Page 18 of Genesis

I wince when I move my head. “Yeah.”

“Are you okay?”

“No,” I say weakly.

“Are you hurt, Bexley? I need to know if…”

“I’m not hurt, Danny. Not physically, just my head. He’s drugged me.”

“He’s drugged us both,” he says.

“Who is he?”

“I don’t know, but he says he knows me.”

I scoff. “Of course, he does.”

“What does that mean?” he asks.

I laugh bitterly. “It just means I’m not surprised, Danny.” He doesn’t respond, and I shut my eyes tightly, tilting my head to the ceiling. My heart is frozen over, but just being in the same room with him, I feel it start to thaw and I hate myself for it. We have so much history between us, but we’ve grown cold toward one another, or I have, with good reason.

This man came into my life as a boy, and I fell so hopelessly in love with him, only to be destroyed by his way of living. I tried to get away from it all, I tried to move on, but that’s the thing about Danny. He’s never truly let me go.

“I’m sorry, Bexley. You don’t know how sorry I am.”

“I’m sure I have an idea,” I say, unenthused. I’ve heard his apologies one too many times. It changes nothing. I exhale slowly as the sound of rain falls outside, hammering on the roof above us. I still have no idea where we are. There’s no outside noise, no cars, no people, nothing. We have no way to keep up with time, besides the light.

“How long have we been here?” I ask.

“A couple of days, I believe.”

“Do you remember what happened?” I ask. “We were attacked, right?”

“Yeah, we were heading to the shop and someone jumped us from behind. He hit me in the head with the grip of a gun, I believe.”

“You got back up, though. You were fighting him.”

“Well, I lost.” He winces.

“Are you okay?” I ask, concerned, and instantly hating that I didn’t cover it better.

“Just sore. Don’t worry about me.” I hear the amusement in his voice.

“Who said I was worried?” I shift in my chair, my ass hurting from being in this same position for so long.

“You asked, Bexley, and I know when you’re worried.”

“You don’t know me anymore, Danny.”

“So what? You think because you went off and got married you’ve changed so much? That I don’t know who you are anymore? That’s ridiculous.”

My heart drops when I think about my husband, and I can’t help the pain that slides down my cheek. I sniff, wishing I was alone, if only for a moment so I could let this grief out inside my chest. It’s so heavy, so goddamn heavy.

“So, there was only one man then?” Danny asks, changing the subject, and I hate that he probably knows I’m crying.

I inhale a shaky breath. “I think. That’s all I saw anyway. I jumped on his back, but it was useless. I don’t really know what happened after that.”

“You jumped on his back?” he asks, and I hear amusement again in his smug voice.

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