Page 51 of Hush

Ben stood frozen, his mind racing. “Faith, put the knife down,” he said, his voice thin. The sharp blade touched the side of his throat and he pressed back, into Faith’s body. It could be over so fast. She knew right where to cut. He would bleed out before the medics could even get into the elevator.

“Faith, think about it,” Caitlin said. “You hurt him, and we’ll be on you in seconds.”

Ben glared at Caitlin. He wasn’t some bluff. But Caitlin was right. Faith had no escape.

“Think about what you’re doing,” Ben said, trying to get a look at her face so he could reason with her, but she had him pinned. One upward jab and he was dead. “Your career. You hurt me, and you’ll never practice medicine again.”

Ben felt her grip on him falter. “You don’t really want to hurt me,” he said.

Behind him, he felt Faith’s frame quiver. “I have to,” she said, tightening the knife. “It’s the only way I can be safe.”

“That’s not true, Faith,” Caitlin said.

“Shut up,” Faith cried, her spit landing on Ben’s cheek.

Ben remembered from his studies how people with severe mental health issues justified their actions—it was a coping mechanism for whatever pain they were suffering. Ben decided to take a risk, and followed this line of thinking. “What if there was another way?” he asked. “A way you could stop hurting? Stop fighting?”

“I’ve never been good enough,” Faith said in a voice he’d never heard before, one full of desperation and terror. “I work so…hard.”

“I know you do,” Ben said, eyeing Caitlin, whose look told him that whatever he was doing was working. “Wouldn’t it be a relief to be able to stop fighting?”

Faith made a noise like a wounded animal.

“It can all be over,” Ben said, forcing his voice to stay steady.

Faith’s body began to shake.

“Put the knife down, Faith,” Wyatt said.

Ben reached for her wrist, and he slowly, carefully, lowered the knife. Faith let it go, and the blade clattered to the floor. Turning, Ben pulled Faith into his arms while her body shook with tears. “It’s going to be okay,” he said, giving Caitlin and Wyatt a look to stay back. “We’re going to get you the help you need.”

“I’m so sorry,” Faith said. “I never meant to hurt you.”

“I know,” Ben said, feeling a slow release of his fear and the heaviness he’d lived with since everything fell apart, as if someone had just taken a giant weight off his shoulders. He could be free now. Finally and totally free.

“Come on, Faith,” Caitlin said, stepping forward. “There’s a place we can go, a safe place. So you can heal.”

Faith released another sob. “I’m so tired,” she whispered into Ben’s neck.

“I know,” Ben said, rubbing her back. “You’ll be able to rest now, and you’ll get better.”

Faith nodded vigorously. She stepped back from Ben. He peered into her troubled blue eyes, seeing a flicker of the demons hiding there. “Will you take me?” she asked, her lips pinching together.

“Of course,” Ben replied.

Chapter 20

Elise

Eyeing the clock for the hundredth time, Elise resisted the urge to look at the airline’s website for possible flight delays. Snow had been falling all day, but this didn’t normally affect air traffic. Ben’s message before he’d boarded had told her little other than, “I’m okay,” and that her sister was a genius. That and he couldn’t wait to see her and Jaden.

After almost two weeks apart, Elise had been going slowly insane. Ben stopped by every day to check on them, but he’d spent most of his time playing with Jaden. Not being able to touch him had become maddening, but she respected his decision to “do things right.”

But that all changed tonight. Ben was no longer Jaden’s doctor, and Ashley was no longer a threat, or, at least, that was what Elise hoped his simple text message meant. If only Caitlin would call. Elise wondered how she would ever repay her sister for her role in helping Ben gain his freedom.

Normally, Elise would be wearing jeans and a sweater, but tonight felt special, so she chose a casual but pretty periwinkle-blue dress with a lettuce-edged hem that swished when she moved. All night, she had been imagining Ben’s adept fingertips on her skin, sending shivers through her.

Finally, at five minutes past seven o’clock, she heard a car door slam followed by footsteps on her porch.

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