Chapter 6: Two in the Morning

I woke at two in the morning with my throat on fire.

It was only a dream. I knew that, and my hands still went to my neck.

I lay there in Dane's guest bed and counted to sixty, and my throat kept burning anyway.

So I went downstairs for water.

The kitchen was dark except for the light over the stove.

Dane sat at the long table in gray sweatpants and nothing else.

His elbows were on his knees, and a glass of water sat untouched in front of him.

He didn't look up.

"You're awake," he said.

"Bad dream."

"I know. I heard you get up. I heard your heart before you reached the stairs."

I stood in the doorway in a T-shirt that came to my thighs.

It wasn't indecent. He still looked at the floor, hard, and I noticed his jaw.

"Do you sleep?" I asked.

"Not much since the wine."

He pushed his glass across the table to me, and I took it and drank.

The water was cold. It stopped the burning, and I felt my shoulders come down.

I put the empty glass on the counter and reached for a second one.

It was on the top shelf, too high for me.

"Let me," Dane said.

He was behind me before I heard him stand.

His arm went past my head.

His chest was an inch from my back, and I could feel the heat coming off him.

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