Page 114 of Silver Secrets

“Where’s what?”

“Your bracelet?” Her tone was nearly hysterical. “Why aren’t you wearing it? Where did it go?”

“Sloane…”

She dropped his hand and spun around in the tub, leaving her hand on his chest as she pressed to look into his eyes.

“I know you wouldn’t take it off without a good reason. If it’s because of me… because I’m struggling… please put it back on. Please don’t let me be the reason you lose that connection to them.”

Shit. Things had been a blur that night, but he thought she knew what he’d done. “I don’t have the bracelet anymore.”

Her eyes bounced back and forth, searching his face. “What do you mean you don’t have it? What did you do with it?”

“When we were taken…”

“No,” she shook her head. “You had it that night. I saw it on you in the basement. I’m not crazy. I remember it being there.”

“I know. It was. But I had to take it apart. I had to use it to save you.”

He could still feel the moment he’d broken the rope free, mere seconds before wrapping it around Courtney’s neck. Sloane clearly hadn’t seen that it was thin, and black. Hadn’t understood that it wasn’t just something Gage found in her basement that night. And he could see from the wild look in her eyes that it was just another thing she was going to blame herself for.

“No. No. NO! How could you do that? I didn’t want you to do that.” More tears streamed down her face. It was clear what she was thinking. That the last connection he had to his wife and son was gone. And he hated that she thought it was because of her. “Why? Why would you do that?”

“Because I love you, Red.”

She shook her head slowly back and forth as her face crumpled. “We’ll get it back. We’ll ask Kimi. Or Sebastian…. he can pull some strings. Someone will know how to get it back. And the beads? Where are the beads? What happened to them.”

“I didn’t have time… she was going to kill you. I just pulled it apart. The beads scattered to the floor.”

Sloane closed her eyes, covering her face as a distressed cry erupted from her chest.

“I took the last bit of them from you!” she wailed, lowering her hands to her arms in a phantom hug. Her fingers dug into her arms angrily. He knew that pain needed to leave her, but he couldn’t stand watching her hurt herself. If she had to physically transfer it to him, he would gladly take it. So he reached out and pried her fingers off her arms and placed them on his. “How could you do that? How could you?”

Her fingers grabbed onto his forearms impossibly tighter, and she closed her eyes, screaming so loud that Gage panicked. He pulled her into his chest, locking his arms tightly around her back. Her arms were trapped between their bodies, her fists wrapped around the wet fabric of his shirt, knocking against his chest over and over.

“I took… I took the very last connection… you had to them. I’m so s-sorry, Gage.”

His hand moved to cradle the back of her head. “Breathe, Sloane. I would take apart that bracelet and use that rope a million times over if it meant I got to have you here, safe in my arms. You didn’t take them from me. You didn’t. Just breathe.”

“But it’s been with you every day since you lost them. We talked about how it linked you to them. The beads, the w-whole bracelet. They’ll have theirs forever and you might never get it back. Even if you do, it won’t be the same. She’s not here to put it back together again for you.”

“No. She’s not. But you are.” His hands gently stroked her hair. “You could put it back together for me, just like you put back together my broken heart.”

Her eyes searched his, looking for the admission that what he’d just said wasn’t true. But she wouldn’t find it. And when Sloane finally accepted that, she broke all over again. Gage just held her as she cried. He held her, gently rocking back and forth in the water until her breathing evened out and she wiped away the last of her tears.

“Red? I’m going to wash your hair now. I need you to tip your head back a bit.”

She followed his direction, not saying anything. Gage dipped the cup he’d initially set on the edge of the tub into the warm water, letting it run from her hairline down her back. The shampoo was cold, so he warmed it in his hands before moving to lather her hair. She still didn’t say anything, but at least her tears had stopped, tiny sniffles taking their place in the silence of the bathroom. He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not, but for his own heart, no longer having her sobs fill every inch of his apartment eased the pain in his chest.

“You’re going to have to stop calling me ‘Red’,” her horse voice whispered.

“Why’s that?”

“She’s gone. I’m not going to dye my hair anymore.”

Gage chuckled.

“I’m serious. I’m naturally blonde with just a hint of red. Nothing like this color at all, really,” she whined as her fingers brushed through the ends. “You’re the worst at nicknames. Taking the most noticeable feature about me and giving me the most basic nickname from that.”

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