He certainly hadn’t treated her like she was damaged goods as everyone else did. Not that she blamed them because that was what she’d fostered. Because it was easier that way. If she gave the impression she could break at any time then no one pressed her. No one made her do more than she wanted to do.
Only, Dane hadn’t particularly cared whether he upset her or not. He’d coldly told her to stop acting like a spoiled child and stop treating Ramie like she was the enemy. And Ramie wasn’t the enemy. But she was Tori’s past. The only person who knew precisely how close Tori had come to losing her very soul.
Shame crowded into her heart and she winced as those terrible days came back in a rush.
“Please. Go make sure Caleb is all right,” she begged.
“He’s fine,” Dane soothed.
“How do you know?” she demanded, anger replacing the bone-deep sorrow she was immersed in.
“Because he went to bed with Ramie hours ago,” Dane said. “And all is quiet on the home front. No one makes a move on this property without us knowing about it. Trust me when I say that he’s just fine.”
“What if it was a vision?” she whispered, giving voice to her greatest fear. “What if they were both visions? What if Caleb and I die? I don’t want to die, Dane. Maybe once I did but not now. I’m scared to death that I’ll die before doing anything with my life. I’ve never had to do anything for myself. It didn’t used to bother me until I saw just how much my brothers protected and shielded me. Do you know how ridiculous it is that I can’t go to a movie or a restaurant without a contingent of security? Who the hell lives like that?”
“All I know is that at least for tonight, nothing is going to happen to either one of you,” Dane said matter-of-factly.
For some reason she drew comfort from the fact that he hadn’t offered her blind assurance by saying nothing would ever happen to them. Just that it wouldn’t be tonight. If he’d claimed anything else she would have known he was simply placating her and spouting nonsense.
For that matter he was the only person who didn’t handle her with kid gloves. Everyone else was determined to protect her from the slightest upset as though her mental state was so fragile that any stress would cause her to have a nervous breakdown.
And maybe she was just that close to the edge.
How did Ramie do it time and time again? Once was horrific enough. Tori narrowly escaped with her life, even if she’d lost pieces of her soul in the process. But to endure such atrocities over and over? Who the hell was that selfless? It damn sure wasn’t Tori.
Tori hadn’t been fair to Ramie. She knew it. Acknowledged it. Even if she couldn’t quite make herself blindly accept Ramie’s presence here, Ramie was a stark reminder of every single painful thing Tori wanted to forget.
Tori blinked, yanked from her thoughts as realization dawned that she and Dane were sitting on the floor beside her bed, the sheets and comforter in a tangle, barely hanging from the bed.
She suddenly felt very exposed and vulnerable and she hated that feeling more than anything. But neither did she want to freak out on Dane and drive home the fact that she was hanging on to her sanity by a single thread.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized in a low voice. “I didn’t mean to wake you. The vision—dream, whatever it was—scared me. It was so?. . .??real.”
“No apology is necessary.”
The interlude was over. Dane stood and extended a hand down to help her up. She pretended she didn’t see and turned to drag the sheet over her body to shield her from view.
“Will you be all right or do you want me to stay up with you? We can go in the living room if you’d prefer the brighter light.”
Her brows scrunched together and she shook her head. “No. I’m fine. Really. You should get back to bed. I’m sure you have a full day ahead of you tomorrow. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said after a brief pause.
He seemed to be studying her, perhaps to determine the veracity of her words. Evidently he was satisfied that she would truly be okay because he headed for the door.
Once there, he turned back, one hand on the knob.
“Sleep well, Tori. Try not to kill anyone in your dreams.”
Her mouth fell open in surprise when she saw the teasing glint to his eyes and heard the sardonic drawl in his voice.
Dane had a sense of humor. Who knew?
His eyes opened and he stared sightlessly at the ceiling. Without making a sound, he eased from the bed and walked robotically to the closet. With precise, measured movements he selected a pair of jeans, picked up one of his neatly pressed and folded polo shirts and quietly dressed in the dark.
A sense of alarm prickled down his spine but it was quickly stifled as he turned to walk back by the bed where Ramie lay sleeping. His gaze caught on Ramie and he hesitated a brief second before stumbling forward. A stabbing pain in his head caught him off guard. His jaw was tightly clenched and a nerve twitched in his cheek.