Page 70 of Broken

“It does to me.” She purses her lips. “That’s why it surprised me how nothing else smells of you.”

I already know she’s crazy, but that confirms it.

Still, I don’t leap out of bed, nor do I drag her off the mattress. “You said you see details and you act on them. How?”

“I notice something in a person. Then, I befriend them so they’ll let me in and allow me to help them. They become my charges.”

“What do you help them with?”

“The source of their fear,” she explains patiently.

“Give me an example.”

Her expression turns mulish. “I have friends all over the world now. I’ve helped a lot of people. Whatever anyone says, they can’t take that away from me.”

I frown. “Why would they try to?” She’s a touch unhinged but it’s not exactly a crime.

“My parents think I’m delusional. But I was just helping out where others were too blinkered to see the truth.” She grunts. “I used to help when I was a child, and they had to deal with the repercussions themselves. I don’t know why they’re acting so shocked now.”

“What did you do?”

“Um, when I was fifteen, I saw a homeless man who had a sick dog. He wasn’t very well mentally, so I befriended him so that he’d let me take his dog to the vet. It was actually a she andshe was pregnant. That summer, we had to foster eight puppies until we could rehome them.”

“Eight? I bet they loved that!”

“Hmm. Then, there was that time when I was twelve and I saw a boy being bullied in the class below me. When I stepped in and punched his bully, it turned out the jerk’s dad was a cop. He came to our door and tried to arrest me. Dad put a stop to that.

“Then, until we moved—Dad’s a soldier so we were always moving—I had a mini-stalker.”

“The bully?”

“No, silly. The boy I saved from the bully. Andrew. He still sends me holiday cards.”

Amused and faintly jealous, which, I know, is beyond ridiculous, I clear my throat. “So, what was different this time? You told your parents about what you did and they reacted poorly?”

“They didn’t believe me. But that’s why my father asked to be transferred closer to me. It’s why they were selling their house?—”

“Okay, you’re going too fast. Start at the beginning.”

She heaves out a sigh. “If I have to. I already told you all this in my letters.”

“Which I never received,” I prompt with a small smile when she huffs.

“Annoying. But, let’s take Diana, for example. I met her in college. She was outside one of my classes. I saw her on the phone. I knew she was scared. Everyone treated her like she was a bitch, and they avoided her as if she had the plague.

“Her dad was the mayor of the town where we lived—I couldn’t figure out how he could be so popular and she was the opposite. No one saw the reality. No one but me.”

“He was hurting her?”

“Yes. Badly. So I got close to her, befriended her, made her move in with me.”

“You took her away from him.”

“I did, and we’re as close as sisters now.” She beams with pleasure. “We even managed to get him in jail. She was brave and went to the police. Sadly, they don’t always do that.

“I’ve helped men and women alike, and they all love me. Each of them would lay down their lives for me?—”

“You saved them from themselves.”

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