Page 24 of Ravage

"They forced me to watch them have sex," I finally manage to say.

I'm not sure if I'm telling him this for my own benefit, to get it off my chest, or because he needs to know the lengths these people will go to. They have personal footage of patients, and the irony isn't lost on me that what they did breached so many confidentiality laws. We already know that the staff in Lilydale have no morals or ethical boundaries.

"Old footage?" Damon asks.

I shrug, unable to look at him. He hates vulnerability, but I don't know how else to be right now. I promised myself that I would be strong and escape, and now that I'm back here, I feel like I'm ready to snap and break.

Seventeen hours isn't a long time. But it felt like days. Torture method after torture method, I lost a bit of myself, and now I'm trapped in this head space of knowing I am safe, but realizing they just fucked me up worse than I was to begin with.

I don't want him to see me cry. If he makes any comments about my emotions being unstable or my lack of control, I'll shatter.

"Yeah, I guess so," I mutter back. "They told me it was a live stream though."

"You thought we weren't coming."

It's a confident statement because he always knows everything. Begrudgingly, I nod, letting him know just how messed up I am.

"We were always coming, Avery," Damon says, surprising me. I glance up at his unusually soft tone, taken aback. "We just had to be smart about it. But for what it's worth, Grey was a wreck the entire time."

"A wreck?"

"Well, a wreck in the sense of Grey."

A tiny laugh slips out of my lips. "Who did he hurt?"

Damon's mouth tilts upwards into a smile. "Christopher—among other things."

"He didn't do this," I reiterate. "It was—"

"Arthur and Elsher, yes. Regardless, there's some things we need to explain to you. But not tonight."

I don't have the energy to argue or the mental capacity to take any more information in. "Alright. I don't want to go back to my room though. I don't feel safe there."

"You're staying here," he replies, before being cut off by the sound of rushing footsteps.

My eyes widen in panic, turning to Damon in alarm. He looks unfazed, and within seconds, I realize why.

Grey bolts into the room, immediately finding me on the edge of the bed. He lets out a sigh of relief and a string of curse words, lunging forward to engulf me in his arms.

All the air is squeezed out of me as he coils his arms around me like a snake, crushing me in his hold like he's afraid to let me go. And suddenly, it starts.

I break down crying, unable to stop the tears as I cling to him back. I sense another set of eyes on me and I peer over Grey's shoulder, finding Theo hovering behind him.

My bottom lip quivers as I manage to slip my arm free, holding out my hand desperately for Theo. He grasps it, squeezing my knuckles.

"You're okay," Grey whispers, pulling back to grab my face in between his hands. "You're okay."

I can tell he's saying it to himself too, running his fingers over my cheeks, like he's checking that I'm not an apparition.

"I'll give you guys a moment," Damon murmurs. "I need to go check on the others."

I watch as he leaves the room, eyes glued to his retreating frame. It doesn't go unnoticed by Grey, his eyebrows furrowing.

"So, he got you out? Was it okay?"

Finally, I manage to break my trance, turning to look at Grey.

"Yeah," I tell him. "We ran into a few guards but it was fine."

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