before he’s satisfied enough to leave. Only after receiving a call to confirm a deceased man at Simone’s address, does he walk away, but I know it won’t be long before he shows back up. I can only hope that he finds evidence to support what we believe happened in her apartment.
Chapter 2
Simone
I have a history of waking up before my eyes even open. It’s learned behavior, a way to determine the atmosphere surrounding me before alerting those around me that I’m awake. I haven’t had to use that vigilance for years, and I find it crazy just how quickly those skills have renewed.
I sense the shadows passing before my eyes before my brain can evaluate the situation, and when I finally manage to open one tight eye, the man looming over me is rendered a threat. The scream erupts from my throat before I can lift my hands to defend myself—only I’m not met with more blows to my face or rough hands holding me down and shaking me.
It takes a long second before I recognize Rocker and even longer to understand why he’s here. I didn’t work tonight. Jeremy wouldn’t allow it.
The screams don’t stop. Not when he holds his hands up and not when he backs away. My throat is raw, as if I’ve been screaming for hours.
I remember everything that has happened tonight. I’m not lucky enough to have some sort of amnesia. I know why my face is tight and why I can only see out of one eye. I know if I look down at my hands, I’m going to see my husband’s blood staining my skin. I know all of this, but it doesn’t keep me from wishing none of it was real.
“You’re safe.”
I hear the two words repeated over and over, but my mind won’t allow me to believe it. I thought I was safe before. I’ve spent the last several years disillusioned that my life was different now from what it was five years ago. I let myself smile and have fun. I’ve made friends, both at the bar and at the gym. All of these things were never allowed before Jeremy went away. He made sure to keep me from everyone. Connections meant I had an escape, and he couldn’t let that happen. He owned me, and he made it clear that was the way it would always be. I was a fool to think I’d ever escape him, no matter that it had been five years since I laid eyes on him.
“Shh,” Rocker whispers, but he doesn’t close the distance between us.
I want to reach for him, to ask him to comfort me by wrapping me in a hug, but I can’t do that. He doesn’t owe me any favors. I went to him tonight because I know how helpful the MC is, not directly because I don’t have that kind of relationship with him, but I’m a bartender and people around town talk. It’s my job to listen and file that information away.
“Simone?”
My head snaps to the side, and I know Jinx can see the surprise on my face at his being here.
I didn’t expect either one of them to stick around after I woke up in an exam room surrounded by doctors. I presumed they got me to the hospital, but knew they were under no obligation to still be here when I woke up.
“I’m sorry.” My voice is filled with gravel, my throat more sore than it’s ever been.
“Shh,” Rocker purrs again, only this time he does take a few steps closer even though it still leaves him several feet away.
My eye blinks closed, tears trailing down my cheeks unbidden.
“You’re safe,” Jinx reminds me. I can tell he believes it’s true, but neither of these men can understand that I’ll never be safe.
He’s dead, my brain reminds me as flashes of the fight with Jeremy fill my head.
But I can’t know that for sure. I don’t know how long I stood over my husband, but it seemed like I watched him forever, waiting for him to snap his eyes open and come after me again. The only explanation for me still being alive is because he no longer is, but I’m unable to muster the courage to ask that question out loud.
His death just means another prison for me, only this time I’ll truly be unable to escape.
“Not right now,” Jinx hisses while my eyes are glued to Rocker.