Page 64 of Beyond Rosy Irish Twilight

It was silent as I walked out there. Asher’s eyes immediately met mine and he pushed out of his chair, wincing as he reached for the water.

“Sit down,” I chastised.

“I’m just helping.”

“You’re really not,” I said, twisting off the cap for Chase.

He glowered at me, but in reality, he shouldn’t even be out of bed. He was hurting too much, even if he tried to hide it from me. And Asher… I stared at the cut on the side of his head. The bandage was no longer covering it and I could see just how close it had come to taking off his head.

I didn’t have to close my eyes to see the replay of what happened that day, how close we all came to dying. And somehow, they all seemed so normal, whereas I was struggling to walk in a fucking house. It was like the gunfire was constantly going off in my head, and then there was the silence when I woke up. It was always there, taunting me and reminding of what could have happened.

“Run!”

“Jade,” Asher said.

I jerked slightly, looking into Asher’s blue eyes as he stared at me while holding my hand. I swallowed hard and faked a smile. “Yeah?”

“Why don’t you sit down?”

“I need to get your food,” I said, pulling my hand from his grasp and walking away. I shook off the chilling images of that day, grateful that I hadn’t been there to see him take the bullet to his head. I shoved the door open, nearly screaming when I saw a shadow lingering in the hall just beyond the kitchen. My mind immediately went back to that room, but before my mind could go crazy, Patrick stepped out into the light.

I clutched my fist to my chest like a lifeline as I calmed my breathing. I was okay. It was just Patrick. But he saw the panic on my face, and he knew I wasn’t dealing with everything.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I nodded, not wanting to talk about it. I licked my lips and stared at the floor, then forced my feet forward as my heart continued to pound. I was okay. I just had to keep telling myself that.

“Can I warm something up for you to eat?” I asked, focusing on the task in front of me.

“No, I’m good. I already ate.”

“Is there a cook around here? The fridge is stuffed with food,” I said, pulling out the food and mixing it up. It was probably delicious, but my stomach was churning again.

“Is that for you?”

“No, Asher’s outside. I’m just taking it out there. Can you believe Chase came downstairs?” I snorted. “He’s acting all big and tough, like he wasn’t just shot in the chest. But I guess that’s a guy thing.”

I turned to take the dish out to Asher, but Patrick stopped me with a hand on my arm. I slowly looked up at him, worried about what I would see in his eyes, and I was correct. He knew. I wasn’t sure if I was being that obvious or if he was just good at spotting it, but he could tell I was not okay.

The tension built between us as I waited for him to tell me that I couldn’t hide from him, that he saw just how horribly I was handling everything. My life was spinning out of control, and I wasn’t sure I would ever feel like I had my feet under me again.

“You should eat something.”

Relief flooded me as he released my hand. “Yeah, I will,” I assured him, nodding way too much.

“Make sure you do.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and allowed him to open the door for me as I walked back outside with the dish for Asher. I pasted a smile on my face for him. “Here you go.”

Chase snorted. “Sure, he gets real food.”

“You’ll get real food just as soon as you’re feeling better. Ah!” I yelped as Asher grabbed me by the arm and settled me on his good leg. I instantly tried to squirm off him, but he held me down.

“You’re not going anywhere. You need to eat.”

“I will—”

He placed a finger over my lips and stared me down. After a moment, he moved his hand from behind me to balance the dish and hold the fork. I wanted to roll my eyes at him, but when he scooped up the first bit of food onto his fork and held it out to me, I knew he wouldn’t budge on this. I heard Chase’s low chuckle as Asher waited me out.

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