“I know…what you’re doing,” he whispers through the curtain, in that stupid fucking creepy voice that he knows Ihate. “You can’t protect him.”
“What?” I whisper in the darkness, giving up the pretense of sleeping. What does he know? Ty…
Wake up, Roxie. Wake up, wake up, wake up.
“I’ll kill him. Slowly. Then his little friend. They both think they can save you but they should know that you don’t deserve to be saved. You deserve everything you’re given. Everythingyou’ve endured. All of it. And now… you’ll deserve exactly what I’m going to do to them.”
“No,” I whisper, and in the background I hear Ty scream. A desperate, loud scream that tells me just how much pain he’s in. I throw off the blankets and try to get to him, but the curtain wraps around my arms, and I scream for him.
“TY! No, not him! Not him!” Tears fall from my eyes as I scream. I knew this would fucking happen. How’d they get here? How did I fail them so spectacularly?
Mickey just throws his head back and laughs, still somehow hidden as the curtain wraps around me tighter. I throw all my weight into punching and kicking, doing everything I can to get rid of this fucking curtain that’s holding on with a strength I didn’t know was possible.
I hear Ty scream again, but this time, he’s screamingmyname.
“TY!” I scream, biting the curtain to rip it and the fabric falls to the ground.
“Mark my words,” Mickey snarls and runs off, and I feel my world shake violently.
“Roxie!” Ty says loudly. He doesn’t sound like he’s in pain anymore, just frantic. “Roxie, come on!Come back to me!”
My eyes jolt open and Asher’s standing in the doorway, holding his arm with concern in his eyes, but Ty… Ty’s holding me so tightly I don’t know where I end and he begins.
“Roxie?” he whispers, his voice cracking like he’s so fucking sad.
My heart drops as I realize what happened.
“Oh god,” I groan. “Fuck.”
“Are you okay?” Ty doesn’t let go, not even a fraction, just holds me to his chest like he’s saved me from falling to my death. And the way my heart is pounding, it feels like it too.
“Sorry,” I say breathlessly. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Ty says automatically. “Seriously. Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I whisper. “I get them from time to time. Are you okay?”
Ty’s eyes lock onto mine. There’s a hurricane in those dark eyes.
“You were screaming for me,” he says the words so wrecked, I immediately shift us gently so I’m holding his shoulders, tightening my hold on him as soon as I can. “You weren’t screaming ‘help me’ or begging for me to save you… You werescreaming my name. Saying ‘no, not him.’”
“I’m sorry,” I say again, tucking my face into his chest like I might be able to pull the pain from him just by holding him tightly.
“You don’t have to be sorry,cariño,” he says softly, and the quiet latch of the door sounds behind me, telling me that Asher left the room. “Want to talk about it?”
“Mickey…” I swallow the lump in my throat, the sob that I’ve just barely recovered from. Ty doesn’t push for me to speak faster, but I feel his grip tighten protectively on me. His fingertips digging deeper into my flesh like he could save me from everything if he just holds on a little tighter.
“Mickey had you. You both. And he was going to kill you. When I tried to get to you, the fucking curtain wrapped around me and I couldn’t tear it apart.”
I feel Ty chuckle soundlessly, and my eyes flash up to see him shaking his head.
“What?” The one word has bite, and he looks immediately scolded.
“That curtain you were fighting with was Asher. He wrapped his arms around you while I was trying to get you to wake up. You were thrashing and we were scared it was something like a seizure, but then you bit him and he nearly dropped you.”
“Oh shit.” My head falls against his chest with a softthud. “I’ll have to apologize.”
“He’s a big boy. He’s okay.”
