Page 122 of Outside The Wire

“Right,” he chuckled. “Probably not the best question to ask.”

I couldn’t just stand out here all day and wait for the sun to set. It was better to rip off the bandaid and get it over with. My fist came down harder on the door than I intended and I stepped back, trying to pull my shit together before she opened the door.

It didn’t work.

The door swung open and she smiled up at me like I was her everything—like she hadn’t tried to take her own fucking life and left me behind in the wreckage.

“Ash.” She was in my arms before I could stop her. My eyes closed without meaning to, and I inhaled her familiar scent that I’d almost forgotten about. It was strange how I’d missed it for so long, but now that I saw her, held her in my arms, and that familiar fragrance hit me, there was just nothing there any longer.

Carefully, I peeled her arms from around my neck and stepped back. The look of disappointment on her face was hard to take, but I pushed that down. I wasn’t here to make up with her and win her back.

“Come in,” she grinned, turning to go into her suite. For a woman who had been sleeping for damn near four years, she certainly had no problem throwing money around. At least, I assumed it was her money.

“Nice room.”

She smiled over her shoulder, sitting down on the couch with one foot tucked under her. “After that care center, I decided I would never stay in another bland room again.”

I nodded, taking a seat in one of the armchairs across from her. “I assume this all passed to you from your father.”

She shrugged. “Daddy had an account set up for me. When I woke up, it was all there waiting for me.”

Daddy. That was an interesting name for the man who had her beaten and nearly raped.

“Jade, what exactly do you remember?”

“All of it.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, sure she was just making shit up. “Everything?”

She nodded. “The funeral, the accident…well, I remember getting in the van. Not much about driving the van.”

“And before that?”

“I mean, there are fuzzy times. I was taking a lot of pills.”

My jaw clenched in irritation at how flippant she was being about the entire situation. “So, you remember stealing your mother’s pills and dosing yourself.”

She nodded, her facade slipping. “Yeah, not my best moment.”

“Jade, you tried to kill yourself. I thought you succeeded.”

She winced. “I’m really very sorry about that. The only thing I can say is that I wasn’t in my right mind. I never would have—it was a very dark time for me.”

“And you’re all better now?”

“Well, I’m not about to swallow any pills if that’s what you mean,” she joked. The smile on her face was bright and full of life, but I started to see through the cracks, how the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes and she kept licking her lips nervously. She was playing it up, trying to pretend she was alright. But why?

I stood and walked over to her, sitting beside her. My hand found hers against my better judgment and I squeezed gently. “Jade, you need to be honest with me. How are you?”

She sucked in a shuddering breath and smiled, but this time, her eyes filled with tears. “I’m trying to be fine. I mean, I’m telling the truth when I said I’m not taking pills. That’s not a lie.”

“But?”

“But…I woke up and everything changed. You weren’t there. My parents were gone. I was…hooked up to machines and there were strange people all around me. I was completely terrified, and I kept having these dreams about my past, about what—what Marrick did to me.”

Marrick… a name I never wanted to hear again. He was the asshole who had whipped her in the cage and nearly raped her. I pulled her into my arms as she sucked in a ragged breath. Tears soaked my shirt as she gripped me tight. Fuck, this was bad.

“I was so alone, Asher. Everything was different and nobody would tell me what was going on.”

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