She made it stop. I opened my eyes in time to watch her shimmy into her leggings and change back into her own shirt.
“What time is it?”
“7:30,” she said. “I’ll let myself out. Thanks for everything Bodie. See you Monday.”
She left the bedroom, and I heard the door to the hallway open and close.
My thoughts went back to last night and Karma’s nightmare. From what she said, she used to have nightmares often enough that her parents had a chair in her room just to sleep in. It was probably none of my business, but that seemed like more than just a nightmare, it seemed like a memory. The look on her face told me she was completely terrified. I didn’t know if I’d be able to find anything out, but I planned on doing some searching.
****
“Get the fuck up,” Major yelled, from my doorway.
I guess I’d fallen back to sleep. “Why?” I mumbled.
“Because I need to talk to you.”
I could tell by the tone of his voice he wasn’t going to leave me alone until I got up. Throwing off the covers I got out of bed and left my room. I could smell coffee.
“Here,” Major said, handing me a cup.
“Thanks,” I said. “Now, what’s the fucking emergency?”
“Karma spent the night here.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah, so.”
I had no idea where this was going.
“She has a boyfriend, you asshole.”
It took me a minute to figure out what he was saying. Then I got mad.
“You think I fucked Karma? While she’s in a relationship. Fuck you, Major. I may be a player but I’m not a goddamned douchebag.”
“So, you’re telling me you two didn’t share a bed last night?”
“Where are you getting this information from?”
“Karma came home this morning and I overheard part of a conversation between her and Kayleigh. She had said that after she was stood up, she went to a party with you and then you shared the bed with her.”
“Well, I guess you didn’t hear the whole thing. I was leaving here last night, and she was outside the dorm. She told me about Anthony not showing up and I offered to take her to the party with me to cheer her up. I danced with her and didn’t let anyone else near her. I didn’t want her to do something she’d regret because she was mad. I drove us back here and she didn’t want to be alone and asked if she could sleep here. I was asleep on the couch, alone, when she had a nightmare. She was fucking terrified and asked if I would stay with her. We slept in the same bed, we both had clothes on, and we stayed on our own sides. Happy?” I said with anger in my voice.
“Fuck. Sorry, man. I just knew what happened before and that she was stood up. I jumped to the wrong conclusion.”
“Yeah, you fucking did,” I said, a little less angry.
Taking a drink of my coffee I sat down on the couch. I took some deep breaths to calm down. Major had a point through. If it was anyone but Karma, I probably would have fucked them, but I couldn’t do that to Karma. After a few minutes my anger was gone.
“Hey,” I said to Major, who had been silent since he apologized. “I think it was more than a nightmare that Karma had.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think maybe it was like a memory or something. It was like she told someone to stop and let her go. Then she called for help and I had a hard time waking her up. But the look on her face is haunting me. I’ve never seen anyone look so scared in my life. She asked me to stay because otherwise she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep and that her parents would have to stay in the room with her when she’d have one. I think something happened to her when she was a kid.”
“Fuck,” Major said.
“Yeah. She said she hadn’t had one in years. I’m blaming Anthony. Now that guy, he’s a douchebag.”
“You get that vibe from him, too?” I nodded. “I thought it was just me,” Major said. “And I’ve only met him once for a minute.”
“When he first picked Karma up at the club, I didn’t like him. We didn’t actually speak but he acted like he’d won a prize the way he looked at Karma and then back at me. And the whole thing with his dad thinking she was a gold digger didn’t exactly make me want to be his best friend.”
Major chuckled. “I just hope he has a really good explanation for not picking her up yesterday or he’s going to have one really angry diver and one pissed off swimmer on his hands.”
“I could see that. Kayleigh can be feisty when she wants to be,” I said.
“I’m going to shower and get ready for the day,” Major said. “I told Kayleigh we’d do something fun today. You can join us if you want.”
“Nah, you two have fun.”
I took another drink of my coffee and laid my head back on the couch. Karma’s nightmare was really bothering me. I sat there until my coffee was gone and I was still thinking about what I should do. I wanted to see what I could learn, but then that would be invading her privacy again. What was a guy to do?
Chapter 18
Karma
It had been over two years since I’d last had my recurring nightmare. I tried to pretend like it didn’t bother me, but it always did. I won’t ever be able to thank Bodie enough for staying with me last night, he’ll never know what it meant to me.
In order to shake it off I was putting everything into practice this morning and I could tell Coach Everett was pleased. We were two weeks away from another meet and I think we all wanted to get to second place in the standings.
“Great practice everyone,” Coach Everett said when she blew her whistle. “Have a great weekend, see you Monday.”
We all hit the locker room and I took a longer and hotter shower than normal. Now that I wasn’t focused on diving my thoughts turned back to my nightmare. I heard Kayleigh and Gabbi yell bye to me, but I stayed in the shower a few minutes longer before finally deciding to face the rest of the weekend.
When I walked out of the locker room, I stopped dead in my tracks. Anthony was standing there with a bouquet of flowers, but that’s not what had my attention. His arm was in a sling and he had red bruises on his face.
“Oh my God, what happened?” I said running over to him.
“I was carjacked last night. I tried to fight back and got my shoulder dislocated and my face smashed by some fists. They took my car, wallet, phone, everything. The hospital kept me overnight for observation and this morning I had to file a police report. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to pick you up. How mad at me are you?”
“Fuck being mad, I’m just glad you’re mostly in one piece. Shouldn’t you be resting?”
He smiled but I could tell it hurt. “Probably, but I had to find you so I could explain.”
“What can I do?” I asked.
“The offer to spend the rest of the weekend still stands. I can’t do much, but I’d love the company.”
“Of course,” I said. “I just have to run back to the dorm and get some clothes. How did you get here?”
“My dad’s car and driver.”
“Oh. Do you want me to drive us there in my car?”