I’ve been counting.
Eighty-nine is safe.
Eighty-nine is when they stay outside.
Eighty-nine is when I’m alone.
They’re directly on the other side of this door—again. So when my knees are weak and my body is depleted of energy, I use my head to scare them away. The steel door is cool as I throw my head forward. “Please, it hasn’t been ninety days.” I slide down the door, my forehead slamming against the metal as I sink to my knees, still begging, still hopeful. “You don’t have to. I’ll give you whatever you want. I have some money in commissary. I’ll pay for your shopping.” The steel dents asmy movements become more forceful, my voice erratic, strained through tears. “Please. Cigarettes, anything.”
“Kane,”Asher whispers beside me as he places his hand on my shoulder, lightly squeezing,“you’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Eighty-nine.” I look at him with tears in my eyes. “It’s eighty-nine. Please stop them.”
He nods once. Then the steps move away. Five steps. Turn. Five steps. They fade away.
“I’m sorry,” I cry openly. “I’m sorry for killing you.”
His features harden, eyes darkening as he snarls,“She did it. Not you.”
I nod.
“This is all her fault,”he says as I collapse on the floor, laying on my side. He copies me, lying opposite me.“Say it, Kane. Say who did it.”
“De-Delilah?”
“Delilah did this to you. Don’t forget; don’t forgive. Tell me what she did.”
“She killed you?”
He nods, urging me to say more.
“She sent me away?” I quickly shake my head. “No, Delilah wouldn’t. Not to me. I’m sorry. I know you took her, but she was mine first.”
Inching closer, he corrects,“She belongs to both of us.”
“Both of us.” I nod, hating it.
Something brushes my side and I look down to see Asher wrap his arm around me. It’s smaller than mine without ink or blood—clean and safe.
“Kane, remember everything she’s done to you.”
“She killed you?”
“No. What did she do toyou?”
“Sent me away?”
“Yes. What happens when you get sent away?”
“Ninety days,” I whimper, my breathing escalating.
“Yes, what else?”
“Doctors.”
“Good. What do the doctors do?”
“They—” My breathing is heavier, filling the room and amplifying the sound. “They take out everything that was put inside me and stitch me up.”
