I haven’t had a nightmare in a while. They stopped shortly after Shane killed Howard Kline. But with all the stress of today, I guess it’s not surprising that I have one.

I’m walking through the medical school library where I used to work. It’s late at night, and the library is empty and quiet as a tomb. The lights are off, and the only illumination is from the moonlight streaming through the large windows.

I’m naked, and I shiver from the cold night air.

I jump when I hear a door slam. The library is closed, so there shouldn’t be anyone here – including me. I don’t even work here anymore.

I’m glancing around, looking for a safe place to hide, when I hear an unfamiliar noise...a sharp staccato on a hard floor. It takes me a minute to realize it’s the sound of high heels striking the floor. The noise is getting louder and louder, coming closer, so I run up the stairs to hide in my old office on the second floor. But the door is locked. I try to open it using the digital keypad, but my code no longer works.

So I turn and run into the stacks of books, hiding between floor-to-ceiling racks filled with medical reference books. I keep moving deeper and deeper into the bookcases, deeper into the shadows where it’s so dark I can barely see two feet in front of me. And yet the sharp tapping of heels keeps coming, getting close and closer, never relenting.

Suddenly, the noise stops and I hear a woman laugh... it’s a coy, feminine sound.

Then I hear a familiar, masculine voice. “Sweetheart, what are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here.”

Oh, thank God, it’s Shane! He’s in the next aisle over. I run toward the sound of his voice – toward safety – and as I turn the corner, I come to a screeching halt.

He’s standing right in front of Luciana, who’s dressed in the same slinky black dress and spikey heels she wore to the nightclub the other night. He’s smiling at her, touching her face with reverence. “You shouldn’t be here, darling.” He draws her close and gives her a soft, lingering kiss, his hands cradling her face as his lips cling to hers. “Come, let me take you home before Beth sees you. She’ll ruin everything.”

“No!” I cry out in anguish at his betrayal, my body doubling over in physical pain. I feel like I’ve been stabbed through the heart, like my heart has been shredded.

Shane and Luciana turn in unison to glare at me.

Shane frowns. “You shouldn’t be here, Beth,” he says. “You’re ruining everything.”

I shoot up in bed gasping for breath. My throat is raw from screaming, and I can’t catch my breath. My chest feels like it’s caught in a vice that’s crushing me. I grab for my purse on the nightstand, scrabbling in the dark for my rescue inhaler, just as the bedroom door crashes open and Jamie rushes in.

“Beth!”

I shove my inhaler into my mouth and press, then lie back in bed and wait for the medicine to kick in.

“What the hell?” Sam says, pushing his way into the room behind Jamie. “Are you okay, princess?”

Sam is wearing nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs, and I see more of him than I ever thought I would. His arms and shoulders and torso are decorated with striking black tattoos, and his abdomen is ripped with lean muscle. And the bulge in his briefs – holy cow! I had no idea the man was so well endowed. As my face heats up, I hastily divert my gaze to Jamie, who’s wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt.

“Um, sorry,” Sam says, backing out of the room. He points down the hallway to the living room. “I’ll go put something on.”

“No, it’s okay,” I say, chuckling weakly. “I’m fine, Sam, really. Please go back to bed. I’m sorry I woke you.”

“Hey, no apologies needed,” he says.

As Sam heads back to his makeshift bed, Jamie sits beside me on the bed. He brushes my hair back from my face, something Shane would have done. Jamie is so like his big brother.

Jamie takes the discarded inhaler from my limp grasp and sets it on the nightstand. “Are you okay?”

“I had a nightmare,” I tell him.

“I figured as much. Care to talk about it?”

“Not really. It’s just – Shane was in it, and so was Luciana. He was kissing her. And then he saw me and said I was ruining everything.” Fresh tears spill over my eyelids, and I’m grateful Jamie can’t see them.

“It was just a dream, Beth. Your subconscious is playing tricks on you, that’s all.” Jamie straightens the bedding around me. “Are you okay now?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry I woke you up.”

“I wasn’t asleep. I had a bad dream of my own.”

I know Jamie dreams about the accident that blinded him. Worse than that, he dreams about the friends he lost in that explosion.

I reach for his hand and give it a squeeze, and he squeezes mine back.

“Try to get some sleep,” he says. “Don’t hesitate to call me if you need me.”

After Jamie returns to his room, I lie awake for a long time, afraid to close my eyes. Afraid to fall back into that nightmare realm where my worst fears come alive.

I know it was just a dream, but Shane’s words keep haunting me.

You’re ruining everything.