Page 57 of My Everything

“Everything!” He hesitated, adding in a softer voice. “You know everything about me.”

I let out a dark chuckle, muttering, “Yeah ‘cause you were so keen on sharing.”

Johnny sighed. “It was my past. This is different. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong? I just know what the nurse told me. You were shot?”

“Yeah,” I muttered. Then I sighed. “Tore my fucking shoulder to pieces.”

“Fuck.” He was silent for too long, then asked what I dreaded having to answer. “There’s more. What are you running from?”

Mr. X’s face flashed through my mind. His iron rod. The gun pushed into my flesh. I mentally flinched. Then Kaylie’s face replaced his, and the regret made my chest tighten. I left her there. I was meant to keep her safe but I left her. In the hand of a monster. Knowing where she was almost made me wish she’d die sooner, rather than later. I choked on my next breath. I couldn’t think of her dead, it fucking cut too deep.

“Marc?” Johnny’s hand landed on my arm, then just as fast he removed it. “Sorry.”

“I don’t hurt like that,” I muttered. “Just if I move.” How long it would stay that way I didn’t want to think of. Without the strong pain meds… A deep throbbing ache already started to come back, and every little bump in the road made me want to kill the fucking driver. But Johnny didn’t need to know.

“Just fucking say it,” Johnny once again snapped me back to the present, and something in my broke. The secrets. The pain. The last weeks from hell.

“It was almost two weeks ago!” I nearly shouted. “Two fucking weeks.”

“I don’t understand…” Something in his expression clicked. His eyes widened in shock. “Where were you?”

“We couldn’t go to the cops. Not even the fucking hospital. I don’t know how I did it. I just… stayed strong, for her. When I thought I was good, someone grabbed me. Locked me up. Placed another fucking bullet in me.” I squeezed my eyes shut but opened them just as fast as the images of that cell haunted my vision. “It was torture,” I whispered. “And it just got worse. I almost died getting out of there.” My throat closed off as I choked out the next words. “I can’t go back.”

He didn’t speak, and I didn’t expect him to. The raw truth he wanted was too hard for him to hear. Foranyoneto hear, but knowing his past, it must have hit a bit close to home.

He spoke, the words barely a whispered breath. “Fuck, Marc.”

I let out a harsh laugh. It was all there was to say. No more. No less.

“What happened to the girl?” he asked after a long silence.

“She’s stuck there, with them.”

“Bloody hell,” he sighed, and I tried to keep the sudden emotion down. Despite everything, I still cared for her. Maybe evenloved. Even though it stung real bad to admit it. The time in the cage changed me, made me face the things I denied. Thinking I was going to die tore down every wall I hid behind, and now it was too late to build it back up. She slipped through.

“You’re planning to get her out?”

His question caught me off guard. I didn’t want anything more bad, but I was in no condition to fight back. The only choice I had was to stay hidden until I was physically fit to pick up the fight. And by then, it could be too late for her. If she lived long enough to be saved? Then what? I’d have to watch her die. I couldn’t. Not again. The only thing I could do was forget about her and move on.

“No,” my voice broke on the one word, and I looked away before Johnny caught the emotion I couldn’t hide from my face. “She’s sick. Dying. I can’t…” I couldn’t speak, but I didn’t need to. Johnny’s comforting hand on my arm let me know he understood. Probably more than I needed him to. He fucking knew Kaylie wasn’t just another job and I hated myself for letting it slip.

No.My own words repeated back to me, twisting the knife deeper into my already scarred heart. I would never see her again. She may be dead already. I had to face the truth and say goodbye, or Kaylie would be the end of me.

“I’m not marrying you!” I snapped. Was he dumb, or just deaf? He refused to hear me, and as his desperation grew, his temper rose with his voice.

“We had a deal!” he snarled. “You belong here, don’t you fucking forget that.”

I tore his grip off my arm and backed away. My gaze darted to the closed door. Could I make a run for it again? After being dragged back to my room against my will, I somehow doubted it. But I refused to let his rough treatment scare me into obedience. “Deal is off.”

He lunged for me, swinging a fist that nearly hit my face. Despite him missing, the shock of what he intended made me freeze. I stared up at him, suddenly wishing I was taller. More intimidating. My height, and my young appearance made me look more like a kid than a woman, and Alex used it to his advantage. Grabbing my arm, he dragged me over to the couch and threw me down onto it.

“You can’t scare me into obeying,” I shot back, not caring how my voice quivered.So much for him not scaring me. There was no denying it. He did. His unstable mood made it impossible to know what to expect from him. There were times he was sweet, understanding even. Then there were times like this. When he looked like a madman on a killing spree.

“Alex,” I whispered, needing him to calm down, to see my side. All he cared about was himself.Hishappiness.Hislife. Having a fake wife would secure his lie. Make his father see what he wanted to see. But what about me? Did he ever stop to think that by securing his false life, he ruined mine?

“We have a deal and you will hold your—”

“No!” I pushed myself up from the couch. “I would have done everything you wanted if you gave me theonething I asked.”

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