Give My Heart to Kaitlyn (2nd in Outlaw Series)

Chapter Six

What the hell was his problem?

Pete kicked at the floorboards, not realizing in his fit of frustration that they were uneven, and he was sent flying forward when he tripped. His arms flapped like a pair of windmills but luckily he caught himself when his face bounced off the wall.

Pete groaned and simply remained there, his face pressed against the wall. His side hurt, his arm ached and now he had a damn busted nose. He prayed it wasn't broken. The last thing he needed to go with his scarred up face was a crooked nose.

He pushed himself away from the wall stiffly and rubbed at his throbbing face. A noise came from the sitting room just outside his door and Pete put his ear to the door and listened close.

It came again and Pete realized it was the sound of someone lightly snoring. Knowing it had to be Kaitlyn and unable to fight the urge to see what the angel would look like when she was sleeping, Pete opened the door and stepped into the sitting room.

Silently he circled her chair and gazed down at her peaceful face. She appeared so innocent, fragile and pure sitting there. It surprised Pete that in her presence, he felt more like a man. He felt as if he could protect and shelter her and he knew he wanted to do those things as well. He felt as if he could make a difference in her life and it had been a very, very long time since Pete had felt like he could make a difference in anything.

Pete wanted to talk to her, but he didn't want to force her away when she was sleeping so peacefully. His shoulders drooped as he decided to simply wait until tomorrow to hear her voice.

He took one step away from her and she moaned. With a raise of his brow, Pete moved back and stared at her, wondering what she was dreaming that had her moaning... maybe it was dreams of him. But then she let out another moan and her head thrashed to the side and Pete realized those were moans of fear, not pleasure.

"No...." she whispered, her voice laced with fear. "No, don't..."

Kaitlyn's breathing became labored and she began to gasp as if someone were crushing her. Her face pulled back into a grimace as she fought against an attacker that only she could see.

Pete wasn't sure what to do. She seemed to be deep in the nightmare and he didn't know if the same ruled applied to that as to sleepwalkers. He'd always heard you shouldn't wake them up.

Sweat covered her brow, she gagged and then a tear slid down her cheek. Pete quickly stepped forward, crouched down to her level and shook her shoulder gently. "Kaitlyn, honey, wake up. You're having a nightmare."

Her eyes opened wide. They were bright with panic. She let out a yelp and Pete was caught off guard when she kicked her leg and caught him directly where Skinny had placed a bullet not too many days before.

Pete grunted with pain as he went sprawling backward. His head connected sharply with the floor. Pete chose to simply lay there, deciding that any movement would only worsen the pain radiating through nearly every inch of his body. His side felt as if it had been torn back apart and his head was pounding so badly, he squeezed his eyes shut tight against the pain.

"Oh no! Pete!" Kaitlyn exclaimed with horror.

The pain seemed to fade somehow when Pete became all too aware of her gentle hands skimming over his arms and then raising the bottom of his shirt. She gasped. "Pete.. I'm so sorry!"

He could hear tears in her eyes so he cracked his open and glanced down to see that he was bleeding once again. Pete forced a smile that he was certain closer resembled a grimace and painfully rose up on his elbows. "It's okay. It doesn't really hurt."