Page 76 of Dark Love

“See I told you. She wouldn’t look like her dog died if it wasn’t true.”

“Hope.” Max sets a hand on her shoulder. “You should go home now.”

“But I need to be here for her. Prue is my friend.”

Be here for me? “I never told you I was drugged.”

“You didn’t need to tell me. But you do need to tell my dad what happened.”

“Why do I need to tell your father?”

“So, he can fix it.”

Fix it. Fix it. “No one can fix it when you’re drugged. No one can ever take that feeling away from you.”

Hope runs across the room and wraps her arms around me. “My daddy can fix anything.”

If only that were true. I squeeze her back.

“Hope,” Max speaks softly. “Go check on dinner.”

“But—”

“Go check on dinner.” He nods towards the front door. “Now.”

“Fine.” Hope lets me go and walks out of the room.

“Tell us what happened,” Talon demands as soon as the front door closes.

“Um.”

Temperance places a hand on his arm. “This might be hard for her to talk about.”

“Fine, you don’t need to talk. Just give me a name.”

This isn’t happening.

This isn’t happening.

My neighbors aren’t in my kitchen demanding to know about what was almost the worst night of my life.

My hands start shaking.

This isn’t happening.

“Dad.” Max nods towards me. “Look at her.”

Don’t look at me.

Don’t talk to me.

Just pretend all of this never happened.

Why did I ever open the door to Hope?

“What should we do?” Talon reaches up and tugs one of his curls.

Just go away. “Everything is fine. I don’t want to talk about it.”

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