“Oh, Jenny, are you sure? That would be just great. Derrick should be asleep for another few hours after taking those pills, and as you said, the girls won’t be waking up anytime soon. Here’s our number just in case.” She wrote the number down on a piece of paper and handed it to me.
It’s safe to say that they couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I hid my grin as I waved them off from the door before turning back inside. The house felt strange somehow, different from the other times I’d been here.
I realized how dangerous it was for me to be here and walked around, making sure all the windows and doors were shut. I’d reached the bottom of the stairs about to go up and check on the twins needlessly, but it was more for something to do than out of any concern that they might really be in danger, and that’s when I heard it. Derrick’s voice.
I rushed up the stairs and stood in the doorway, watching him toss and turn on the bed as he cried out again. He was reliving the accident most likely. I walked tentatively into the room, not sure how he’d react if he awakened and saw me here, but I couldn’t just walk away leaving him in such agony.
My heart broke when I realized he was screaming for his girls; his subconscious mind seemed to be in turmoil. I reached out a hand and pulled it back just as quickly. I have no right.
But just as I was about to turn and leave again, he rolled over. “Water!” His voice was a hoarse whisper, and as my eyes fell to the pitcher that his mom had probably left there, I realized that he was still asleep.
He smacked his lips together in that way people did when they were thirsty, and I remembered reading somewhere that some pain meds can make you really dehydrated. I walked over to the night table and lifted the pitcher and the little tumbler and filled it.
I turned to find him looking at me, but the dazed look in his eyes was a testament to the fact that he wasn’t fully awake. And maybe that’s why when I held the tumbler out to him with the water he’d asked for he grabbed my hand instead.
I opened my mouth to complain as water splashed all over both of us. But the tumbler went tumbling down to the floor, and I found myself being pulled into bed and under the covers with a very warm, very hard Derrick Masters.
Derrick
I woke up with a splitting headache. So much for the pills doing their job. All I can see that they’ve done so far is making my mouth tastes like ass. I rolled out of bed and put my feet on the floor as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
As I looked back at the sheets, something caught my eye; blood. I looked at the cuts and scrapes on my arms and figured one of them must’ve opened up when I was tossing and turning in my sleep.
A quick check of the bandage on my head showed that it was still in place, and there was no sign of seepage, so I headed into the shower to get cleaned up and brush my teeth to get rid of the cottonmouth feeling.
The house was quiet, deathly so and I looked at the clock to see that it was just after eleven at night. I tiptoed into the nursery to look in on my girls who were asleep. I stood over Emma, smiling as I pulled her blanket back in place over her little butt. She sleeps wild.
Next, I moved on to Sara, who, unlike her sister, hardly ever moves when she sleeps. The moon was giving off enough light that I was able to see them clearly. I felt a little jolt to my heart when the day’s events came rushing back.
Obviously, there was no news on Lauren or mom, and dad would’ve awakened me, and now that time had passed, I found that most of the anger was fading into the background to be replaced with worry. Where the hell could she have gone, and what the hell happened to her?’
I have the recording from the nanny cam, but I’m not quite ready to look at it yet. It’s not that I don’t want to face reality, but at twenty-six, I’m just not ready for my life to unravel like this. I’ve always gone above and beyond to live my life a certain way, always went out of my way not to attract any bad karma, so shit like this leaves me baffled.
Another reason I don’t want to look at that shit is because of my temper. I wasn’t always this laid back amiable guy that I’ve worked so hard to become. There was a time back in my teens when I was screwing every available pussy that came my way and getting into shit with my friends because I thought it made me cool.