Page 72 of Hate Me

Caspian: If I have time.

I rolled my eyes and slid my phone back into my pocket.

He really wasn’t making this easy.

I mean, I hadn’t exactly expected the red carpet treatment or a warm welcome, but this was another level, and what I’d just found out concerning Skylar just made it a whole other level of complicated.

Well, Cas wasn’t the only one who didn’t shy away from a challenge.

I was here to face it all.

Everything I’d done, everything I’d learned, had brought me here.

And I wouldn’t balk in the face of any of it.

16

~Caspian~

“Along with untreated trauma, both with what happened that night and what Jett Bane subjected her to beforehand while she was attending Vista Ridge. The long-term isolation also hasn’t helped, neither has her not properly processing her grief, or the abandonment issues associated with her father leaving.” I finished reporting Doctor Granger’s notes on Skylar’s condition, after I’d met with her just before her third session with Skylar in her room. Her room, which she hadn’t left once since I’d come home that day after Caleb had communicated his concerns about her mental health and I’d informed her that Doctor Granger would be paying her a visit that very night.

She was angry with me for keeping her here, as well as the force I’d initially used to do so.

And making her see this renowned specialist was another thing to add to that.

Rather than seeing it as an act of care and concern for her wellbeing, she’d seen it as a slight, and as an intrusion.

Fortunately, I was schooled on dealing with those in dire straits who denied the necessary help, through my experience with Bastian over the years.

“Jesus,” Caleb exclaimed at my report.

Bastian tapped his fingers on his coffee cup. “At least she’s actually cooperating. We wouldn’t know all of that from Granger if she wasn’t.”

“She could just be playing the game,” I warned.

“In a bid to get us off her back?” Caleb asked.

“That and to draw us into a false sense of security to have us believe she’ll break from her obsessive mission to eliminate Jett.”

“Take it at face value for now,” Bastian said.

I arched an eyebrow.

“Challenging her is gonna just add pressure when she’s already struggling—more than we realized.”

“Kid gloves,” Caleb told me. “More than that, actually. Animosity and pain toward her from the two of you needs to be let go of and put to rest. What happened can’t be altered and let’s not forget that, unlike me, she had to leave and she was literally forced to by her father. She’s traumatized and in a whole lot of pain and drowning in the dark. And who the hell knows how to deal with that better than the three of us? She needs care, attention, and love. Can the two of you handle that? No more treating her like a threat, Cas? I mean, you can still keep an eye on that side of things, just quietly and without it impacting her. And Bastian, no treating her as somebody who wronged you. You know damn well that went both ways.”

“I’ll see to it,” I agreed.

“Good, because she needs us right now.”

Bastian gave a nod. “She does, yeah. Being in that hopeless state of mind… I know what that’s like. As much as you hate it at the time, you need the support and care.” He smiled out at me. “Just like I was fortunate enough to get in spades over these last couple of years when I was struggling through everything.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help you through it this time,” Caleb told him.

“It doesn’t matter, I was,” I threw at him.

He winced.

---