He knew that already, but hearing the admission come from her lips moved him a little bit more.
“I only want to hold you,” he said. They moved together. Tony wrapped one arm around her waist as the other snuck under her head. Her ass was against his groin. He pressed his legs against hers.
“This is nice,” she whispered.
“Get used to it,” he told her. A giggle sounded next to him. Tony smiled and laid a kiss on her head. “Go to sleep, Petal.”
She relaxed against him. Within moments he heard the change in her breathing. Sighing he held her, his hand stroking small circles along her belly and up. He wished the light was on so he could get a good look at her.
Opal never really opened up with anyone. Having her in his arms meant the world to him. He counted off the seconds until sleep claimed him.
****
Someone was calling out in their sleep. The bed shook with each quiver. Opal opened her eyes and saw the time on the bed side clock. Two o’clock in the morning. Glancing round, she saw Tony lying curled up in a ball at the end of the bed.
“Please, please, don’t hurt me,” he said.
Opal rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Panicked, she leaned over to switch the outside light on.
His shouts were getting louder. Not knowing what to do, she reached out and touched him on the arm.
“Tony?” she said. He responded lightning quick. Before she could stop him, Tony had her on her back with his hand around her throat. He snarled and shouted.
“Tony,” she screamed his name over and over again. The one fortunate point was the hold he had on her throat wasn’t too tight. “Tony. It’s me, Petal.”
With a final scream, he woke up out of his dream. He looked horrified as soon as he saw his hand round her throat.
“Opal. Oh my God. Did I hurt you?”
“You didn’t hurt me. What were you dreaming about?”
Tony withdrew. He sat up in bed, ran his fingers through his hair.
“I should leave you to sleep,” he said.
“Don’t leave me alone,” she asked. She sat up and rubbed her throat. “What were you dreaming about?” she asked. “Come on. If I’m going to be your wife completely, you can’t keep hiding stuff away from me.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
She took hold of his hand, kissed his knuckles, turned the light off and snuggled down.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Getting some sleep. Hold me, Tony.”
Opal rested her head against the pillow and waited. She didn’t want to make Tony relive something that hurt him.
After awhile he began stroking her stomach. Usually, she’d be upset with him messing with a large part of her. But she liked the feel of his arms around her and wouldn’t dream of making him stop.
“When I was growing up my dad use to hit me,” he said. Opal froze as everything she’d learnt about the man she was married to hit her square in the face. Charles had made a reference to him being like his father. “No one would believe good old Mr. Hunt would even dream of hurting his wife and kid. Whenever he had a bad day at work with no one to take the blame, me and my mum would take the pounding he couldn’t dish out to anyone else.”
She remained silent. Tears blurred her vision as she looked out at her side of the bed. She’d seen his father. He seemed like a kind man, but then her parents didn’t look the type to sell their daughter off to the highest bidder.
“At first it started with a couple of slaps here and there. My toys were lying around, so I got a slap to make sure I sorted my mess out. My mum cooked a bad dinner, so a slap to teach her to the follow the recipe.”
He stopped, and she couldn’t control the flow of tears. In her mind she saw a young boy cowering in a corner, terrified of when a parent came home.
“After a while he chose to use his belt. The leather ones with a metal buckle. When he couldn’t control his aim he moved to his fists and then a few kicks. My mum wouldn’t leave him. She thought his hits were a sign of love. He loved us so much he had to hurt us.”