“It happened when I was eight.” His voice was so low it was hard to hear even though he was inches from my ear. “My older brother and I were staying with my grandfather up in his mountain cabin.”
I hadn’t even known he had a brother, but I didn’t want to interrupt him to ask about it.
“The cabin wasn’t all that big,” Brock continued. “My brother and I had to share a bed. He was older, fifteen, and he took up most of the bed. Still, it made me feel safe having him there. At that age, I was a little nervous about staying away from home. Then, in the middle of the night, I woke up with something attacking me. There were loud noises and something kept hitting me. I didn’t have any idea what it was—I just knew I had to get away from there. So I ran. It wasn't a conscious thought, I just got the hell out of there.”
He paused, and I placed my hand on top of the one he had around my stomach.
“Somehow, I wound up in the back of a closet. I stayed there all night, terrified. In the morning, there was a lot of noise, people moving around the little cabin, but I stayed asleep in the closet. Eventually, my grandfather found me and told me what happened.”
Brock took a deep breath, and suddenly, I didn’t want to hear the rest of the story.
“He told me that my brother had had some kind of seizure—it had been him that I thought was attacking me, but I didn’t know that. If I had, I would’ve woken my grandfather or called 9-1-1. But I didn’t know, and I just ran and hid.”
His voice broke at the end, and my heart did, too. I didn’t want to know more, but I had to. This wasn’t about me, it was about him, and I wasn’t sure if he’d ever told this story to anyone. “And your brother?”
“He didn’t make it.”
“God, Brock, I’m so sorry.” I lifted his hand and squeezed it against my chest. Against my heart.
“If I’d just told my grandfather, he might have.”
“You were just a kid. If I’d woken up with something attacking me like that, I would’ve assumed it was the monster under the bed coming to get me. Anyone would’ve been scared.”
“I should have figured it out.”
“Don’t say that. You didn’t know.”
He sighed. “So that’s my sad story. I can barely close my eyes next to someone without thinking they’re going to get hurt, and that I’ll miss it. I’ll either sleep right through it or miss the signs or something like that. I just can’t do it.”
“I understand.”
He hesitated. “I can stay here until you fall asleep, though.” Then he backtracked. “Unless you’d rather have Jessie and Kincade. Maybe I should go get them because they can spend the whole night with you.”
I tightened my grip on him. “I want you.” I said it as simply and as sincerely as I could.
“Then you’ve got me.” He smoothed the hair away from my neck and kissed me there. He held me until my eyelids drooped. I never felt him leave, and in the morning, I found out why.
He was still there—sound asleep, next to me.
25
Maddie
Later that morning, I entered the lodge and made my way to the spa. I’d booked the appointment for the female members of the wedding party myself. I’d helped out in every way I could. Hell, I’d even made Gina’s dress.
It had actually been Brock who helped me decide to come. He’d been astonished to find out he’d slept through the night next to me. We talked about it a little on the desk with the others. Jessie suggested that perhaps had been so focused on me that he’d pushed all thoughts of his own concerns out of his mind.
Brock wasn’t sure about that. And he wasn’t sure if a problem he had for over twenty years was solved. But he was glad that he’d proven to himself—and to me—that he could spend one night with me.
That had spurred an idea in Kincade. “Maybe that’s what you should do with your sister, Maddie.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Brock made some headway on his issue when his thoughts were only about helping someone else.”
I sighed. “I’ve helped Gina every step of the way. I don’t know what else I can do except to hire a private plane and get the hell off the island so she can pretend I never existed.”
“Then maybe you should do the opposite,” Jessie said earnestly. “All this time, you’ve been thinking only about her. Maybe it’s time to think about yourself. You planned this week and you worked your ass off for it—and now she’s kicked you out of the most relaxing part of it.”