Admire Me (Rough Edges 2)

Chapter 13

Liam

Around midnight, Harperfalls asleep in my arms. I move her off me and make my way to finish tidying up the house. At least, she won’t be constantly reminded of the incident. The question Scott posed is still haunting me. Why would someone break in and not take anything? It just doesn’t make any sense, and she mentioned that they could have come to the wrong house, but that’s unlikely, too. Whoever did this, they were looking for something, and I’m damn glad that Harper wasn’t home.

As I clean up, I take notice of the ransacked items, trying to put together a scenario of what they were after, but the pattern isn’t clear. It seems like they just went into every room and threw everything on the ground. Wait, maybe this wasn’t a burglary, and it’s just staged that way to throw us off? I mean, it would make sense why nothing is taken.

The lack of sleep might just be messing with my head. I’ll go through this again once I’ve had some sleep and see if it’s something we should make the police aware of.

I try not to let my mind wander while she sleeps, but then a gut wrenching scream comes from the bedroom, and I rush in to find her curled up in a ball, tears streaming down her face.

“Are you okay?” I ask, looking around the room. “What happened?”

“I keep having nightmares, vivid ones, someone is trying to kill me.”

Why would someone be trying to kill her? Her mind is probably playing tricks on her, and because of the break-in and the stress, it’s making her dream about even more horrible things that could happen.

“No one is getting you while I’m around. I can promise you that,” I say, bringing her closer to me and wrapping my arms around her.

I lay down back in bed, trying to console her back to sleep and it works, but not for very long. Around one-thirty, she wakes up screaming again, and then can’t go back to sleep. I can’t blame her for not feeling safe anymore. Poor thing.

Neither of us are getting any sleep tonight, and that’s okay. Maybe I’ll get lucky and can take a nap when I get into work tomorrow before a call comes in. One thing is for certain; I have to be alert for my job.

At about three a.m. Harper decided to turn on something to watch. She tries to play it cool, like she doesn’t want me to know it’s bothering her, but it’s obvious.

I continue to clean until the sun comes up, and then a pot of coffee is made to help keep me awake. It’s always when you can’t sleep when your body and mind finally get tired. Go figure.

I make both of us a cup, and go to the bedroom to join her.

“Here, baby. You’re going to need it,” I say, placing it on the nightstand next to her side of the bed.

She takes a sip, and continues to watch her tv show, and then leans over and snuggles against me. It’s nice to know I help her feel protected, but the nightmares prove something is still bothering her, and even with me here, it’s not enough.

The incident has changed her a little, and she’s more jumpy than normal. Around seven, the trash truck came down the street and she squirms at the sound of a trash can hitting the pavement. It’s going to be harder to get over than she thinks.

“How the hell am I supposed to live like this? They could come back, and this time I might be home. How am I ever supposed to sleep?”

We can solve that problem by going to my house, but if they are targeting her specifically then they will find her eventually. Yet, she seems certain there isn’t anyone after her and no reason for there to be.

I crinkle my nose, trying to believe her, knowing I need to be able to trust her, but something just doesn’t add up and it’s really making me second guess everything.

My mind goes back to our second date. They never caught who killed her parents’. Maybe we should bring this up to the police and let them at least be aware of that fact. Highly doubt it's the same person, especially since that was many years ago, but better to be safe than sorry.

How do I bring this up to Harper without sounding insensitive? I don’t want to drudge up the horrific actions, but it might be something the detective could use to at least look into it. Aren’t they still working the case in California? Surely, they didn’t just give up on a double homicide. I’ll bring it up later, after we are off work so it doesn’t ruin her day at work. She has enough going on in her mind right now.

I finally get out of bed to make another cup of coffee before I leave for my house and find her in the kitchen. She is standing there, in a black pencil skirt, red silk top, and black pumps. I don’t think I’ll ever get over how beautiful she is.

“Sorry you didn’t get any sleep,” she says. “I don’t know why this is happening to me. They were so vivid. Felt so real.”

“Baby, you don’t have to apologize. I just want to make sure you are okay. Other than that, I could care less about no sleep,” I say, then take a sip of the hot beverage in my cup. After last night, I’m going to need about twenty of these to keep me awake at work today. Although, maybe I’ll get lucky and catch a nap in between calls today.

Dark circles are already starting to form under her eyes and it’s time to talk about us going to my house for at least tonight. She will sleep much better there.

“So, what are your plans for today?” I ask, sitting down at the table. “After work, I mean.”

“Not really sure yet. All I know is I don’t wanna be here.”

I can understand her wanting to be around people today, and at the school no one can get in without showing ID. I hate that she is scared and hurting, but there’s not much I can do to make it better.