Chapter 80 He watches me
Isabella POV
I cleaned my apartment because I hadn't been around in months, I also ordered a pizza, and then occupied myself by watching TV while lying on the couch. It was the first time I’d been alone since I got into trouble with Dante in the first place. Now I could do whatever I wanted, even go out and meet a guy. I still had the tracker in my ankle, but even if he was watching my whereabouts, there was nothing he could do about it. When it started to get late, I went into my bedroom and got under the
covers. I cranked up the heater a little higher than I usually did because it was too cold. Dante body had provided an extra ten degrees of warmth. He heated the sheets and kept me comfortable all night long. It was the first time I went to bed in a sweater.
Now I wasn’t used to my own bed anymore not without him. Every time I closed my eyes and tried to drift off to sleep, I heard a noise.
It was pop here or a crack somewhere else. My paranoid mind got the best of me, and I kept walking into the living room to explore the sound. I peeked out my window and saw nothing there. I checked the windows and made sure the front door was locked.
I went back to bed, but then the apartment would make strange noises, so I would get up again and check over and over. I was used to his deep breathing drowning out all other sounds, and I was used to staying at his place more often than staying at mine. And I was used to knowing he would handle anything that came our way. I didn’t have to care about the strange noises because I had a bulletproof man to protect me. I’d seen him be shot twiceband both times, it didn’t affect him. How was that possible?
I kept getting up and checking the apartment, afraid that someone was watching me now that Dante was gone but I never saw anything again. I was just being paranoid.I went back to bed and saw the time on the clock on my nightstand. It was two in the morning. Damn, I wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight. I grabbed my phone and held it on my stomach, tempted to call the man I’d asked to leave me alone. I would judge myself if I turned to him, wouldnloathe myself if I asked him to protect me. He was my biggest enemy but once the next sound erupted, I called him. It barely rang one time before he answered. “Baby.”
I listened to the silence over the phone, hoping to catch the sound of his breathing but I couldn’t discern any noise. I imagined he was lying in bed. He obviously wasn’t asleep because he didn’t sound like he’d just woken up. I loathed myself for making the call, but the second I heard his voice, I felt better. I felt like his presence could keep the demons outside my apartment. He didn’t even ask why I called. He just sat there with me, listening to me
breathe. I could stay like that forever but what was wrong with me?
He spoke after five minutes of silence. “Are you alright?”
No, I wasn’t alright. I was so fucked up in the head I didn’t know what to do with myself. I missed a man I despised. I saved a man I should have killed. “I can’t sleep. I keep hearing all these noises, and it’s scaring me” I hated
admitting I was scared. I hated admitting any kind of weakness, especially to him. I was bred to be as strong as my brother, as strong as my mother. “It’s nothing,” he whispered. “Go to sleep.”
“How do you know it’s nothing?”
No answer then my heart started to beat a little faster as I considered what he’d said. He
was a paranoid man, overly protective. For him to brush off my concern was unlike him. Unless he knew something I didn’t. “You’re outside, aren’t you?”
No answer, I wondered how long he’d been out there. “I’m sitting in my truck at the curb. I haven’t seen anyone all night.”
I sat up in bed and leaned against the headboard, my heart beating a little
faster. “Why?”
“You know why.”
“But I want to hear you say it.”
He sighed into the phone. “I worry about you, baby. You’re sleeping in there by yourself, and it scares me. At least, if I’m here, I know that nobody can break in.”
I closed my eyes, feeling my heart slow down until it turned into a dull ache. It shouldn’t mean anything to me that he was out there in the cold. I shouldn’t want to invite him inside. I shouldn’t have called him in the first place. “So you can sleep now. I’ll be out here until morning.”
“And when will you sleep?”
“After you get to your parents’ place.”
All I had to do was hang up and go to sleep but I stayed on the phone, struggling with the words that wanted to burst out of my throat.
When he knew I wouldn’t say anything else, he ended the call. “Good night, baby.”
“Wait”
“It’s okay. You said you wanted space. I’m not out here hoping for an invitation.”
“But I’m giving you an invitation and I know you can’t say no.”
He was quiet for a long time, his breathing increasing slightly. I heard the door to his truck open and then the click of the phone as the line went dead, he was coming. I heard the front door open and close and then heard his heavy footsteps against the hardwood floor. His shadowed figure appeared in the doorway,
six foot three of muscle and strength. His outline was intimidating, even to me when I knew he would never hurt me, not after he promised he wouldn’t. I knew I would be able to sleep well for the rest of the night. He stripped down to his boxers then crawled into bed beside me. The mattress dipped with his weight, and then his smell surrounded me. He lay still next to me, not touching me like he normally would. His head rested on the pillow, and he stared at me, stared at me exactly the same way he had that morning. “No one can ever get to you as long as I’m here. So sleep.”
I moved into his chest and hooked my leg over his waist and my arm around his torso. My face was pressed close to his, and I could feel his gentle breaths from his nose. We shared one pillow and one side of the bed because
we were so close together. I could feel his hard dick in his boxers, but I knew an advance wasn’t coming.