Pieces of Summer

He swallows like he’s staving off his emotion. My chest feels too heavy to even take a breath.

“She was seeing a doctor at the time who believed she’d had a psychotic break rather than anything wrong with her actual brain. Her symptoms individually fit certain diagnoses, but altogether, it was an unnamed phenomena. He wanted to study her to find all her triggers, and Aidan finally put her in his care at a psych hospital.”

A woman walks by, and Hunter waits until she passes completely before continuing, as though he’s unloading government secrets and is paranoid of someone overhearing. He pockets his hands before kicking a rock, staring at the ground as he continues.

“No dates. No times. Those are the major ones. Vagueness is key, and no contradictions or conflicting statements. After work means after work. Not after beers.”

It feels like I’m being punched in the stomach. This is my fault?

“I didn’t know,” I say quietly.

“I’m aware,” he sighs, looking back up. “She shouldn’t have gone this far off the reservation about a small confliction. She should have been able to write it out.”

“What does that mean?” Blake asks, feeling as lost and fucking confused as I do.

“That man was a fucking nightmare, but no one can deny Mika came out of that place different… able to cope. The best thing Dr. Kravitz did for Mika was find her an outlet. Too many variables are unpredictable, and for her to live as normal as possible, she needed a way to finish things and fix them when they conflicted. He helped her train her mind to turn reality into fantasy—so much so, that she actually became an author. When she fixes a scene in her head, she then turns it into a book. Every time. It gives her closure and control over a situation.”

No, I don’t get it. None of it makes sense to me, but Hunter seems to act like it’s the most natural thing in the world. I actually feel fucking envious of him, because it feels like he knows her better than I do.

“Has she been writing at all?” he asks, staring at me.

“I don’t know,” I answer on a heavy breath. “I go to work, and she stays there.”

He nods absently, shifting his gaze toward the hospital. His eyes widen, and he mutters, “Fuck.”

Just as I turn my head to look over my shoulder, something hard collides with my face with enough force to knock me off the tailgate I’m on. I hit the ground so hard that my breath is forced out of my lungs, and I spin over just in time to dodge a heavy boot that was aimed at the back of my head.

?

??Aidan, don’t!” Hunter yells just as I get to my feet, wiping blood from my mouth as Hunter struggles to hold back a seething Aidan.

His eyes are reddened from tears, his mouth is twisted in anguish, and he’s frantically shoving at Hunter to get him out of the way.

“This is his fault! Let me the fuck go!” Aidan roars, as Blake goes to help Hunter hold him back.

“He didn’t know, man. He had no clue. You can’t blame—”

“I can blame him! He always fucking breaks her. I told him to stay away!”

His words end on a choked sound, as his struggles turn ragged, and he stumbles back, landing against the side of a car as though he needs it for support. The fight leaves him as he clutches his face.

“Is she okay?” I ask, which draws his hands away as fury sinks into his features again.

“Fuck you. Get out of here. I don’t want you around when she wakes up. She’s had her break, so she’ll be fine as long as you’re not around.”

My jaw grinds, and Blake immediately darts out to put his hands on my chest like he’s worried I’m about to destroy Aidan.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Is she okay?” Hunter asks him, since Aidan refused to give me a direct answer.

“Yeah. She’s fine. Stitches all over her stomach like she’s Frankenstein’s toy again, but she’s fine,” he says bitterly.

I sway on my feet, feeling relief hit me, along with a flurry of other emotions that all seem to clash against each other.

“He’s been with her since we left!” Aidan grinds out, glaring over at Hunter. “Three fucking weeks.”

Hunter nods. “They’re… more than just friends. A little over two weeks have had intimacy.”