Page 73 of Ward D
I place my book on my lap, but I don’t budge from the chair. “Sure. Talk.”
“Outside?”
Will shakes his head emphatically. “I’d rather talk in here,” I say.
Jade frowns. There’s something in her expression that throws me off. She doesn’t look like her usual smart-ass self. She actually looks…
Frightened.
“Please, Amy,” she says. “Just for a moment.”
Will is still shaking his head, but despite everything, I still am not entirely sure I can trust him. After all, I’ve known Jade almost my entire life, and I’ve known him for less than twenty-four hours. Yes, my gut is telling me I can trust Will. But it’s not like my gut hasn’t been wrong before. I dated Cameron, after all.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell Will. “Five minutes.”
There’s a wary look in his eyes as he stares up at Jade, then back at me. “Five minutes.”
I slip out of the room, leaving my book behind on the chair. After I leave the room, Jade closes the door to Will’s room behind us. She doesn’t want him to hear what she’s about to say to me.
As soon as we are clear of the room, Jade wraps her fingers around my arm and pulls me over to the nurses’ station, where Ramona is waiting. They are wearing equally concerned expressions on their faces.
“Are you okay?” Ramona asks me. “Did he try to hurt you?”
“No, of course not,” I say.
“I was so worried!” Jade squeezes her hands together, and to my surprise, her eyes spill over with tears. “I couldn’t find you, and when I realized you were with him, I was so scared he was doing something terrible to you.”
“Not even a little bit.” I give her a hard look. “He did tell me that the two of you aren’t really dating though.”
Jade’s eyelashes flutter. “He said that? Seriously?”
“Yes…”
Jade reaches out and takes my hand in hers. “Will and I have been dating forthree years. I swear it. I don’t understand why he would say something like that. Well, Idounderstand, actually. He’s always been a compulsive liar. What other nonsense did he tell you?”
I open my mouth but I’m not sure what to say. Will told me a lot of things, but none of them felt like lies.
“He loves to make up jobs for himself to seem more important,” Jade says. “Like that he’s a pilot. Or a teacher. Or a reporter. Even though all he’s done since we’ve been dating is occasionally drive an Uber, and most of the time he doesn’t even do that. His parents have been giving him money to keep him afloat, or else he’d end up on the street.”
I can only shake my head.
“You didn’t believe him, did you?” Jade squeezes my hand. “Don’t feel bad if you did. God, I can’t even tell you how many of his lies I fell for over the years. But after I talked to you, that was the first time I got scared that he could be dangerous.”
“I… I don’t know if he is…” I stammer.
“How could you say that?” Jade bursts out. “You’re the one who convinced me! He’s done some terrible things here tonight. That’s why I got Ramona and told her everything.”
“I don’t think he’s done anything wrong,” I say. “He… We think that Damon Sawyer got out of the seclusion room…”
“Mr. Sawyer is still in Seclusion One,” Ramona says. “I checked on him about twenty minutes ago. He’s sound asleep.”
I remember Will’s response when I asked him if we could trust Ramona.Absolutely not.
But that’s a moot point if I can’t trust him.
“Will is a very smooth talker when he wants to be,” Jade says. “Don’t feel bad that you fell for it.”
“You don’t understand.” I look between the two of them. “Will isn’t dangerous. I know what I said to you, Jade, but—”
