Page 43 of Loving Lex

My skin burned at the mention of Stone, every muscle in my body tightening into hard knots as I took a step in his direction. I felt JD tense up behind me, but Kane waved him back.

Mr. Kane stood so we were eye to eye. “Your brother was a good man, Lex. So are you. It’s time you knew the truth. You’ve earned it.”

CHAPTER TEN

Shay

Pain was myfirst coherent thought. Hard, consuming, blinding waves crashed through my skull like a violent ocean of lava. Lava hitting big, sharp rocks, burning all the way to my stomach.

Something pulled at my hair as light, bright and unwelcoming, blinded me, making me retreat into my—no, not mine—the blanket was scratchy and smelled of something oily.

Lex’s?

No. His blankets were soft, warm—wait.Lex.

I reached for my hair where my scalp still stung as voices mumbled in the distance. A wave of nausea roiled my stomach as a fresh sear of pain shot through my head. I was sticky. Clammy. Disoriented.

Something was wrong.

Lex felt like this last night? God, how horrible to have to...

No. I pushed up and blinked against a different onslaught of light from above, grabbing my head as new blood fueled the war. This wasn’t just a headache. My eyes—they were heavy, like each eyelash had a weight attached. But I could see enough to know that the room swimming and pitching before me wasn’t mine. Or Lex’s. Or...

The nausea blanketed me again and sweat coated my skin as a new memory floated in.

The ugly eyes.

He took me.

Bile rose in my throat and I jumped to my feet, only to crumple on the floor.

“Help,” I croaked, my throat closing on the word. “Somebody!”

I spotted one of my flip-flops lying askew near my fingers, and I picked it up, banging it against the metal leg of the bed I’d vacated. The sound was hollow and reverberated through my terror-filled brain.

What the fuck?

Struggling to clear my foggy head, I scanned the room in a panic.Take in your surroundings.Wasn’t that what movies told you?

Bare walls. One tiny bar-covered window too high to see out of. No drapes. No rug. A dirty, stained mattress with no sheet, one crappy blanket...

“Help me!” I cried again, fear wrapping itself around me in a cold sweat.

My fingers froze in the banging of my shoe, realizing through the fog that the only person likely to come at my beckoning was the one who’d put me there. My heart pounded furiously, echoing in my ears, harmonizing with my hiccupped breaths.

Stay quiet.

Stay quiet.

Breathe.

Think.

“Fucking think,” I whispered, shutting my eyes tight and forcing hot tears to spill down my cheeks. I blew out a slow, shaky breath and willed my nerves to calm. My heart rate to slow. It didn’t really work, but at least there was a plan. “Think, Shay,” I whispered under my breath, swiping at my face. “Why... why would this... why would that guy do this?”

Who, what, when, where, and why... that had been a thing in a journalism class once. Five W’s. Answer the questions to get the story.

A sob escaped my chest as panic pressed inward. I was a fuckingstory.

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