Page 120 of Cruel Revenge

I don’t feel like myself either, and when I look down at my arms, they are covered in dozens of little cuts.

Zoe.

She cut into me with a knife over and over again, lifting me higher every few minutes before having them lower me again. She took her time until the world went black.

And then my avenging angel came.

“Skyla?” I toss back the blankets.

I have to find her. To know she’s all right. Make sure nothing like this ever happens to her again.

And I have to apologize to her.

I’m going to make this right.

The pain in my body is blinding as I sit upright, planting my feet on the floor and grabbing onto the bed rail.

I don’t know where she is, but I’m going to find her. I need to make sure she’s okay. Because she can’t be dead. She just can’t.

I didn’t tell you I’m sorry yet.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She walks into the room with a slight limp.

I have to blink several times to make sure it’s really her standing in front of me and not some delusion.

There are a couple of cuts on her cheek, and there are bruises on her arms and face. She’s got a thick white bandage wrapped around her thigh just beneath the hem of her shorts. Her long hair hangs loose and wild around her face.

I don’t think she’s ever looked more beautiful.

“Skyla?”

“Yes.” She hurries across the room, putting her hands gingerly on my shoulders and easing me back into bed. “You need to get back to bed. You went through a lot.”

I laugh, but it turns into a fit of coughing. “You look like you’ve been through a lot, too.”

Skyla doesn’t smile as she reaches behind me and adjusts my pillows. “You need to get your rest. Whatever you were going to do can wait. Just get into bed and relax.”

“You need to relax, too.”

There’s a small smile at the corner of her mouth, but it doesn’t meet her eyes.

Instead, she grabs a glass of water from the bedside table and holds it to my lips.

I take a sip, watching her and the way she looks over me with endless concern.

“I’m okay,” I say as she pulls the glass away and sets it to the side.

“How are you really doing?” Her voice wavers as she looks down at me. “You almost died. We thought if the cuts didn’t kill you, the smoke inhalation might. You were hanging so high, and all the smoke was gathering up there before we could get you down. I was almost too late.”

She tries to take a step back, but I catch her hand and pull her closer.

I sit up in bed once more, giving her a stern look when she tries to urge me back into the pillows.

“Joshua, you need to rest. You shouldn’t be working yourself up like this. Okay?” She pushes against me again, a little more forcefully this time. “I need you to listen to the doctors and behave.”

“And I need you to stop worrying over me and what might have happened.”

“I’m not doing that.”

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