Read #Heart (Hashtag #6) for Free Online Page B

needing to say what was going on, because this time he wouldn’t be able to see it.
    “He’s been having nightmares,” I whispered.
    “Is that the sound I heard coming from down the hall this morning?” he asked, concerned.
    My eyes snapped up to his. What had he heard? Oh God, had he heard us having sex? Braeden was rough, and we probably hadn’t been quiet. “He did yell out in his sleep.” I hedged.
    Romeo nodded. “Yeah, must be what I heard, but then it got quiet so I figured it was nothing.”
    So he hadn’t heard. Thank God.
    “He’s been having them a lot actually. This morning’s… it was the worst one yet. I almost yelled for you.”
    I felt his attention sharpen. Concern darkened his eyes. “But you didn’t.”
    I shook my head. “No. I was able to bring him out of it.”
    “What’s he dreaming about?”
    “That night,” I said, a small shudder making my shoulders quake. Romeo scooted just an inch or two closer. I glanced up. “He never wants to talk about it the next day. But it’s haunting him.”
    “Zach?” he asked.
    “Honestly? I know Zach dying weighs on him, but I’m pretty sure the nightmares are about me… In them I die that night.”
    Romeo muttered a soft curse and ran a hand over the back of his head.
    “This morning, he—” My voice broke as I remembered. “He asked me not to leave him.”
    Romeo made a low sound, and I looked away, caught up in the pain I felt radiating from our bed this morning. The fear.
    “What else, Ivy?” Romeo pushed. He reached for my hand.
    My voice broke. “He cried,” I burst out. “I’ve never seen him cry.”
    “ Fuck ,” Romeo whispered and released my hand so he could pull me into his side. I buried my face in his chest and took a shuddering breath. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get over how broken I felt when I wiped the wetness off Braeden’s face this morning.
    He hugged me tight while I fought back my own tears. Now wasn’t the time to cry. I had to be stronger than that. For so, so long, Braeden was the strong one. Braeden literally held me up when I was down.
    It was my turn to do it for him.
    I pulled back to look up at Romeo’s face. “Zach might be dead, the worst of what we went through over, but it isn’t finished. He’s struggling inside, Romeo. He won’t talk about it. Maybe he doesn’t even understand it himself. But the dreams are getting worse. He’s getting harder to calm down.”
    “Calm down?”
    I nodded. “He starts thrashing around in bed. Like he’s fighting something. Or someone.”
    “Did he hurt you?” Romeo demanded.
    I sat up straight at the steel in his tone. I tucked my hands beneath my thighs, sitting on them. “Of course not.”
    His hand shot out and grabbed my arm, pulling it from beneath my legs. Even though he moved fast, he was gentle, like he understood his own strength and the lack of mine.
    “Where’d you get these bruises?”
    I felt my face pale. I looked down at the purple marks on my wrist. I knew I had matching marks on my other one, but I kept it tucked into my side, hidden.
    They were from this morning, when Braeden grabbed me.
    “He didn’t know what he was doing,” I explained. “He was dreaming, and I… I was trying to wake him up.”
    “You should have yelled for me,” he said, frustrated, and released my arm. He pushed off the bench and started pacing the small gym.
    “That would have just made it worse,” I said, no give in my voice.
    Romeo looked at me over his shoulder.
    “He’s already beating himself up enough, but to have you break into our room to stop him from hurting me in bed?” I shook my head. “He’d never forgive himself, and you know it.”
    “Fuck!” Romeo spat.
    “Besides, I was the one who climbed on him, to calm him down.”
    I felt Romeo’s eyes burn my skin. “You have bruises anywhere else?”
    “No!” I hurried to say. “The second he woke up, he calmed down.”
    Okay, that was kind of a lie. But Braeden hadn’t hurt me,