“Sylvie, babe, look at me.”
“Fug… ov!” I shouted, lurching toward the voice then collapsing in bed.
“He do this to you?” I heard growled as I blinked.
“Who?”
“Creed.”
“Scott.”
“What?”
“Richard Scott didid to me. Daddeh didid to me. Creed jus’ lef’ me.”
“Fuck,” I heard whispered then I felt my hair pulled gently away from my face and lips at my ear. “I knew this would shred you.”
“Go ‘way, Knide,” I mumbled into my pillow.
Knight didn’t go away. “Five days, you’re shredded.”
“Ah’ll be okay,” I muttered. “Ah always am.”
“You haven’t been okay for sixteen years.”
Fuck, that was the truth.
“Ah havin been okay for forever.”
I blinked and my hazy vision vanished.
This was because I passed out.
* * * * *
I put the cigarette to my lips, took a deep drag and blew out the smoke, my eyes trained out the window of my back room to the dark night.
I knew someone was there well before I heard Anya call from the door to the kitchen, “Sylvie?”
“Here,” I muttered.
Quiet.
Then, softly, “Knight sent me to check on you. He gave me the key.”
“That’s cool.”
“You okay?”
No, I f**king was not.
“Yup.”
She walked through the dark and I watched her shadow move and fold into the other chair across from me.
“How’s Kat?” I asked about their daughter.
“She’s good. Knight’s folks are here from Hawaii. They’re babysitting so I could have a rare night at Slade.”