Page 54 of Damaged

“So that’s why he’s in pain all the time? Can’t the doctors do something to get rid of the metal somehow?”

“They could have tried to remove them surgically, but there was a high risk that removing even one of them could cause permanent damage.”

“What kind of damage?” I asked, my heart in my throat. More pieces of who Dalton was were falling into place, painting a picture that was tearing me apart inside.

“If the surgery failed, Dalton could have been left paralyzed from the waist down, or even from the neck down. He chose not to have it done.”

I found myself nodding as I considered what I would have done in the same situation.

“So the doctors gave him pain medication,” I murmured.

“Yes, but nowhere near what he’s been taking. And they sure as shit didn’t tell him to drink alcohol at the same time. It’s a fatal combination.”

I felt like I was going to be sick.

“Um, is it okay if we don’t talk anymore?” I asked. I needed Jace gone so I could deal with all the emotions running through me. Not to mention that it was very likely I’d throw up right over the side of the boat.

Before Jace responded, a man at the top of the stairs called something I couldn’t hear because there was too much noise going on in my head and I was desperately trying to stuff it in that box hidden away in my mind.

“Silver, did you hear that? Dalton is awake. Do you want to come to the house and see him?”

All I could do was shake my head. I hoped to God that Jace didn’t ask me why or try to force me to accompany him.

There was a long beat of silence before Jace said, “Okay. Come up when you’re ready. I’m going to have one of my guys come down here just to keep an eye on things, but he won’t bother you.”

I may or may not have nodded. I felt the boat sway sharply once more and then it was quiet again. At least on the outside.

I didn’t know what to do.

Yes, I did. I just didn’t want to admit it.

I couldn’t let this man destroy me. I couldn’t let him consume my life like Ivan had. Though Dalton was nothing like Ivan, even when it came to his dependence on drinks and pills, if I stayed, I’d only get more emotionally attached to the man.

What if there came a day where he succeeded in mixing too much alcohol with too many pills and Jace wasn’t there to help him? What if I was the only one there to lift him off that floor so he wouldn’t choke on his vomit, a task I wouldn’t have managed because not only was I not strong enough to lift Dalton but also because I hadn’t known that was even a possibility? Or what if he was already gone and I was the one who had to feel his cold, lifeless body?

“No,” I said with a harsh shake of my head.

“No,” I repeated and then I was standing with every intention of getting as far away from Dalton as I could, but my knees buckled, sending my ass down to land hard on the lounger.

That was when they started again.

The silent tears that streaked down my face.

I hadn’t cried during nearly any of the time I’d spent with Ivan, even when Maggie had died, because tears would have merely been a distraction. A useless distraction.

But try as I might, I couldn’t stop the hot, salty tears that flooded my cheeks.

Just like I couldn’t make myself get up and walk away like I’d vowed.

Chapter 19

DALTON

“Fuck,” I muttered, my throbbing head taunting me while I tried to sit up and swing my legs over my bed. I was relatively clearheaded but that didn’t mean my whole body didn’t feel like it had been run over by a Mack truck a couple hundred times.

Proof that my senses weren’t exactly on point was when a very loud, very familiar voice said, “Welcome back to the living.”

“Jesus, Jace, can you take it down a notch?” I grumbled. I’d managed to sit up and started to reach for the alcohol sitting on my nightstand. I wasn’t looking at the small table to find the exact location of the bottle, but it didn’t matter. Something stayed my hand.

---