A Lover Like Him (The Perfect Lover book #2) (Espresso CRK)

Chapter 36

Espresso's Pov

"Espresso! Espresso get up!"

My eyes shot open, and I jerked up, sweat beading my forehead, my breathing heavy, "I'm awake! What did I fail?"

My eyes darted around the hotel room before landing on Madeleine. My breathing slowly started to relax, the fear in my mind replaced by Madeleine's usual warmth.

"We're going to be late! The suits arrived earlier. Hurry and dress!" Madeleine yelled, and I groaned in response.

I checked my watch, absent-mindedly saying, "Maddie, calm down, please. I'm too coffee-deprived and had too much sleep for you to be yelling."

4...5... 5:14 pm... I looked out the large windows and froze, seeing the sky was not the sky you'd see early in the morning.

"It's 6:14 in the evening! We slept a whole fucking day?!" I yelped, whipping my head to face Madeleine, "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!"

"Hey! You're the one who claims to rarely sleep, so how come it's not your fault!" he accused, pouting and crossing his arms.

I sighed and rubbed my temples, my eyebrows twisted into a knot, "You're right. I should have woken up much, much earlier. Or perhaps I shouldn't have slept at all."

"It's both our faults, okay?" Madeleine protested, wrapping his arms around me, nuzzling his head into the crook of my neck, "And plus, I'm glad you're sleeping more. You shouldn't be working on a vacation, save that for home!"

"Okay, okay, enough," I blushed, giving Madeleine a peck on his lips before pushing his arms away. "Let's get ready, shall we? If we can get going by 5:45, we can arrive by 6:10.

"I can't be prepared by 5:45! That's only half an hour!" Madeleine gasped, shocked, and I raised my eyebrow.

"Fine, I suppose if you are ready by 6:15, preferably earlier, we can make it by 6:40," I suggested, disapproving of the idea.

"But we need to be there by 6:20, at least!" he insisted, and I sighed, annoyed at his conflicting choices.

"I'll try to get Pomegranate to help us, but no guarantees," I said exaggeratedly. "Although, are you sure you want her help after yesterday?"

Madeleine's body tensed, his gaze uncertain, and his jaws clenched, "I don't want to be late. I've never been late to parties unless on purpose before."

Judging by his family, I can't say I'm surprised, I thought as I shrugged.

Personally, I didn't want to ask Pomegranate for help again. It was embarrassing enough that I required her assistance against that small gang, but now she was going to learn how I, of all people, overslept. Amazing.

Regardless, it does give me an opportunity before the party and the plan starts to share my dream... or nightmare. As much as I loved Madeleine and would burn the world for him, the thought of telling him my dream felt wrong. In addition, it was closer to memories than it was to dreams.

Memories.

I dreamed of nothing, only pure darkness if I ever slept. When I do have dreams, it is always nightmares. Nightmares that come rarely, yet I can never get rid of them.

I don't know if I was more relieved that Madeleine woke me up before I started revisiting more of my memories or irritated. The memory of her dying b̵̼̂e̵̩̿c̸̨̕ȧ̸ͅủ̴̙ș̶̉e̷̫͋ ̴̪̈́o̶͓͗f̵͈̀ ̶̝̔m̵̤͠y̷͕̆ ̶̞̐f̷̨́a̷̙͒u̴̮͘l̸̟̆t̷͔̏ was a bitter truth. Painful and twisted.