Page 14 of Rent Free

But even though I’d hardened my heart to Sage, I’d still gone to the hospital to check on her, even if I didn’t actually walk into her room and let her know I was there.

I’d known that Mom would want an update, despite her being sick as a dog.

I’d driven to Dallas in the middle of the night, walked right up to the nurses’ station, and asked about Sage.

They hadn’t wanted to give me the details, but an officer had started talking about how she was doing when I’d started toward her room. That officer had his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes were hard and unyielding, and he’d taken my breath away with one single look.

He hadn’t seen me as he gave a status report to a man that had looked incredibly like him.

Bruised. Contusions. Lucky to be alive. Couldn’t believe she’d escaped the mad man. Blah, blah, blah.

Sure, she had been lucky to be alive.

But she’d also known what she was getting into…

“I told you not to call,” she snarled.

Yes, yes, she had.

She’d also told me she’d block me if I did.

But I had to try.

When my mouth only thinned, and she could tell I was on the verge of losing my shit, she threw up her hands.

“Why did you call, then?” she scoffed. “Just sayin’ but I told you if you called me, I was going to block y’all.”

I hated her.

I hated everything about her.

I hated that she looked like me.

I hated that she sounded like me.

I hated that we shared the same blood.

I hated that she reminded me of our mother.

I hated that she didn’t know why I was so upset.

I also hated that she didn’t care.

“And we promised that we wouldn’t call unless it was emergency, to ‘give you the space you needed to reflect on your personal beliefs.’ Or whatever the fuck it was that you said,” I replied. “As for why I called, and why our brothers called, what had to be eight thousand times? Our mother passed away a week ago. We’ve already held her funeral, though, because Dad was dying a little bit every day as we waited for you to answer your phone.”

Sage slow blinked a couple of times before snarling and launching herself at me.

I stepped out of the way, unsurprised by her act of violence.

That was another thing she liked to do.

Hit.

That was, in my honest to God opinion, why the men she was with always beat the shit out of her.

I imagined that they didn’t start out violent.

What I assumed happened was that Sage would lose her shit and then launch herself at him and beat him. He would have to calm her down—which she eventually would, offering so many apologies for her outburst—and then the pattern would repeat itself. Over and over again. Until you either reacted, or she grew bored.

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