Page 52 of Damaged

What the hell?

I didn’t have enough strength to help Jace get me into a sitting position, but I did finally manage to open my eyes. The light immediately stung. I would have kept them closed if I could have but every part of my body was being overruled by one thing.

“Where is he?” I choked out. “Silver!” I called as memories of the last time I’d seen him washed over me. I began to struggle in Jace’s hold but my actions only resulted in another round of searing pain in my head and a wave of nausea in my still-cramping stomach. I did manage to focus my eyes, though.

Only to wish I hadn’t.

The first thing I saw would haunt me forever.

Silver was sitting on the floor not fifteen feet from me. His back was against the wall next to the bedroom door. His arms were wrapped around his legs which he’d tucked up against his body. But his face…

His beautiful face was red and blotchy, and his hair was disheveled. The second my eyes met his, he began to sob. His whole body appeared to be shaking as he dropped his head to his knees. The sound of him crying was muffled but there was no mistaking the despair that was consuming him.

“Silver,” I called, but he didn’t respond.

“Oh God, what did I do?” I asked. I didn’t wait for a response before my ragged voice was yelling, “Did I hurt you?” I wanted to go to him to see if he was hurt, but my limbs felt heavy, like I’d been trying to keep my head above the water in a vast ocean for hours.

“Jace, did I hurt?—”

“He’s safe, Dalton,” Jace responded. It sounded like he was yelling directly into my ear, but I figured he probably wasn’t. “He’s safe,” Jace repeated.

Safe?

That hadn’t been my question. I needed to know if I’d done something to him. “Silver,” I croaked, but I couldn’t keep my eyes on him because my head was spinning again. I could feel my nightstand to my left, my bed at my back and Jace on the other side, supporting me with his arms so I wouldn’t hit the floor.

It took every ounce of strength I had left to open my eyes and search for Silver again.

But he wasn’t there. The spot where he’d been sitting was empty. Maybe I’d imagined his presence. Jace said he was safe but that didn’t mean he was safe in my house. Jace could have taken him somewhere or have found out some other way that Silver was safe.

“Where is he?” I whispered before I felt my eyes slowly closing.

Jace shook me hard enough to rattle my teeth. “No you don’t, you fucker,” he practically snarled. “Only place you’re going is in a very cold fucking shower, do you hear me?”

I heard him. The nearest neighbor who lived several miles away probably heard him. But it wasn’t his voice that I needed to hear.

I needed one thing. One person.

But he was gone. I’d driven him away even as I’d secretly wished he would stay.

“I’m sorry,” I managed to whisper before Jace hauled me to my feet and began walking me toward the bathroom. I barely noticed the icy-cold water as it rained over me because I was too consumed by the image of Silver sitting against my wall, tears streaking down his face. Shame and regret ate at my insides as the full weight of my actions hit me.

What have I done? What the fuck have I done?

Chapter 18

SILVER

I almost lost him.

I couldn’t stop shaking just like I couldn’t stop rocking back and forth. I’d hoped sitting on Dalton’s boat would soothe me like it did him, but it made no difference. I was lost in my own little world where Dalton and I were still lying on the lounger, our arms wrapped around each other.

I needed that moment back. I needed to go back so I could hold him tighter. So tight that he’d never be able to leave me behind.

But he had left me.

How had this gone so horribly wrong?

The sound of footsteps burst the tiny bubble I’d built around me to shield me from the image of Dalton lying face down on the floor next to his bed. I knew immediately that it wasn’t him. The footsteps were too even to be Dalton’s because he shuffled when he walked.

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