“Why would you—”
“Emery...you were so sad. It doesn't take much to figure that out. Scarlett told me you weren’t doing well. I kept my distance because I really thought you were okay. Youshouldhave been.”
“I thought I had killed you.” My shoulders dropped. “I couldn’t live without you.”
“I’m so sorry.” He rested his head on mine. “I should have let Scarlett bring me the first time she mentioned knowing where you were. But I thought you’d be better off without me. I wanted you to have the best life. And I worried I’d drag you down.”
We both had a lot of guilt to work through. But now, we were together. We’d get through it all, one way or another. At least this way, we wouldn’t be pulled apart again.
Emery
“D
on’t even think of saying it.” Enzo’s muttered words were a bit harsh as he limped to the bed.
His knee was still swollen. Thankfully, Ryker remembered the antibiotics Enzo was to take twice a day. We had finished off a later dinner, and not long after that, Ryker had excused himself to go to bed. That was after he made sure that both Enzo and I took our pills for the night.
“I didn’t say anything.” Yet.
With a huff, Enzo got as comfortable as he could on the bed. Every time he moved his knee, he’d grind his teeth together. All I could do was stay still, knowing there was nothing I could do.
A hurt knee really wasn’t the worse of what we’d seen or had. One time, Steven had forced me to use a knife, cutting Enzo’s back into zigzags because he wanted to see how far he could push me.
I still felt that knife’s handle in my palm. The sounds of Enzo trying to hold his cries and screams inside. The laugh of Steven as he watched me markhisproperty.
I breathed through the oncoming nausea as I remembered how easy it had been to use the sharp blade against the skin. How smooth it had cut. How the blood dripped from each wound.
Then, afterwards, I was tied, hands above my head, as Enzo was forced to whip my back for not taking his punishment quietly.
I’d have gladly taken the pain of a flogger and the bruises that were left on my own body for days over ever having to hurt Enzo again. I’d take any torture over having to hurt the one I loved.
“Where did you just go?”
“You don’t want to know.” I shook my head. I moved to lay on my stomach, head on the pillow so I faced him.
“We won’t have to do whatever you were thinking.” Enzo moved to copy my pose, facing me.
Our hands met, wrapping around the other.
“No,” I agreed. That, at least, I was sure was something that would never have to happen again. “We got out, just like we wanted.”
“We did.” He gave me a look filled with sadness. “Now, it’s time to move on. Like Scarlett has told me, we shouldn’t live in the past. We can’t change what has happened.”
“But we can take control and make the future the best we can,” I finished. “You’re doing so much better than me. I don’t think I’ll ever be fully okay.”
“What we’ve seen and had to do…we get to be new people instead. We don’t have to be who we were before.”
Did he not know who he was anymore, either?
“We need to think about what to do.”
“What do you mean?” I scooted closer to him so our foreheads touched.
“Getting jobs. Moving out of here. We can’t stay with Ryker forever.”
“I don’t want to leave here. It’s safe.” Not to mention, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to hold a job. Not with my panic attacks and lack of people skills.
“I didn’t mean tomorrow,” Enzo rolled his eyes. “But in a month or so.”
