“Love?” I murmured, forgetting for a moment that this was the woman I’d teased and tormented for the last twelve years. That we no longer lived together, and that I was going to he place to fuck the life out of her before I left like a stalker before the sun rose.
That we didn’t sleep together, and that I no longer had the right to hold her in my arms every night.
Because that cracked note in her voice washed all those years away in an instant.
“Ward?” Her shuddering breath broke something I’d held hard, impenetrable deep inside me for so many years. “It’s you.”
“Of course it’s me, Hia. Who else would it be?” I reached for the phone, but Hux—goddamn him—held the fucking thing tight, as though he had to prove a point by standing in on this conversation.
“I thought it was you.” A sob ripped her voice apart.
I froze, raising my eyes to meet Hux’s. Our furious tug-o-war over the handset ceased. “Sia, love? Can you say that again?”
“I thought he was you, when he came in. But he– he– wasn’t you at all.” Her sobs drowned out her next words.
My legs were already moving, the phone clasped too tight, creaking in my hand. Hux’s voice yelled out behind me, to me, then he was organising the men I should have been responsible for but no longer focused on.
“He who, Sia?” I asked softly, keeping the stress out of my voice by some miracle. “Who was there?”When, how long?I checked my watch. It was half twelve in the morning. Christ, I’d left her alone for so long, and this was the price. “I’m coming to you, baby. You need— what?”
“Y–you.”
My heart fractured. “I’m coming, Sa. Did he hurt you?”
“Yes.” That one came out clear.
“Okay.” I unlocked my car, climbed in. Chimera fans littered the car park in small groups, some still drinking. I didn’t give a shit. The car kit connected and her voice filled the cabin. “I’m six minutes away.”Four if I ignore every street sign.“Where did he hurt you?”God, not like that. Please—
“He c-cut me.”
My blood iced over. I sent a message to Hux. “Okay, Love. I’m nearly there.”Lie. I pulled out of the parking lot and left rubber on the road. “Who was it?”
“I d-don’t know. I had a blindfold.”
“He did that?” Rage filled me.
“N-no. I did. F-for you.”
It hit me that she was freezing, not just traumatised. “Okay, gorgeous. Can you get that off? Can you get warm? I’m so close. You stay safe for me. I’m almost there.”
“So tired, Ward. So, so cold."
My cheeks were damp, and I could barely see the traffic lights as I took corners way too fast. Sirens wailed somewhere beyond me, too far away. “I’m coming for you. Just hold on, a few more minutes. You can do that, can’t you Sia? Can’t you?” Desperation filled me. She had to hold on. This woman was my life. All of my life.
“Sia?”
Not even her breaths filled the shitty reception in my car any more. My tears tracked my face as I drove through her quiet streets faster.
One more street. One more.
I pulled up outside her townhouse, with its door ajar, and prayed my phone didn’t lie.
“I’m here, Sia.”
She never answered.
CHAPTER NINE
SIA
