Page 27 of Broken By Silence
With the girl, I can’t stop callingbabylike a dumbass. Who haunts my thoughts every night, every time I close my eyes, just like she did when she was supposed to be a ghost. And with Archer and Oscar, who look ready to throw me through the nearest wall if I so much as breathe the wrong way in her direction.
I laugh, because I can’t help it, but it’s sharp and humorless. “This is insane.”
Claire turns her gaze on me, and I want to shrink into myself. “So is staying here, exposed, waiting for Lorenzo to make his move. I don’t deal in maybes, Crew, especially not when it comes to protecting my family. That same family that you led Lorenzo to because you all felt entitled to answers that were never supposed to be yours. I deal incertainties, and the only certainty is that you’re safer with us. End of discussion.”
I want to argue. God, do I want to, but my tongue feels heavy, my throat dry. She’s right, and I hate it. Roman claps his hands once, wincing when the movement tugs at his IV. “Well, looks like we’re going to be roommates.”
He tries to sound cheerful, but even he can’t hide the tension lacing his words.
We’re fucked.
So unbelievably fucked it’s not even funny.
Elijah doesn’t say a word, because when does he? He just glares out of the window like the glass has personally offended him. I lean back in my chair, running a hand over my face, blowing out a breath.
I’m fraying. The itch under my skin is back. My skin feels too tight, my chest too small. The pressure of everything feels impossible, and I want nothing more than to get lost in something that will make me forget.
I can’t breathe.
Lottie glances at me. Her eyes—God, her fucking eyes. She doesn’t look angry. Or disappointed. Just watchful. Like she knows I’m fraying at the seams, and I look away like a coward.
I can’t stand it.
Everything breaks up not long after. Roman kept trying to talk logistics, but Claire pressed the button for his morphine until he was talking nonsense. Elijah hasn’t said anything else, and Lottie looks like she’s spiralling at the idea of living with us.
I slip out before anyone notices. Overwhelmed by all the secrets and revelations.
The hospital air outside is cool, sharp in my lungs, but it doesn’t help. My hands still shake. My thoughts are still clawing at me. I shouldn’t be here. Not with her or them.
The craving for the feeling of before hits hard, sudden, like a wave crashing over me. My brain screams for it—the sweet burn. Thenumb silence after. Just one hit. Just one pill. Just one line. Anything to shut up the memory reel playing in my head… Lottie’s bruises, her too-thin frame from years of neglect, the way she flinched at phantom hands and shadows that weren’t there.
I dig my nails into my palms until I feel skin break. The pain anchors me,barely.
“Running already? I expected you to last longer than that.”
I freeze. Will. Of course, it’s him. The man moves like a ghost, and now he’s standing over me, hands in his pockets, watching me like I’m a puzzle he’s already solved.
“Needed air,” I mutter, but the lie tastes like ash on my tongue.
He nods, like he expected my answer, but he doesn’t push. He lowers himself onto the bench beside me. For a while, neither of us speaks. Then softly, “You want to use.”
It’s not a question. I laugh bitterly. “That obvious?”
He shrugs. “To someone who’s been there? Yeah.”
I turn to him, startled. Will, the perfect man, the one who looks like he’s never fucked up a day in his life, is saying he’s been there? He must see the disbelief on my face, because he chuckles. “You think you’re the only one who wanted to escape at one point?”
I don’t answer. My throat feels too tight. Will leans back, staring at the darkening sky. “I’m not going to tell you it’s easy. It’s not. I’m also not going to tell you the cravings ever fully go away, because they don’t. But you learn to fight them. You learn why you’re fighting and what you’re doing it for.”
I scoff. “And what if I don’t have a reason?”
Will turns his head, and in an instant, the kind-eyed man is gone. “ You know exactly what I mean. She’s in there right now, laughing with my son, eating chili, pretending her scars don’t burn every time she breathes. Scars you three carved into her.” His jaw tightens until it looks like stone about to crack. “Don’t you dare pile your demons on her shoulders. She’s carried enough.” He pulls out his wallet, thumbing through bills like he’s counting down seconds of patience. The money slaps against the bench beside me, final andcold.
“If you’re too weak to fight for her, then take the cash and walk. Stay the fuck away. Because I swear to God—” his voice drops lower, darker, “—I will tear apart anyone who hurts her again. And I don’t care if that means I’m protecting her from strangers… or from you.” Then, softer, barely, but it’s there. His eyes flicker with something raw. “She deserves someone who sees the worth in her, every scar and every laugh. If you can’t be that man, don’t even try. She’s worth more than half a heart.”
The words hit like a punch. I look away, blinking hard. My chest feels like it’s caving in. “You think I don’t know what I’ve done to her? You think I don’t hate myself enough already?”
“I think you hate yourself so much you’d rather burn than try to be better. But I also think you care about her enough to want to try.”
