Page 135 of Brassy Bigwig

“Thank you.”

“We’ll be back in a little while,” my father adds.

The two of them exit the room, leaving me, Bianca, and Shelby behind.

“Are you in any pain, Chloe?” Shelby asks me as I turn back to face D.

As I look at him, I feel an immense amount of pain. But it has nothing to do with my shoulder. I’m in pain, agonizing over what happened to D. Terrified he’s never going to wake up. That I’ll never again get to look into his striking, gray eyes. I’m frightened I’ll never be able to feel him against me while we sleep. I’ll never be able to taste another one of his kisses.

“Yes, the pain is immeasurable,” I answer without looking at her. “And I won’t get any relief until D opens his eyes.”

* * *

Daddy and Dex came back within the hour with good news.

Very expensive good news.

It took quite a large donation, but the CEO agreed to have a bed placed next to D’s as well as a separate staff of doctors and nurses to handle our care. Daddy stayed for a little while longer before Soraya and Enzo came looking for him. When they left, I begged him to take my mother home when he leaves. I can’t be around her right now.

Dex and Bianca left shortly after that but told me they would be back tomorrow. I promised to call with any change in D’s status until they return.

“Can you help me with this pillow?” I ask Shelby.

She is staying the night tonight. The nurse brought her a plush chair that folds out into a bed for her to sleep on, but she’s currently laying in my bed with me.

“Sure. Can you lean forward a little, or do you need help?”

“No, I’ve got it,” I tell her as she fluffs up my pillow, helping to raise my head off the bed a little more. “That’s better, thank you.”

She lays back down and rolls onto her side so she’s facing me. When I turn my head to look at her, I see shiny, unshed tears in her eyes.

“Shel…” my voice fades away as I take her hand in mine.

“I’m so sorry, Chloe. This is all my fault. I should have done something sooner. I could have put a stop to all of this before it got so out of hand.”

“Shelby, he was obsessed with me before the two of you even met. From the get-go at the bar that night. Nothing you did contributed to his behavior.”

“I know, but there were… things. Things I should have picked up on but brushed them off because I thought I was crazy.”

“What do you mean?” I inquire.

“Well, there were little things, like flashes of anger I would notice in his eyes from time to time. Sometimes it was during sex, other times it would happen when I mentioned you and D. I asked him about it once, and he swore I was imagining it.”

I think back to when my mother came to the office and told me Reed seemed ragey. Shelby is lucky that he didn’t take his anger out on her. At least not seriously. I know he did when they were having sex. He was too rough not to be.

“And then there was the way he acted when we were having sex.”

“I was just thinking about that. The video he sent us of you guys was brutal, Shel. Some parts you seemed to enjoy, but others…?”

“I enjoyed sex with him in the beginning. But as our relationship progressed, things got… a little scary. And then, there was…”

She stops talking and closes her eyes.

“There was what?”

“Oh, god. I’m too embarrassed to say it,” she admits, looking at me again.

“Shelby, it’s me.”

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