Kian

“What about the day Kian saved you?” Erica leaned forward, resting her elbows on her legs. Her head lowered, her focus so intent on me. “Tell us about that day.”

That day…

I felt myself slipping away. I was in my bedroom again.

I was there, not in the hotel room. I could hear my voice speaking, sounding far away. “I broke up with my boyfriend a few weeks earlier. He started to get more and more demanding when we were together. He wouldn’t ask. He would just grab my body whenever he wanted. Edmund would ask me every day if that boy was going to come back again. I told him he wasn’t, that I broke up with him. He was asking me about Justin again that day, but I don’t remember why…”

Wait.

I stopped.

I was reading a book on my bed when the floorboards creaked from outside my door. There was no reason to be scared. Edmund stood outside my door all the time. He never did anything. He never came inside, but that day, I was scared. I knew, somehow I knew, even before he opened the door and came inside. I didn’t remember moving, but then I was at the window.

I was watching it happen again. I was removed from my body, watching from the other side of the window, and it was like that then, too. I was a spectator to what happened.

I watched from where I was safe.

I turned around so that my back pressed to the window. Edmund was inside my room. He was shutting the door. He never shut the door when he came inside. It was always left open. That was one thing his wife insisted on, but he turned the lock on it now.

I reached behind me and held on to the window frame.

I said to Erica, “I was so scared.”

“Tell us what happened. What are you remembering right now?”

I told her as I experienced it again.

He was drinking. I could smell the beer on his breath. His shirt had two beer stains on it, like he’d used it to wipe his face off. His face was sweaty. And, my gaze dipped down, his pants were undone.

There was an added gleam in his eyes. It was twisted and dark, and I knew then. I knew what was going to happen to me.

A switch turned off in my head.

I said, “I didn’t know if I was going to live.” My voice was so quiet now.

“What did you do?”

“I had to get out of there.”

“How?”

I remembered forcing my fingers to let go of the window frame, but I didn’t release it.

I still held on.

The window was locked. Edmund kept every window locked, but there were two locks. One was at the top, and I kept that unlocked out of habit. When he checked the windows, he’d only check the bottom lock. He was too lazy to move the curtain aside to check the top one.

I said, “I unlocked the window behind me, but he was staring right at me.”

“Did he say anything to you?”

I frowned. Had he? It’d been so long since I had to remember this all. “I think…” Wait…I remembered something new. “He came up because I had a phone call.”

“That boy called today.”

“Justin called earlier.” That was why he was in my room. “Edmund was angry with me, saying the same stuff as always.”

“What did he always say?”

“He liked to ramble about my eyes.”

“Your eyes?”

The confusion from Erica pulled me back.

I slipped away from my old bedroom and came back to the hotel room. I was once again sitting in my chair, staring at a camera and a friend, but it felt like they weren’t there. I shivered, feeling Edmund there.

I gestured to my face. “I have colored contacts, but my real eye color is unique. He would think I was a demon when he was really drunk. He’d rant about it and how I was sent to tempt him.” My gut shifted, sinking low. I felt sick. “Some days, he’d say I was a goddess, and other days, Lucifer sent me. But that day—” I stopped. My mouth grew dry. I was almost too scared to continue. “He wasn’t saying any of that on that day.”

“What happened, Jo?”

Jo. Not Jordan.

I shook myself awake. I was doing a live interview. Wake up. I had to focus.

Drawing in a short breath, I shoved the memories aside and concentrated on the camera again. “He was saying things about how he needed to eradicate his temptation once and for all. He wouldn’t be unfaithful. He was a loyal servant, but he was at his end. He had to take care of me. I knew I didn’t have a lot of time, but then I heard the front door open. I thought someone was coming to save me, and I hoped. I looked, but—”