Chapter 263

“I had my first serious girlfriend at uni, Monique, and that was when I realized just how much damage had been done to me. It’s when I discovered that I couldn’t stand to be touched. Needless to say, our first few times being intimate didn’t go well. But she was good to me and we worked it out until one night when I fell asleep with her in my bed. I’d been careful to never do that. I knew there was a chance that I would have a nightmare. I had them nearly every night and they were violent, so I always made a point of never falling asleep. But then one night I did.” He paused and her heart clenched knowing that it was painful for him. “I woke up with Declan and Barry trying to drag me off her. My hands had been around her throat and she was petrified that I was going to kill her.” Lisa gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. Her heart hurt for him, for the horrors that he must have endured in his childhood to give him such frightening nightmares. He reached up and tucked a curl behind