“Dahlia.” She whispers, lowering her gaze to her phone before glancing back up at me. “What’s yours?”
“Echo,” I reply, stepping back and giving her space I don’t intend to respect for long.
“It’s… nice to meet you, Echo.” She says hesitantly. “Thank you for letting me go.”
I cock my head at her. “Who says I have?”
She swallows, blinking her eyes hard. “But you said…” She drifts off.
“Leave.” I whisper, fighting a smile as I watch fear rake through her. “Before I change my mind.”
She doesn’t need to be told twice. She slides past me, and her shoulder brushes against mine for the briefest moment before she disappears into the night.
I stand there for a minute, watching the space she left behind.
I’m sure Bambi thinks this ends here. That she negotiated her safety and she’ll never have to see me again. But she’s wrong.
We’re friends now.
And I intend to be there for her.
Whether she likes it or not.
CHAPTER FOUR
Dahlia
Smoke hangslow in the bathroom, curling along the walls and distorting the edges of the room until everything feels just a little out of focus. I sit in the bath, staring up at the ceiling, trying to calm my breathing.
You're okay.
You're safe now.
I try not to think about why the heaviness in my chest feels so familiar, but the unwelcome thought slips through, anyway.
The last time you felt like this, you had just lost everyone. You sat in a tub just like this, staring at bruises that hadn't finished blooming, wondering if you’d ever be okay again.
What the hell was I thinking?
I’ve carefully designed my life to avoid this feeling. My nights are quiet. My mornings are peaceful. And the bookstore keeps my mind busy duringthe day so thoughts of the past stay deep in the recesses of my mind. But now, it’s all floating up to the fucking surface, no matter how hard I try to press them back down.
Pulling the blunt up to my lips again, I take another long hit and sink deeper into the tub, letting the sweet numbness wash over me.
God,I needed this.
The quiet.
The nothingness.
The peace.
It’s a jarring contrast to the hell that was tonight, and now that my adrenaline has run its course, the reality of what happened is hitting me hard.
I stare down at my battered body beneath the water and feel myself getting choked up at the sight of it.I knew it was bad.The pain on the drive home warned me as much. But it’s the first time I’m getting a real look at the damage, and it’s so much worse than I thought.
The bruises on my neck don’t surprise me. I could feel the pressure lingering there, long after he let me go. But the bruises all over my arms and torso were something I didn’t expect. I remember feeling their rough hands grab at me, I guess I just didn’t realize how violently they did it.
I gently run my fingers across the tender red and purple blotches.
