Page 33 of Halfway to Hell
Maybe that was why she wanted to drift away so badly. Deep down, where it counted, Sunday didn’t believe she’d ever truly belong anywhere.
She felt Texas drying her off with a towel but stared straight ahead, fixated on the ugly wallpaper peeling from the wall.
She heard him talking, but the words didn’t register—just noise floating around her like distant static. She was trapped in her own head, too far away to care.
Sunday felt clothes being pulled over her skin and went through the motions, barely present. Then a firm hand turned her head. She looked at Texas. His lips moved, but no sound reached her ears.
Texas dried her off and slipped one of his long-sleeved t-shirts over her shoulders.
He searched her bag but couldn’t find any panties. A knot tightened in his chest. He felt like a damn fool for not taking her to get what she needed sooner. But no, he’d been too caught up plotting how to make her ex pay.
Sunday sat beside him, eyes vacant, staring off like a ghost. She wasn’t responding to anything he said—no flicker of life, no sign she was reallythere.
Grabbing her shoulder, Texas shook her gently, just enough to get a reaction. A single blink. But it was enough. She wasfocusing on him. His voice dropped low, fierce but trembling, “You can’t ever do that to me, Doll.”
Her eyes blinked again, slower this time. Texas shook her harder. “Sunday!” his voice cracked with desperation.
Then the tears came like the pouring rain outside—relentless and fierce.
She collapsed against him, sobbing uncontrollably. Her hands clenched and twisted the fabric of his shirt as her body shook with all the unspent pain she’d been holding in.
Texas held her tight, rocking her gently as she fell apart in his arms. He should’ve known this was coming. All of it.
Hell, just four days ago, Sunday had clawed her way up a muddy embankment—drugged, beaten, and, from what he’d been told, raped over months. No one could keep going without breaking.
“I got you, Doll. Cry all you want,” he whispered, his voice steady but breaking beneath the weight of it all.
Chapter Thirteen
Late into the night,a sharp knock pulled Texas from a restless sleep. The sudden sound jolted him awake, and as he untangled himself from Sunday’s warm body, he noticed she didn’t stir. Kneeling beside her, he gently brushed a stray lock of hair from her pale face. Her wide eyes met his—still filled with the same fear he’d seen when he found her earlier, the scared girl trapped beneath the surface.
Another knock at the door snapped him fully alert. He slipped from the bed, muscles tense. When he opened it, Eros stood there, glancing nervously over his shoulder.
Texas pulled the door closed behind him as he stepped outside into the cool night air.
“Sorry I bolted earlier,” Texas said, his voice low, laced with worry. “I had a bad feeling about Sunday.”
Eros’s jaw tightened. “Was she okay?”
Texas’s eyes darkened. “Fuck, Eros. She was submerged in the tub. Trying to drown herself.”
Eros stood frozen, the weight of Texas’s words sinking in. He had thought Texas had finally made up his mind about Sunday. The pretty blonde who’d wormed her way into his guarded world. But hearing she’d tried to take her own life hit harder than he expected.
“Maybe you should take her to a healer,” Eros said quietly, the concern in his voice cutting through the night.
Texas frowned, skeptical. “What are you suggesting, Nakota?”
Eros shifted, glancing around as if the darkness might hold the answer. “Sunday won’t go back to a regular doctor. Maybe she’d respond to a medicine man.”
Texas shook his head, frustration flickering in his eyes. “Where the hell would I even find one? That’s if she said yes?”
“The Sioux Nation has at least one,” Eros said quietly, watching Texas closely. He knew his friend could use a healer, too—someone who understood wounds deeper than skin.
Texas rubbed the back of his neck, the weight of the night settling on him. “If she doesn’t get better, I’ll consider it rather than dragging her to some clinic.”
He didn’t say he would take her. Just that he’d think about it.
“Did you need something else?”
