Pieces of Summer

The blood in my veins turns to ice, and I stare at her in shock. Yeah, Jessica was a bitch, but she was never that far gone.

“In short, my life took a turn for a while,” she goes on when I can’t even form a single sentence in response. “College wasn’t possible. Can we just stop talking about it now?”

“How’d she almost kill you?” I ask before I can stop myself.

“She knocked me off a second-floor landing during one of her fits because I wanted to move out. End of discussion. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

She stands abruptly, and I look down at the pizza that I no longer feel like eating. It never occurred to me even once that her life would be less than perfect when I wasn’t in it.

She goes to drop down on the couch, and I move to join her, warily gauging her mood. When I sit down and wrap my arm around her shoulders, she tenses but doesn’t knock my hand away.

She flips through channels too quickly, making it hard to even read the titles, and she blinks rapidly like she’s trying to stave off tears or something.

“Want me to channel surf?”

She shakes her head. “If you let it sit on a channel for too long, I’ll have to watch whatever show is on until it’s over. Not just the one show but the entire series. Series aren’t allowed. Not unless they’re complete. It’s only safe to watch a movie I’ve already seen.”

The fuck does that mean?

“Mika, I—”

“I don’t want to share any more secrets tonight, Chase. Please don’t ask,” she says in a strained whisper.

She finally settles on a channel that is just starting to play Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and she exhales heavily as it begins while pushing the remote away. We sit in silence as she watches the TV and I watch her, trying to decipher the enigma she’s become.

I want to know what happened to her. I want to know why she’s so closed off about it. I want to know everything there is.

But she doesn’t want to talk, and it’s her past to reveal. Instead, I pull her closer until she slowly starts to relax against me, resting her head on my chest. The second the movie ends, her eyes flutter shut, and I sigh while kissing the top of her head and scooping her up.

She’s still in her T-shirt and panties because I really thought we would do a lot more before the night ended. Sex is now the last thing on my mind.

Carefully, I walk her up the stairs, thinking over the night and how rough it started out, before turning good… Now it’s ending all wrong. As soon as I lower her to the bed, she stirs and grabs my hand.

“Stay with me?” she asks quietly, not opening her eyes. “The way you used to.”

Letting go of her hand, I kick off my jeans. I never put a shirt back on, so I’m just in my boxers when I slip into bed beside her. She immediately wraps around me, almost lying on top of me, and I hug her to me before kissing her head.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me,” I whisper, brushing my lips over her forehead.

She sighs while kissing my chest, but she doesn’t move other than that.

“I’m glad you weren’t. I would have become your darkness instead of your light.”

Even though I have no idea what that means, I don’t q

uestion her. Maybe Aidan can give me some answers if he’ll stop hating me long enough to let me ask questions.

Chapter 32

MIKA

“How the hell did she hurt herself?! You swore she wouldn’t have access to anything in here! The fuck are you assholes doing to her? This was supposed to make her better.”

“She broke a toothbrush and filed down the end to a sharp point. We’ll bump up security measures for her. Dr. Kravitz has to push her limits in order to find out what exactly they are. You need to remember your sister isn’t the same person. To help her, we have to study her.”

“You mean you have to fucking hurt her. That’s what you mean. She has a motherfucking brain injury. Stop treating her like she’s some psych patient and treat her like she’s incompetent instead!”

Aidan’s rant reaches my ears, and I stare at the ceiling as they continue to argue outside the door to my hospital room. My stomach aches, but my heart is what hurts the most.