Page 102 of Savage Scream

“Shhh.” He stands, looking over his shoulder before glancing back at me. “It’s ok. Calm down.”

Doesn’t he know that when you tell a chick to calm down, they do the fucking opposite?!

I jerk in the bed, a strangled cry ripping from my throat as my ankles don’t move either, telling me they are strapped down too.

No. NO!

Instantly I’m taken back to my past, my body strapped on a mattress, my hands and feet cold, my body trembling from the chill in the dark room with no blanket in sight.

Not again. I don’t want to go back there.

A scream launches from me as I start thrashing on the bed, my vision flicking between present and past.

My past is dark and cold and so lonely. I don’t want to go back.

Shaking my head and blinking rapidly, the present fills my vision. Warm light and air reach me, and I stop screaming but still try to tug my limbs free of the restraints.

“No!” I hear Jared yell, his broad shoulders filling the doorway as he blocks someone from entering. “She’s ok. She woke up fine. It’s the restraints that’s set her off this time. They need to come off.”

“It’s too dangerous to remove the restraints,” a female voice snaps, but Jared doesn’t budge.

“You’re not putting any more fucking drugs into her!”

“I don’t take orders from you,” the lady hisses, and Jared shifts in the doorway like he’s trying to block her, as if she keeps trying to get past him.

“If you so much as try to step foot in this room, I will fucking end you.” Jared’s tone is lethal, and my thrashing stops as my body responds in a way it probably shouldn’t in this situation.

My chest rises and falls rapidly as I try to calm myself enough to talk. I’m not sure why I’m restrained to the bed, but Idoknow I need to show I don’t need to be. I remember that much from my time in the psychiatric facility after I killed Catherine.

“P-please,” I rasp, my voice scratchy and painful. My voice isn’t loud, but Jared must hear me, his blue gaze darting over his shoulder to lock with mine.

Then he shifts a little, keeping his hand secured tightly to the door frame, and the lady, a nurse, looks in past him.

“Please,” I rasp again, a little louder this time.

That’s all I say. She understands what I’m asking for, and with an angered sigh, she nods and looks back up at Jared.

“Fine. I’ll come in and remove the restraints.”

“Nope.” He shakes his head. “I will remove the restraints. No one else comes into this room until Griffin gets back. If you try, it will be the last thing you do.”

Rolling her tongue in her mouth, the nurse glares at Jared, but then nods and storms off, giving me a view of Travis, who must have been standing behind her in the passage.

His brown gaze is wide with happiness as he sees me, and I return his smile until I notice the crutch he’s leaning on, and the moon boot on his foot.

“I’m ok, Ell.” He reassures me from the hallway, and I wonder why he’s not coming inside until his gaze turns to Jared. “You gonna end me if I try to come in there?”

Jared nods. “Yes. You know what Griffin said.”

“Yeah, well. She’s awake now, so tell the arsehole to come in and we can have that fucking chat he’s been bugging me about.”

Jared nods and Travis glances back in at me.

“I’ll come and see you later. Ok?”

I nod, a little confused about why he can’t come in here, but since he doesn’t seem too concerned about it, I won’t worry over it.

Travis turns and hobbles back into the room across the passage, and Jared shifts back into my room and closes the door before turning back to face me.

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