Page 101 of The Damaged Billionaire's Obsession
“Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“You want me.” I reply in a small voice.
"I’m telling you I love you. My heart is yours Bonnie. Take it or leave it, but don’t play with it. Stop running."
I gasp. “Oh” Beyond that, I’m speechless.
“Yes, Oh” he mimicks, “so you know what you did three days ago with the text, and tonight with Kevin?”
“Yeah?”
“That was you running. Don’t do that. Talk to me instead. And if you ever run away again, when you return, because you will, I’ll spank you so hard that you won’t be able to sit for days.”
I gasp. “How do you know that I’ll return, though?”
“Oh, you’ll return, either by yourself or when I drag you back.”
Chapter 30
Ethan
I’m jarred awake byscreaming. I’m disorientated for a few seconds before I realize that it’s coming from beside me.
“Jake! Please. No, stop! Ethan, make him stop! It hurts. Please—”
“Bonnie!” I grab her to stop her thrashing and shake her awake. Her eyes open, unseeing, and, if anything, the fright in them escalates.
“No, let me go! Stop it, Jake—” She becomes more distressed and agitated and tries to get away from me. It occurs to me that my holding her down is worsening the situation.
The moment I release her, she vaults off the bed and lands on the carpeted floor with a dull thud. I immediately check that she’s okay. She scrambles to her feet and, to my horror, starts to back away in a blind run.
Shit, she’ll crash into a wall!I lunge, grabbing her by the waist and holding on tight just before she hits the wall.
“Wake up, Bonnie," I call sharply. “Come on! It’s just a bad dream.”
Slowly, the tension seeps from her until she goes limp in my arms. She’s naked apart from her panties and slick with sweat. I put her back on the bed. My heart is pounding with the shock of what I just witnessed. I was literally dragged into the nightmare with her.
“Bonnie, you’re safe, you’re okay,” I murmur, stroking her temple. “I’m here.” The fog lifts from her eyes.
“Ethan?”
“Yes, baby.”
“Oh, thank God!” She curls into me and starts to cry.
Oh, Jesus. My heart breaks for her.Who the fuck hurt my woman this bad?I hold her until she settles. “It was just a bad dream,” I say over and over. “I’m here, and you’re safe with me.”
After her hiccups subside, she says in a small voice, “It’s always the same one. Only, this time, it was worse.”
“The same nightmare?”
She nods. “In Clonmel, on the streets. When I was homeless.”
What? Breath remains trapped inside my lungs. “You were homeless on the street?”
She nods. “I ran away from home and went to Clonmel, but I couldn't find Nan. I wasn’t thinking. I thought that since it was such a small place, I would find it. So, I was on the street for a few weeks before she found me.”
My head is spinning with a thousand and one questions, but I try to keep my alarm under control. She needs me to be strong and not unravel right now. “Did you try going to the authorities when you got lost?”