Page 32 of Ghost

“No, I just… I’ll be fine.” Whitney shook her head. “I’m really sorry about all this. I’m sure you’re sick of me and all...”

“Don’t.”

She was trying to be strong, but I could see the cracks in her façade. The pain and fear had worn her down, but she was here—which meant she still had some fight in her. Regardless, I didn’t push. I knew the demons she was fighting. Mine were of a different breed, but I had them, too.

I knew how hard they were to face, so I said, “You don’t ever have to apologize to me. Not for anything.”

“Thank you, Ghost. I really appreciate that.”

“Don’t gotta thank me either.” I glanced over at Toby and was pleased to see that he was already dozing off. “You good?”

“I want to say yes, but I’m not so sure.” She grimaced as she asked, “Would you mind staying for a bit? Just until I fall back asleep?”

“Yeah. I can do that.”

I sat down on the floor and leaned my back against the wall. I crossed my arms and then threw one leg over the other, trying my best to make myself comfortable. Whitney tossed me a blanket as she said, “This might help.”

“Thanks.”

I laid it across my chest, and once she saw that I was settled, Whitney turned off the light. We sat there in silence long enough for me to think she’d fallen asleep, and then, out of nowhere, she whispered, “Is this ever going to be over?”

“Yeah. You’re getting closer all the time.”

“It doesn’t feel like it,” she sighed. “It feels like I’m caught up in a bad dream, and I’m never going to find my way out.”

“Might help to talk about it.”

“I don’t know.” She glanced over at Toby, making sure he was asleep, then sighed. “I need you to know that this thing with Dylan wasn’t some drawn out abusive relationship. I thought I’d met a good guy. He was a police officer with great friends and a wonderful family, and I thought I’d hit the jackpot until we had our first fight.”

“He showed his true colors?”

“Yeah, you could say that,” she scoffed. “I’d never seen someone lose it like he did. It was like he turned into a completely different person, and when he hit me that first time, I really thought it was just a fluke. I told myself he was just tired or stressed out at work. But then, it happened again, and I wasn’t having it. I wasn’t going to have a man like that in our lives, so, I broke it off with him. That time, he really lost it and did a real number on me. He told me that it wasn’t over until he said it was over, and he would kill me if I tried to walk away.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah, it was pretty bad. To make matters worse, I had no one to turn to. I couldn’t call the police...He was the police. His partner and everyone on the force would’ve believed him over me. He would’ve made sure of that. I was stuck.”

“What about your family?”

“My mother was really young when she got pregnant with me, and after a couple of months, she pawned me off on mygrandmother. Never really saw much of her after that. She didn’t come to the funeral when my grandmother died.”

“Damn. So, what did you do?”

“I did the only thing I could. I ran.” She shifted in the bed, making herself more comfortable as she added, “The first time, I just moved across town and changed my number. It was less than a month before he showed up at my door. That’s when the stalking started.”

Her tone was distant, almost detached, as she went on to explain, “He followed me to work and got my number there. He called a hundred times a day, and when that didn’t work, he cornered me and hurt me again. I was in the hospital for several days. When I got out, Frankie helped me find a place in Murfreesboro. I got a new job, and Toby changed schools. I thought it would be enough, but it was never enough. The guy was relentless.”

I knew she’d had a hard time with her asshole ex. Hell, that had been evident with all the bruises and the sprained wrist. But there was so much more to it. She’d done everything she could to get away from him, and I couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt for blaming her for not doing more to protect Toby. She’d done all that she could and more.

“God, I’m such a fucking asshole.”

“What?” she gasped. “No.”

“That shit I said that night....” I shook my head. “I should’ve never blamed you. None of this has been your fault, and I should’ve never said otherwise or even thought otherwise.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.” I’d never been more wrong about a person, and it gutted me that I’d said the things I’d said. Hell, I couldn’t even look at her when I said, “Sometimes the past can sneak up on you and make you think things you have no business thinking.”

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