Page 29 of Release Me

“I don’t want to spend that much time with you, Dick.”

I can lie to anyone in the world without question. Until now. His eyes finally stir. His brow cocks pretentiously and his lips part. His short intake of breath is nearly enough to take mine away.

“I think you do, Brynn. I think you experienced something on the roof you’ve never experienced before. I think you could spend the rest of your life searching for someone to make you feel the way you felt when I had you bent over the railing.”

It both angers me and turns me on that he can read me like a fucking book.

Maybe he is what…who I need?

No. I’ve been down that road before. I’ve relied on others for my needs, and it always ends with me getting hurt.

“What if I told you your sentence would be over in seven months?”

Blinking slowly, I try to process what he just said. He can put an end to my sentence in seven months? If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

“I don’t believe you. You’re holding that over my head to manipulate me into doing what you want. You’re a monster. You’re worse than my mother and all of those deadbeat dickheads she brought home. What I went through was always straight forward. No tricks. No lies. No manipulation.”

“If you agree to come with me andactivelyparticipate in therapy for the next seven months, I will petition the judge for early release at the end of your first year.”

“You can do that?”

I shouldn’t even be entertaining this, but at the very least, I can go with him and find some way to escape. Maybe run away to Mexico or the Seychelles. Somewhere no one will go looking for me.

“Yes, I believe your release was dependent on your doctor’s evaluation of your condition? I’m the one who says whether you’re ready to reassimilate into society or not.”

I can feel hope bloom in me with each word he speaks, and it irritates the hell out of me.

This is you giving your control away. Exactly what you didn’t want to do when you walked away from him last night.

Fuck.

But if I have to give control to get control, maybe it will be worth it?

I can’t leave Gabriella here. That poor girl willneverget the help she needs. They placed her somewhere she can be somewhat comfortable as she grows old and dies. That’s not healing. They may as well kill her now.Maybe Dr. Dick can help her, too?

“I’ll go with you on one condition,” I tell him. He nods, a gesture letting me know to continue. “Gabriella comes, too.”

I don’t care for his immediate reaction. The skin between his eyes crinkles as he looks at me in disbelief. He doesn’t want to take her, and it pisses me off.

“I think you can help her. She sure as shit isn’t going to get what she needs here.”

In his eyes, I can tell he agrees with me, but that doesn’t make him change his mind.

“I really don’t think I’ll be able to make that happen, Brynn. Gabriella is… Well, she needs a lot more help than I can give her.”

“Because youcan’t?Or because youdon’t want to? You literally just told me how healing it will be for me. How much time you will have to devote to my care. Well, split your time in half. Help both of us.”

I watch as he fingers his bottom lip, deep in thought. I fight back the image of his lips on mine as the lightning danced around us last night. It was as though it charged the electricity that flowed from my body to his. From his, back to mine.

“Please,” I beg.

I haven’t had to beg anyone for anything in a very long time. I don’t like how it makes me feel.

Weak. Controlled. Vulnerable.

But this isn’t about me. It’s about Gabriella.

“She…she reminds me of someone I used to know.”

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