Autumn is having a night terror. They don’t happen often, but when they do, she gets hysterical and has a hard time going back to bed. I need to go to my parents’ house.”
“I’ll take you,” I tell her as I pull a pair of sweats out of my drawer and put them on.
“No. It’s okay,” she refuses, looking around the room for her other clothing.
I already have a sweatshirt on by the time she locates her first boot. “Penny, look at me,” I grab her by the hips and pause her movements. “Go next door, put on a pair of sweats and sandals, and we’ll get your stuff from here later, okay?”
She swallows hard and then nods her head. She runs out of the bedroom, and I can hear her go next door.
I put on a pair of socks and some slides, grab my wallet and keys, and head to the landing. I enter her apartment, and she comes out of her room a moment later. She looks a touch frantic, but she did as I said and put on a pair of gray sweats and some pink slides that almost match mine.
“Hey,” I say gently, and she jumps, finally noticing that I’m standing in the doorway. “Let’s go. You don’t need anything else.” I go to grab her hand, and we make it inside of my truck in record time.
When we pull onto the road. I do my best to distract her.
“Why did you cut it?” I ask, referring to her hair.
“Huh?”
“Your hair. Why did you cut it?”
“Oh. Um… I was pissed after I heard you outside my door and got a little scissor crazy,” she tells me. Her leg is bouncing, and I do my best to speed to the Whitehall residence without getting us into an accident or pulled over by cops.
“I will apologize until I’m blue in the face. I should have never said those words,” I reiterate for the millionth time. Because I am sorry. I’m a jackass.
“I already forgave you.”
My head whips in her direction, but her eyes are on the road. I face forward before asking, “Is that why you threw me a birthday party?”
She pulls her cardigan sleeves over her hands, and I can see her nod from my peripheral.
“I forgave you after you told me about your childhood.” I go to speak, but she continues, “We’re friends, and I should have confronted you about what you said right after it happened.
I’m just super protective of Autumn and couldn’t bear to hear you reiterate it to my face.
But I will never expect you to treat her like she’s your kid.
A friend, yes. But you don’t have to apologize anymore. I’m past it.”
I nod my head. “Okay.” I reach for her leg that’s bouncing and place my heavy palm on it. She immediately calms down, and a few seconds later, she threads her fingers through the top of my hand. She looks out the passenger side window and doesn’t say anything else.
I don’t think too hard about how I love the feel of her hand on mine, or how I just had the best sex of my life. I only focus on getting her to her parents to get to Autumn.
Before I’ve even put the truck in park, Penny is out the door and running up to the house. She swings the front door open with no problem, and I follow her inside once I’ve got the truck turned off.
My heart immediately sinks because I can hear Autumn screaming and crying. I follow the sound, and when I turn into the hallway, Alex and Briana are pacing with pained expressions on their faces.
“Declan?” Alex asks in confusion.
“I brought Penny,” I tell him as I get closer.
Alex’s brows furrow, and Briana looks from the bedroom that Penny just went into to me.
It doesn’t escape me that this probably looks like exactly what it looks like.
Penny and I both have wet hair and are in sweats.
She was supposed to be on a date tonight–one that wasn’t with me–and I can tell the moment Briana figures it out because her expression goes from confused to knowing in a matter of seconds.
I can’t worry about that right now, though, because there are more pressing issues at hand.
“May I?” I ask, nodding to the room.
“It’s not a good idea. It can make it worse if you try to wake her,” Alex explains.
But Briana grabs his forearm and looks at me. “Go ahead.”
I give them a solemn nod and enter the room. The lights are turned off, and Penny is sitting on the floor next to the bed, watching Autumn scream and cry. Tears are running down her cheeks as she watches her daughter.
I know she feels helpless right now. It’s how I used to feel with Kate.
I move further into the room and nudge Penny.
“Can I?” I ask. I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable, but what Penny doesn’t know is that when Kate was just younger than Autumn, she started having night terrors too.
Since Kate and I were in a completely different wing of the house than my parents, I was the only one to hear or console her.
I used to spend hours researching ways to help.
She shakes her head no and goes to reach for my arm, but my heart can’t handle it anymore and I climb onto Autumn's bed and pick her up, wrapping her in a huge bear hug. I lean against the headboard with her in my arms and do what I did with Kate.
From all the research, I found there wasn’t one specific way to get someone to come out of a night terror. You either let them ride it out until they fall back asleep, or you get them to snap out of it. I didn’t like the thought of either, so I would bear hug Kate and sing.
Autumn is still trying to thrash, but my hold is strong, and I start to rock her as I sing the words to Yellow by Coldplay. Not a minute goes by, and the screams have turned into cries, and then finally, the cries turn into whimpers.
I don’t dare look at Penny because I feel like I’ve overstepped a huge boundary.
Autumn’s body finally relaxes, and I palm the back of her head and rub firm circles on her upper back. I repeat the song and continue to rock her until I know for sure she’s back to sleep. When I dare to look at Penny, I find her sitting against the wall with her hand over her mouth and wide eyes.
Her gaze captures mine, and we stare at each other. After a few beats, my eyes flick to the doorway, and both Briana and Alex are staring at me, too. Briana has tears rolling down her cheeks, and Alex is leaning against the frame with his arms crossed and a curious expression on his face.
I can’t handle looking at all their faces and decide it’s okay to shift Autumn back onto the bed. I pull the covers over her little body and watch her face. It’s like the night terror never happened. She looks like a peaceful sleeping angel.
I push her hair back and lean into her ear. “Rest deeply, sleep peacefully, dream sweetly,” I repeat the phrase I used to say to Kate when I would tuck her into bed.
Penny stands when I round the bed, and we tiptoe out of the bedroom and into the hallway. No one says anything at first, so I speak up. “I’m sorry if I overstepped. Kate used to have night terrors when she was around three or four,” I tell them.
“I’ve never seen her come out of one that quickly,” Briana says.
“We were told not to touch her because she could hurt herself or someone else,” Alex explains.
“What did you whisper to her?” Penny asks suddenly, staring at me like she doesn’t know me at all.
I swallow and repeat the phrase.
Her red-rimmed eyes search mine, and in the next moment, she wraps her arms around my waist and lays her head on my chest. “Thank you,” she whispers and starts to cry. My arms wrap around her shoulders, and I lean my chin on the top of her head.
I know how emotionally taxing these episodes can be, and I can’t imagine how it feels as a parent to not be able to do something when all you want to do is help.
I have to wonder how long Autumn has been having these episodes.
The only reason I did what I did was because I knew that Autumn could never hurt me, and I would be able to stop her from hurting herself.
I dealt with Kate for years before she finally grew out of the night terrors, and by that point, I was almost as big then as I am now.
I breathe Penny in, and she smells like me. I like it. A lot. I can feel two sets of eyes on us, but I couldn’t care less right now. If Penny needs a hug, she gets a hug.
When she finally pulls away, she wipes the tears from her eyes with her sweater sleeve and says, “I’m probably going to stay here tonight. Why don’t you go home and get some sleep?”
“You should go too, Penny,” Briana suggests. “Autumn will be none the wiser in the morning. Get some sleep in your own bed instead of on the couch.”
I shake my head. “No. Penny should stay. Autumn will want to see her when she wakes up.” It’s bordering on ten at night and Penny looks exhausted.
But if I know one thing, she needs to be near her daughter.
“Just call me if you need anything, okay?” I tell her, cradling her head in my hands and planting a kiss on her forehead.
She nods when I pull away. “I will.”
“Goodnight, you guys,” I say to Alex and Briana and make my way to the front door. I can see Briana follow me out in my peripheral and she stops me with a hand on my wrist before I can make my escape.
“For a man who doesn’t like kids, you sure know a lot about them.” She quirks her brow at me.
I clear my throat in embarrassment. Penny told her what I said on Christmas? Shit. I’m starting to wonder why Briana and Alex would allow me to come to their house after I said those things, let alone throw me a birthday party. This family is too forgiving.
“Get home safe,” she says and gives me an out.
I nod and make my way to my truck.
I never expected the day to end like this, but it wasn’t terrible.
I’m just glad I could help Penny… and Autumn.