“Please. I want to help you.”
He glared at me. “I don’t needhelped. And how is Harley going to convince your family not to fire me?”
As I held his angry stare, something flickered in his eyes. Shame. Even after telling me everything, he was still ashamed.
I pressed on. “Remember how I told you piano helped me with my trauma? Well, I truly think if you spend time with Harley, he can help you with yours. I’m not saying you’ll be cured after one session, but it can’t hurt to give it a try, right?”
He dropped his gaze, expelling a long breath. “I can’t. Every time he’s around, panic hits me and I’m bombarded with flashbacks...I don’t know if I can do it.”
Oh, Adrik.My throat tightened. Reaching over, I slipped my hand over his. He jolted, his gaze darting back to mine. “What if we did it gradually? I can put Harley’s leash on so he can’t get to you until you say he can come closer. You get to decide when and how close he can get.”
Adrik lowered his gaze, heaving out a long sigh. “I don’t…” he trailed off, blowing out a breath. “Fine. I’ll give it a try.” Color rose up his neck and into his face. “But I’m warning you, I might freak out.”
I patted his hand, gently squeezing. “That’s okay. We’ll deal with whatever happens. When Willow drops him off, I’ll ask if she’s on board with this plan. If she says okay, then we can try it.”
Lowering his head, Adrik let out a soft curse. I had to be very careful not to push him too far. The last thing I wanted was to cause him more trauma.
Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe I shouldn’t have suggested it.
Then Adrik lifted his head, his obsidian gaze locking on mine. Turning his hand over, he squeezed mine back. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
Something shifted and swelled in my chest, slowly warming. Did he have any idea how truly brave and amazing he was? I had no doubt he was capable of overcoming his phobia. He just needed a little push to get started. My family was sending new soldiers soon. Probably tomorrow. That wasn’t enough time for Adrik to overcome his trauma, but we had at least tonight to get started. And in the meantime, I would call Papa back and explain that there were things they didn’t know about Adrik, things of true courage and resilience that made me believe in him and that I believed he deserved another chance. I wouldn’t reveal Adrik’s secrets, but I would restate my desire to have him here and pray they listened to me. I didn’t know if it would get me anywhere. But all I could do was try.
“You want to do it right now? Tonight?”
Adrik inhaled deeply, slowly puffed it back out, his chest rising and falling. “Yeah. Rightnow. I’ll be leaving tomorrow anyway, so I might as well seize the moment. I’m tired of being scared of Harley. I know he’s not aggressive, but my brain can’t seem to understand that. I want to be free of this fear for good. Let’sdothis.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Adrik
Willow dropped Harley off about twenty minutes later. I remained in my room as Annika went to answer the door with Tim, trying to psyche myself up for this.
During the time that we’d waited for Willow to show up, Annika had talked to her father on the phone, and also Efrem and her mother, but I didn’t know what they’d discussed, only that Annika looked frustrated when she got off the phone with them. My time here was quickly drawing to an end and there was nothing I could about it. Tomorrow I would be heading back to L.A. and probably trying to find a new job.
Then Annika returned. “Willow was a little scattered when she dropped Harley off—understandably so—but she said she was totally okay with using Harley to help you.”
My heart sprinting, I rose from the bed. Annika reached over, taking her hand in mine. Her skin was soft, pale, her hand tiny compared to mine. She smiled up at me, gently urging me after her. My head spun with happiness at her touch, her closeness, her sweet feminine scent. It was hard to concentrate on anything else but Annika whenever she was around. I’d even let her convince me to try something that scared the living shit out of me. Because I didn’t want to look like a wimp in front of her.
Tim stood out in the hallway, eyeing me with concern as we left my room. His gaze flickered down to our clasped hands, but he didn’t tease me about it. Instead, he scrutinized me, his gaze probing as it came back to mine.
“I’m fine,” I growled, wanting him to stop looking at me like I was a helpless child.
Tim huffed. “No, you’re not. You look like you’re about ready to pass out. Relax, dude. Annika only wants to help.”
I didn’t want him witnessing whatever was about to happen, so I snapped out, “You can go to bed now. Isn’t your shift about over?”
Tim chuckled, glancing at his phone. “Not for another twenty minutes. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
I glowered. “Don’t you have something better to do than watch me make a fool out of myself?”
Tim narrowed his eyes at my tone. “Nope. You know me better than that, dude. I’m here to help.”
I blew out a breath. I was being a dick. I hadn’t meant to snap at Tim. I was just freaking out because I was about to do something that unsettled me, I had no idea how I might react, and Annika was going to witness it all. She’dinstigatedthe whole thing, and stupidly, I’d let her.
Fuck.
I dropped my gaze. “Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to snap at you.” I forced myself to look my friend in the eye.