Page 70 of Ashes

Fear coursed through me as I retreated back into the darkness before I let the numbness take over to shield me.

“Fucking stay! Rinny! NO! Come back! Don’t fucking leave me. Please. Don’t leave me again.” He wept softly, shaking me roughly. “Please. . . I need you. We fucking need you. . .”

All went silent.

And I was safe once more.

STITCHES

My groan was a rasp as I rolled over on the cold, hard mattress. The hospital gown was much too thin to keep me warm.

I shivered and curled into a ball, a soft hiss leaving my lips because the pain I was in. Rocking softly, I tried to keep myself warm, but it wasn’t much use. The agony I felt was far too great, and after a few minutes, I had to stop.

The door to my room opened. I didn’t bother to look at my visitor. It didn’t fucking matter. My head felt like it had been beaten with a sledgehammer for as much as it throbbed. When I tried to rack my brain to remember anything, I was hit with a brick wall. I had no fucking memory of what had happened to me, but judging by the way my body felt, it hadn’t been good.

I wanted out.

I needed out.

I was going to die here.

Fucking die in this hell.

Fuck.

“Malachi,” Sully’s voice greeted me. “It’s good to see you awake. You gave us quite a scare yesterday.”

I said nothing. I didn’t move. Fuck him.

“Sit him up,” Sully called out.

A moment later, rough hands pulled and tugged on my body, lifting me into a sitting position. My head felt too heavy to hold up. One of the wards tangled his fingers in my hair and jerked my head up so I was looking at the cocksucker in front of me.

“You’re upset,” Sully said. “It’s understandable. You’re going through a big change right now.”

“Fuck you,” I mumbled.

“Yes, well, later.” He chuckled, the sound sending chills down my spine.

A flash of a memory cracked through the wall, making me blink rapidly.

Crying.

Begging.

A hot mouth against mine.

Pain. So much fucking pain.

My chest ached as the memory faded away, the wall firmly back in place.

My pulse thundered in my ears.

“You were hallucinating yesterday.” Sully’s voice brought me back to the moment. “Babbling incoherently. Saying things that hadn’t happened. Then you passed out on us, and we couldn’t wake you.”

I blinked at him.

I’d never hallucinated a day in my fucking life.

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