Fucking A.
Lo rushes to the bed. “Daisy?! What the hell…” He climbs on the bed while she screams and cries, kicking back so quickly that the sheets bunch at her feet. She clutches the mattress beside her. Lo stands up on the bed and tries to pick her up underneath the arms.
She wails on him the moment he touches her, kicking and whipping her fists every which way. Lo raises his hands in the air in surrender and glances at me. “What the fuck?”
I stand up with him on the bed, towering over her. I smack his chest slightly with my hand. “She’s still fucking asleep.”
His brows furrow. “Her eyes are open.” He kicks a pillow at her and she freaks out again, tears running down her cheeks. My heart is racing.
“Daisy, you’re okay,” Lo tells her. “No one is in here.” She’s still unresponsive, and Lo turns to Connor who’s beside the bed, on the ground unlike us.
He wears an unreadable expression, watching Daisy’s hysterical fit.
I’m afraid she’s going to fucking hurt herself. Her nails start digging into her palms. So I grab her ankle and drag her back down onto the bed. She rolls over on her stomach like she’s crawling through barbed wire.
I bend down and flip Daisy onto her back. She thrashes. “No, no!”
I hate how wrong this looks. I want her to wake up so fucking badly, especially before someone hears her screams through the walls and calls the hotel staff.
I press my knees onto her legs, pinning her down. And I hold her wrists on either side of her body, and she screams bloody fucking murder at being trapped like this. I end up having to use one hand to cover her mouth, and she slaps me hard across the face. The sting burns, and I taste blood, my lip busting open.
Lo kneels and grabs her hand, not letting her go.
She’s stronger in these nightmares than she is awake because she’s driven by fear, an adrenaline rush that I can’t fucking begin to imagine.
Her tears well and redden her eyes. I lean forward, my face close to hers, my fingers digging into her cheek. “Wake up!” I shout. “Daisy, wake the fuck up!” Come on, sweetheart. Fight this.
“Her pulse is out of control,” Lo says, his voice flooded with worry.
I take my hand off her mouth and touch the top of her breast, her heart practically pounding through. She has to fucking wake up and calm down.
“No!” she cries like she’s dying, like someone’s killing her. Sweat beads her forehead, hot tears dripping off her jaw. “Please,” she cries, shaking her head from side to side. “Please…”
“Wake up,” I growl in her ear, combing her damp hair out of her face. Wake the fuck up.
“Be careful,” Lo tells me.
I’m not hurting her. Whoever’s tormenting Daisy in her head is. I glance over my shoulder at Connor. “Can you hand me a glass of water.”
Daisy is about to start screaming again, so I muffle her noises with my hand once more.
“You shouldn’t pour water on her face if she’s having a night terror.”
Lo glares at Connor. “You know what’s going on and you didn’t think to share?”
I stare hard at the mattress, ignoring the guilt that tries to fuck me over. You’ve known all along what’s going on, Ryke For months.
“She’s asleep,” Connor starts to explain.
“Just give me the fucking water,” I tell him. “I’m not going to drown her.” I’ve done this before.
Connor’s brows pinch as he scrutinizes me, and then he hands me her water bottle—I think more out of curiosity of what I’m about to do.
I pour some water on my free hand, and then stroke her hair out of her face again, cooling her down and hopefully waking her up soon.
She jolts at the new sensation and thrashes again. But I keep her pinned in the same position. Lo clasps her whole arm as she tries jerking out of his grasp. My muscles burn the longer I watch tears squeeze out of her eyes and fear wash over her face.
“How can she still be asleep?” Lo asks. “She’s looking at Ryke.”
“It’s a state between REM sleep and wakefulness,” Connor explains. His eyes meet mine. “How long has she had this problem?”
I shake my head, and Daisy’s leg slips beneath my knee, trying to fucking kick me again. I shift her back. “I wouldn’t fucking know.”
He doesn’t believe me. “You haven’t seen her like this before?” he questions with an arched brow.
“Why would you think I have?” I retort with a dark glare.