Page 96 of Cruel Abandon (Fallen Royals 5)
But they refuse to fill in the blanks.
“You’re going to forget,” he whispers, taking my hand. “You’ll forget that you lost forty-five days. It’ll just become something that we don’t talk about, and you’ll move on.”
He can read my mind, I swear.
“But I want to remember.” My eyes fill with tears.
He nods solemnly. “I’ll help you when you’re ready.”
When you’re ready. It makes me wonder about my past self. The one who lived from mid-October to early December, who must’ve survived something awful. Was it one day that hurt and caused a ripple? Or repeated trauma? Was I in the hospital for a long time?
Wind rustles through the clearing, practically beckoning me forward, but Liam tugs on my hand. He guides me all the way to my back porch, then watches with careful, hawk-like eyes as I climb the steps and slip inside.
* * *
I lost a month and a half.
He was right: I had forgotten. A month and a half is nothing. It’s a blip on the radar of my life. But now that I know it’s gone, it’ll bother me.
“Open your eyes, Sky.”
I don’t want to. I want to crawl back into my memories and see what happened next. If I went back to the woods, I don’t remember it.
“Come back to me, angel.” His breath, then his lips, hit my cheek.
Maybe I imagine the latter.
I inhale sharply, and the night rushes back. Drugging, abduction, the fight. An alarm. I open my eyes to a crystal-clear night sky… and Liam.
“You’re here,” he says quietly. “With me. In the present. Okay?”
Not in the past. I wonder if I said anything while… I suppose I wasn’t just sleeping.
“We should take her to a hospital.” Theo appears over Liam’s shoulder.
I rub my wrists, relieved to find them free of the rope, and then push myself into a sitting position. “Help me up.”
Liam rocks back on his heels and offers his hands. I take them, and we rise together.
“I’m okay,” I tell him.
He watches me steadily. “I know.”
“I didn’t have keys to get back in.”
He just nods again. “We can remedy that.”
Theo’s attention bounces between us. “Huh? You’re giving her keys?”
Liam rolls his eyes and tucks me to his side. “Her bitchy roommate went home, and her mother wanted her to return to Stone Ridge. So she’s staying with me.”
He conveniently leaves out the fact that my mother is paying him to watch me.
Ice trickles down my spine: that’s why he’s gone to such lengths to get me back from Colt. And a fight, to boot.
Theo tosses Liam a thick envelope. “Before I forget—got that from RJ.”
Liam nods and shoves it in his pocket. He’s still holding my hands, and his grip tightens a fraction when I try to pull free. He does release one of them, but then… we’re holding hands. His fingers lace between mine, and he turns away from Theo.