“Turn over or I’ll turn you over.”
I’d never seen him so mad as he leaned over, his fists pressed into the mattress on either side of me. I may live this life of lies, but Deck was real. Unlike me, every word out of his mouth was the truth. If I didn’t turn over myself, he’d make me.
The second I did, he untied the thin tie, which did a shit job of keeping my gown from showing my ass and yanked it open. Then I felt one of the bandages being lifted and it was as if I could feel his shock vibrating through the mattress into me. “Deck, it’s not what you think.” Shit, how was I supposed to explain the cuts? I had to play the part, yet all I wanted to do was scream the truth.
But I couldn’t. There were rules and severe consequences for breaking those rules.
He was quiet, and I lay completely still. There was nothing to fight or lie about or pretend. He knew it was impossible for me to put the cuts on myself. Holy fail.
“Who did it?”
I pulled at the numbness, desperate to hide behind the safety of its shield, but with Deck, it was as if I was trying to pull down a steel blind that weighed a thousand pounds. My only escape was my sassy mouth. “His name is Pine and he smells delicious, but he’s a little sticky around his core.” He scowled and I quickly tried to explain. “Sexy, I jumped out of the second floor window of my bedroom onto a pine tree. You want to go chop him down for cutting me up, because I’m thinking it wasn’t his fault and the tree police will be after you.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re lying.” I knew it was a long shot. Tyler or Josh might have let it slide, but Deck … not a chance. He didn’t skim the doc’s report; he’d have read word for word and no doubt it suggested the wounds were made with a knife. “Who the fuck did this to you?”
My best defense right now was silence. I had no choice. I hated it. The lying to him. Seeing the rage in his eyes. But I’d never risk losing him—ever. I’d do whatever it took.
“You’re getting help.” Deck’s words hit me like a punch to the stomach and my eyes widened with panic.
“What?” His expression remained still. Shit, he was serious. He was going to lock me up. “It’s illegal. I’m over eighteen and—”
“Do you think laws matter to me, Georgie? I kill for a fuckin’ living.”
Shit, there was no doubt he could lock me up and throw away the key. But this was why he’d given me this cover story when Deck came back when I was eighteen … because he couldn’t lock me up. “Deck, please. Don’t do that to me.” The webs began encasing me in their sticky substance as fear gripped me. Everything was unravelling and it was happening fast. Too fast. I was losing control here.
“You drank until that shit poisoned you.” His tone hardened. “You have fuckin’ cuts on your back. From a knife. How did you get them, Georgie?”
I’d never tell him. “I don’t know.” He knew I was lying. It was the first time I think he suspected something. Shit, I totally screwed up. “I drank too much yesterday and I was—”
“How?” he shouted.
I looked at my hands.
“Look at me.” When I didn’t, he punctuated each word. “Look. At. Me.”
I couldn’t.
“Fuck this.” Deck strode over to the window and looked out into the street. “And it’s every fuckin’ day.”
“I’ll sober up.” Damn it, I went too far.
“It’s too late.”
I yanked off the heart monitor and then the intravenous, scrambled out of the bed, and darted for the door, making it into the hallway. I had no idea where I was going except the word run kept pounding into me like I was that sixteen-year-old girl again.
I heard Deck swear and I was grabbed from behind. I kicked and struggled, but to Deck, I was a flimsy piece of foil. No chance was I going to rehab. The second that happened, he’d find out the truth and then …
I panicked at the thought and reacted by dropping my weight then jerking my elbow back to hit him in the head. He let me go as he staggered back a step, his hand going to his cheek where my elbow hit. It must have throbbed because my elbow sure hurt like hell. It was a classic defense move when someone grabbed you from behind, one of the several I’d been taught. Except he wasn’t supposed to know that.
We both froze.
I saw his face, showing the surprise at what I’d just done and then the suspicion. I shouldn’t know how to do that move. I surprised myself that I managed it with Deck, of all people. But it didn’t last long. He launched for me, and my breath hitched as his arms locked me down and held my back to his chest. This time, I didn’t attempt to move.