AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hi!” A short brunette stands up from behind the desk in front of us. “Welcome to Better Daze!”
She’s perky—too fucking perky—like she actually wants to be here right now. It’s rare that you encounter people that actually enjoy their jobs and aren’t fucking miserable just being there.
“This is Killian Stone,” Travis says, stepping up to the front desk. “I called earlier as well as a few days ago to make sure that everything was set up and in place for him.”
“Yes, of course.” She smiles brightly, looking at me. “It’s nice to meet you, Killian. I’m Desi. I’m sure that you’re going to enjoy your stay here. This place is truly the best place that you could be right now.”
I stare at her blankly. “I’ve been clean for a year.”
“Congratulations!” she exclaims, smiling brightly at me. “That is such an accomplishment and I love hearing that! I don’t know if you know much about the facility, but we treat the whole patient, not just your addiction. We have a very immersive therapy and support system put in place for every patient. We treat it as a team effort, getting whatever medical professionals involved that we need to to treat you as a whole.”
My expression doesn’t change. Travis sighs. “Well, this was part of his plea deal, as I’m sure you know, so this is all court appointed.”
“Yes, I’m well aware.” She glances at him, her smile falling slightly before looking back at me. “You are not your addiction, Killian. You’re a person and there’s always a root cause that brings out the addictive tendencies. We plan on getting to the bottom of that and helping you to live a productive life once you leave here.”
A door behind her opens and my entire world stops. Ainsley walks through the door, typing something on her phone as she steps up beside Desi. My breath catches in my throat and the color drains from my face as she looks up, instantly meeting my eyes.
Raina never specified which treatment facility Ainsley went to. She also told me that Ainsley completed her ninety days and was living in a halfway house, getting back on her feet.
So why the fuck is she here?
She looks healthier than I’ve ever seen her before. Her eyes are bright, her brown irises warm. There’s a tint of pink in her cheeks, which have filled out. She’s put on weight, but in a good way. Her clothes don’t hang from her frail frame anymore. She looks healthy. She looks fucking good.
She was always beautiful, but seeing her like this, in a different light. She’s a different version of Ainsley and I feel like I’m staring at a mirage.
“Killian,” she whispers, her phone dropping down onto the desk in front of them. She stares back at me, her eyes wide. I watch as her chest rises and falls in rapid succession.
Desi looks back and forth between the two of us. “Do you guys know each other?”
I swallow roughly over the emotion thick in my throat. “Something like that,” I murmur, my eyes still holding Ainsley’s gaze.
She quickly breaks eye contact, looking down at the desk as she grabs her phone and tucks it in the front pocket of her flowing pants. Ignoring me, she busies herself, shuffling papers around on the desk.
Desi hands me a clipboard with a packet of papers. “If you want to follow me, we can go into the intake room and get everything squared away so we can get you settled in a room. We will still do a drug test just in case, but since you said you’ve been clean for a year, I’m thinking we won’t need to send you to detox at all.”
Ainsley lifts her eyes, searching mine as she stares at me in shock. She knows that I was in prison. I know that Raina kept her informed on what was going on with me, just the way that she kept me informed. But I can’t help but feel a twinge of pain with the way that Ainsley looks at me. She stares at me like she expected something different.
The look on her face makes me question everything that happened between us. She knows me. She fucking knows me and it hurts like hell to think that she expects so little of me. Her shocked look is hard to ignore. After everything that we’ve been through, I was hoping that maybe she would have given me a little more credit.
Just a little more fucking faith than this.
I nod, tearing my eyes away from hers as I look over at Desi. Travis places his hand on my forearm. “I’ll be in touch with you when I come to do a visit. I’ll coordinate it with them here, so they will let you know when it will be.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, feeling an overwhelming rush of defeat. There was a part of me that was hopeful coming here. Ainsley managed to extinguish that with one simple look.
Maybe my thoughts were distorted. I was fucking delusional to think that our reunion would be one from a romance novel. I didn’t expect to see her here, especially like this.
I never once paused to think about what could have gone through her mind the past year. With me being away and her getting better and getting her life together, maybe she’s finally come to her senses.
She hates me like she should have from the start.
Ainsley once told me that I should have left her before she loved me. She was wrong. She should have hated me before I loved her.
Ainsley turns her back on us, turning her attention to the printer behind the desk, even though it isn’t currently printing anything. It’s almost like she can’t even face me right now. I’m the fucking villain in this story and she’s the ethereal angel that got tarnished by the devil.
I follow after Desi without another word into the intake room. As the door closes behind me, I chance a glance, meeting Ainsley’s eyes once more.
Her eyes are filled with tears and she doesn’t even bother to try and hide them like she would have in the past. They aren’t the tears that I would have expected to see for our first time seeing each other after the past year. There’s no happiness in the wetness that coats the sides of her face.
