back in the middle of a war zone trying to fight my way to safety. It was not my beautiful Reagan under me, it was an enemy combatant and I was prepared to kill.”
Holy shit. I knew something had happened, but I didn’t know that.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t—”
“Sweetheart, you came here knowing I’d give you that, and I did because it’s important you understand that Brady is capable of doing dangerous things when he’s in the middle of a nightmare. No way would he ever lay a hand on you or hurt you when he’s cognizant. When he’s not in control, that’s a different story.”
“That’s what he said. He told me he won’t sleep next to me because of what could happen.”
At that, my uncle’s features hardened but I figured it was for a different reason than his memories of what happened with my aunt. I was still his girl no matter my age and he didn’t like hearing about a man sleeping next to me.
“That’s smart,” he mumbled, sounding extremely pleased.
“Uncle.” My head automatically tilted to the side as my attitude surfaced. “It might be smart for now but you can’t think I’m gonna be happy if my man has to sleep away from me because we can’t find a way around it. And you know it has less to do with my not being able to wake up next to him and more to do with me knowing something is screwing with his head and he’s being tortured in his sleep and that’s what’s taking him from me.”
“He’s gonna need time. Stress is a trigger, and with everything going on between you and him, that’s gonna fuck with his head. They’ll come more frequently which causes more stress and the cycle begins.”
“Are you saying dealing with me is stressful?”
My uncle barked a laugh before he sobered and gave me a dose of his badass wisdom.
“Hopefully the conversation your dad had with him yesterday will help alleviate some of Brady’s worry. It’s not lost on any of us that he’s been in love with you for years and you him. Neither of you hides that. You because you’re Hadley Walker and you let it all hang out—good or bad you let her rip. Him, because his desire for you was so strong he couldn’t hide it. If this was four years ago and he acted on that feeling, your dad woulda ripped him a new asshole. But he didn’t, he played it right and waited. He took his time and proved to your dad he had it in him to give you what you needed. I know you think your dad’s in your face and protective—and he is, for good reason. You’re his daughter and he understands how precious you are. He has accomplished a lot in his life but you, your sisters, your brother, and your mother are at the top of that list, and you know it because your dad has shown you your whole life what you mean to him. As with Delaney and Quinn, he was not going to give a man his blessing without knowing he’d do anything to protect the beauty he created.
“Now with all of that being said, he’s given Brady his blessing. The specifics of that conversation you’ll have to wait for your man to tell you. I’m gonna leave you with this: I’ve had the honor of watching you grow into a vibrant, strong, loving woman. You also played it smart and gave yourself time to grow into that woman before you went after what you wanted. But, Hadley, sweetheart, you have to be prepared for all that comes with Brady. Not just his nightmares, he’s got shit buried that’s gonna have to be seen to. And it seriously fucks me to say this to my baby niece, and you gotta know I got bile churning in my gut, but you hafta know who you’re dealing with. Brady is a man and I mean that in every way a man can be. You might think you’re ready for that because you’ve been surrounded by men your whole life. But, darlin’, there is a difference when those men are your father, your uncles, your brother, and your cousins and when that man is in your bed.” My cheeks heated and my uncle didn’t miss it and that was punctuated by his mumbled “fuck” before he went on. “Right. I see you went there with him already.”