Page 140 of Muted

“Since you’re not reading anymore, I’ll just have to tell you. I’ve been in love with you from the moment I first kissed you in that hallway. I may not have realized it right away, but looking back, I can see the moment it all clicked into place for me.”

Her face is warm against my chest, each breath she releases creating one of those hot spots through my skin, and I feel like she’s about to burn me.

Looking at my friends, I see the way they’re staring at her with a longing ache to hold her as well. When I’m done, I’m not going to put her back into bed. I’m going to hand her over to each one of them. She needs to know she has all of us for the long haul.

With a soft kiss over the stitched scar on her forehead, I continue. “If you’re worried about choosing one of us, you don’t have to be. Chaz, Vance, and I haven’t had the conversation exactly, but I’m certain they would agree that weallwant you, crave you, and love you. How could we ever force you to make a decision that would hurt you? Hurting you would kill us.”

My last words have her wrenching her body out of my arms with a pained cry as she scrambles to the end of the bed. On hands and knees, she sits up and, for the first time in days, looks me in the eye.

“You’re wrong!” she rasps out.

Staying calm and not reacting to the fact that she just spoke to us for the first time in almost a week, I cock my head to the side. “What am I wrong about, carebear?”

She shakes her head quickly, then cups the side of her head like she’s trying to keep the headache contained.

Chaz leans forward, covering his mouth as the seriousness of the situation envelops all of us. “Why is he wrong, baby? Because I think everything he said is exactly right.”

Jerking her head in his direction, she snarls, everything she’s feeling flashing across her face. “You almost died because of me!” she screams into the room. Looking around with a crazed look, she finds Vance and then me. Those green eyes are filled with fire. “Youallalmost died! Because ofme!”

Chester stands up and hurries to the bed, squatting down so he’s eye level with her. He braces his arms on the foot of the bed and moves his face inches from hers. “No, babygirl. They disarmed Walston before he even came close to hurting me. It was fine. I wasfine. He—”

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” she sobs, tugging at her hair and cutting him off.

Vance has moved next to us and reaches for her hand, but she pulls it away. He’s gutted by her rejection, but he doesn’t give up. “Tell us what you’re talking about then.”

“It didn’t matter what I did. If I ran, he was going to go after you. If I fought him, the same thing. He knew all about you,” she cries out. Turning to face Vance, she explains brokenly, “He knew who your family was. Called you ‘good stock’ and it’d be a shame to put good people through losing you.”

Leaving Vance slack-jawed and pale with her description of events, she meets my eyes and I’m again taken aback by how different she looks without those contacts. “And you,” she cries, my heart picking up, nervous to hear what she has to say. “He bragged about taking out a military veteran. How he’d be killing a h-hero.”

The absolute devastation she’s feeling is crushing my chest, and it’s hard to breathe. Holding on to all of this, that asshole forcing her to shoulder the burden of our lives, is the true torture he inflicted.

Chaz cups her chin and forces her to look at him, her eyes fighting to stay on me before she gives in. “What did he say about me, babygirl? What lies did he tell you?”

She swallows hard, so he slides his hand down to massage away the tension that’s forcing her tendons to stretch under her skin. “He… he said you were nothing to write home about. That you were simply mediocre.” Her confession is whispered, as if it pains her to admit what he said.

Chaz simply smiles, causing her to look confused. “What else did he say to you?”

Her eyes fill with a fresh round of tears, and she squeezes them tight. “He knew where Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Elaine were. This entire time. He had people watching them and threatened to make the call if… if I…”

“If you what?” I choke out. Vance seems as if he’s about to crumble under the weight of her words and I feel the exact same way. But if she had to hear it, the least we can do is let her vent out her truths.

Her lips press together and the way she whimpers has all three of us moving to her. Chaz still has his hand wrapped around the side of her neck, pulling her toward him to press a kiss at her temple. She grips Vance’s hand and the relief that comes over him is monumental. When she pulled away earlier, it truly crushed him in that moment.

Peering up at me with swollen eyes, her words slice me apart. “He was going to hurtallof you if I didn’t crawl into it on my own.”

“Crawl into what, songbird?” Vance whispers, gripping her hand tighter.

She blinks up at me, a look of sorrow and regret filling her. “My grave.”

A low rumbling growl escapes me, and I’m ready to go find that motherfucker and end him slowly and painfully. “I fought it,” she says, continuing. “I made it all the way there, but I couldn’t do it. Even knowing he was going to punish me by going after all of you, I couldn’t make my body go into that hole.”

Clarity raises Chaz’s brows, like everything makes sense now. I’m still lost, ready to annihilate all of her enemies for the mind fuck they put her through. Vance also seems to understand something, but I don’t want to be the dick to voice the question.

“Is that what’s holding you back from us?” Vance asks, understanding and patient. Chaz picks up almost immediately after him.

“It’s the guilt, isn’t it?”

Glaring at the two of them, I bite out, “You should know toalwaysfight tooth and nail. Fuck his pathetic threats. That’s all they were, threats to scare you.”

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