Not Your Average Girl

Chapter 17 - The Nightmare

★ Tori's POV ★

DREAMS. 

Some say that it's a wish your heart makes, but I don't think a nightmare is a wish. Who wants to wake up covered in sweat and breathing hard like you just ran a marathon?

The dream I just had was one of my dad. Actually, it was more like a nightmare. I have this nightmare every night. The only difference between each one being my dad's face because I don't remember what he looks like. How could I? I was 8 the last time I saw him.

I wake up in a cold sweat, my muscles aching from the tossing and turning. Hot, damp tears wet my cheeks. Lukas comes into the room, a look of concern and panic on his face. I hide my face in my hands so he won't see me cry.

He pulls my hands from my face. His face softens when he sees my tears. "Why are you crying?"

"Bad dream," I admit.

"Tell me." He says, sitting on the bed, his arm around my shoulders. I rest my head on his hard, bare chest, my tears melting into his warm skin.

"It was about my dad. He was trying to find me and when he did, I was fighting Ray." I sniffle as the memories of the nightmare come flooding back.

~~~~

I was punching Ray. I was actually beating him. Then an unfamiliar man comes walking in. He looks exactly like me. Same hair, same cheeks, same eyes. I could immediately tell who he was and froze. I surrendered the fight that I was winning, then walk up to him.

I asked him who he was, even though I knew. He said "your father." I cried into his arms. Then he stops hugging me and an angry expression takes over.

"A boxer doesn't deserve to be my daughter. I travelled over here just to be disappointed by you. We may have the same blood, but I will never be the father to a boxer. Goodbye, my little Victoria."

~~~~

"Victoria is my real name. Victoria is what my dad always called me. I remember his voice and his smile but his looks always change. I don't remember what he looks like." I explain as a tear slips from my eye and lands on Lukas' hot skin.

"I'm so sorry, Tori," Lukas says. He rests his head against mine, his breath warming my face.

I sniffle. "Thanks. But it's not your fault. He just wasn't cut out to be a father."

Lukas nods into my hair. "So, you have a fear of him rejecting you?"

"I guess."

"How could he? You're the most beautiful person I've ever met. You've got a heart the size of the sun, a smile that could blind people, he'd be an idiot to reject you." Lukas says.

When Lukas says all of that, I can tell by his voice that he means every word. He says it all so easily, almost like he's been planning on saying that for years.

I turn my head up to him. He smiles down at me, his scar hidden in my hair. He takes his head from mine and lays it across my chest. I play with his hair. He plays with the hem of his shirt that I am wearing. He closes his eyes when I reach his forehead and run my fingers across his hot skin. He turns his head and exposes his pink scar. I run my fingers along it. This is the first time Lukas has let me touch him willingly. He kisses my finger, his eyes still closed. He appears to be falling asleep.