Black Heart (Cursed Hearts #1)(68)

Everywhere he went, they followed. It was even worse when he was with Marty, which was often. He felt like such an ass**le. Thanks to him, she wasn't getting much sleep either. Every time spirts woke him up, he managed to startle her awake. He'd apologize for waking her up and she'd shrug it off like it was no big deal, but he knew that the multiple wakeups a night were taking their toll on her.

She was exhausted.

Granted, she was also putting in a lot of hours at work plus a few hours each night trying to figure out where all the missing women had disappeared. Mostly she was exhausted because of this damn spirit invasion that didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon. Every night when she fell into an exhausted sleep in his arms, he prayed that they'd give him a damn break, at least for one night, but they never did.

Every night for the past month he woke up to find himself being attacked or screamed at and, each and every time that happened, he ended up waking Marty. It hadn’t mattered if he was holding her in his arms or managed to put some space between them before he fell asleep, he couldn't manage to handle the nighttime visits without scaring the hell out of her. He tried everything he could to help her fall back asleep, but once she was awake, that was it.

He considered sleeping on the couch, but that would only send the wrong message to his wife. They'd only been married for a month and opting to sleep on the couch instead of with her in their bed would cause a lot of bullshit problems that he'd rather avoid. He was in love with his wife and he didn't want her to ever have a reason to question that. So, instead of leaving her to sleep, he tried other ways to help make things better for her.

Sometimes he held her, drew a bath for her or they'd grab the files of the missing women and look through them, hoping to find something that they'd missed. So far they hadn't found any leads. They were still investigating restaurants and restaurant supply stores, but they were going nowhere.

The only time that she seemed to get any sleep was when he was driving. It only took a matter of seconds for Marty to doze off and once she was out she slept so damn peacefully that most mornings he drove around instead of going straight to the office. As long as he drove, she slept so he made damn sure that he drove as long as he could. Thankfully his position allowed him that luxury, but it couldn't keep him on the road indefinitely.

He usually reported back to the office by nine after he drove around, patrolling the town and making calls. By the time he shut the engine down, her eyes would be open and she'd be throwing him a grateful smile as she grabbed her bag and opened her door. For the next eight or so hours she'd struggle to stay awake while she worked, but the second that he turned on the car to take her home, she was fast asleep. He usually managed to drive for an hour or two before he took her home.

Once they were home, she kept herself busy with cooking, cleaning and working. When he suggested that she get some sleep or offered to help her, she'd give him a playful shove and tell him that everything was fine. Things weren't fine. They were far from fine.

His wife wasn't happy and it was his fault. He'd rushed her into marrying him, too afraid that he'd f**k up and lose her for good. If things didn't change, and soon, he was afraid that he was going to lose her anyway.

One thing was certain, he wasn't going to lose her lying down. He knew what his life would be like without her, empty, and he wasn't about to go back to that. Not without a fight. He was going to take her away from everything and give her a real honeymoon. He should have done that right after they’d eloped, but they'd both wanted to focus on this case and Marty wanted to be able to start her new position without any delays.

She was set to graduate and officially start her job in a month. Everything had taken longer than expected because of work, getting married, and a few problems with her advisors, but the end was finally in sight. He'd already spoken to Hank and put in for a vacation so that he could surprise Marty with a real honeymoon as her graduation present. He knew that she'd be pissed to have to put off her new job for a little while longer, but they needed this.

He needed this.

He desperately needed some time alone with his wife. He wanted to take her away from all this bullshit and prove to her that she hadn't made a mistake by marrying him. Marty needed to know that he loved her, worshipped her, and would move heaven and earth to make her happy.

In order to do that, he had to get rid of all the bullshit and distractions in their lives. She deserved all of his attention and he was going to damn well give it to her even if it killed him. It was definitely going to make him broke.

It took some time, research and using Shayne's talents, but he found an exclusive resort on a small island in the Bahamas that was untouched by death. Before the resort was built fifteen years ago, the island had been untouched by humans. It had just been another small pretty island among hundreds of small pretty islands until a few contractors decided to build a resort. Since its creation, not one single human had died on the island.

He'd checked.

Repeatedly.

The airline tickets, private boat to take them to the island and the cost of the rooms and meal package was going to wipe out his entire nest egg and that should piss him off, but surprisingly he didn't care. For the first time in his life, he was going to be a normal guy and he couldn't wait.

He couldn't wait to hold his wife's hand without worrying about coming up with some f**ked up excuse why he had to drop her hand, cross the street unnecessarily, or having to stop whatever he was doing and kiss her, well, that one he didn't mind, because he was hoping to go unnoticed by a spirit that just happened to be too close for his comfort. He was really looking forward to being able to get some uninterrupted sleep, using the john without an audience, and being able to tell his wife that he loved her before he made love to her without some bitter woman scoffing, ranting and raving that he was a lying sack of shit.