Nothing Left to Lose by Kirsty Moseley

over you.
That way you might not have any more nightmares,” he suggested,
gripping the back of my dresser chair and pulling it to the side of
the bed.
    I laughed
incredulously. “And that’s part of your new job description?” I
shot back sarcastically.
    He shook his
head, turning on my bedside lamp before walking over to switch the
ceiling lights off. “Nope. But I want you to feel safe with me so
I’ll do whatever it takes.”
    I scoffed,
watching as plopped himself down in the chair. “So you’re going to
watch me sleep?”
    “Yeah,” he
confirmed, setting his gun and knife on the floor at the side of
the chair.
    I gulped at his
stern expression. “Ashton, seriously, please just go to bed. I
won’t wake you again.” I reached over and picked up a book from the
side and got comfy on my bed to read it.
    He sighed
deeply. “Look, when you get to know me, you’ll know that once I’ve
made my mind up about something, there’s not much that can change
it. Now I’m either gonna sit here and watch you sleep, or I’m gonna
sit here and watch you read,” he stated, smiling at me cockily.
    I frowned as I
read his expression. It was deadly serious; he wasn’t going back to
sleep either way. We glared at each other for a couple of minutes,
neither of us wanting to back down. Finally, I sighed deeply,
knowing I’d lost. What he didn’t know was that I would still have
nightmares with him sitting there anyway, so this little thing was
pointless. My father had already tried sitting in the room while I
slept; nothing helped. I’d tried everything, drugs, hypnotists,
yoga; nothing had any effect on them. Maybe Ashton needed to find
that out the hard way and lose a night of sleep before he’d give up
trying to help me.
    I sighed and
tossed my book in his direction. “Fine. Wanna read that?” I asked
as he caught it.
    He grinned and
looked at the cover. “You like vampires?” he asked, holding up my
battered and abused copy of Twilight.
    I smiled back.
“I like that one,” I admitted, settling back into the bed and just
watching him flick through to the first page. “Good night.”
    “Night, Anna.”
Sitting there reading, in just a pair of black boxers, I saw no
sign of the badass from minutes before, he was back to male model
again now.
    I closed my
eyes and willed myself to sleep, knowing that it wouldn’t come
easy. It never did.
     

Chapter
Four
     
     
    I woke in the
morning after having one of the best night’s sleep I’d had in
years. I had laid awake for ages with my back to him, listening to
him flipping the pages of the book. But the thing that I remembered
most about last night was the moment I realised he’d fallen asleep.
Ashton Taylor, easily the most handsome man I had seen in a long
time, snored. And not just a little, quiet snore either; it was a
loud chainsaw-type sound. For a long time I’d laid there, giggling
to myself, as I watched him with his head propped against his hand,
his legs folded under him and the book abandoned on his lap. It was
actually a cute sight. I’d eventually fallen asleep too, still
hearing the sound of his snores even in my dreams. It was nice
actually because it was like they’d stopped me from going into a
deep sleep. I hadn’t had any more nightmares last night, just like
he’d hoped.
    I sighed
contentedly and looked over at him still slumped in the same
position. He would probably suffer for the awkward position all day
long. I smiled weakly and pulled the sheets up around my shoulders
as he stirred too, wincing as he moved and blinked a couple of
times.
    “Hi,” I
greeted, unsure what I was supposed to say. This was a first for
me.
    “Morning,” he
yawned, sitting forward and arching his back, letting out a little
groan. “You sleep okay?”
    I smiled and
nodded, wondering if I should tease him for snoring so loud. I
decided against it, after all, he had attempted to stay
awake all night so I could sleep. It wasn’t my place to make fun of
him