Page 46 of Healer’s Betrayal

“The tall guy who’s glued to her side is her,” Raechel pauses. “Husband. That’s Bryce.” Bryce nods at me. “And this hunk of a man is all mine. I call him Max.”

Ava snorts out a laugh. “That’s seriously never what you call him.”

Raechel grins. “Yeah, I have all sorts of great names for this one.” She winks up at the stoic man, and Ava gags.

I look over to Noah, and his big eyes meet my own. I don’t think he knows what to make of any of this either. I finally turn to Jackson, who’s only a foot or so from me. “Jackson, do you know these people?”

“Unfortunately,” he says, his eyes meeting mine.

“Seriously?” I think that’s from Raechel.

“How do you feel?” he asks, turning my attention back to him.

“I’m fine.”

“You passed out.” He doesn’t sound particularly happy about that.

My eyes meet Noah’s for just a moment, and I see the uncertainty there. He’s the only other person in this world that knows what I can do, and I’ve made him swear not to tell another soul. My mind races to come up with something. “I’m not good with blood,” I blurt out. “It makes me woozy, and there was so much blood.” I shake my head, trying to sell this thing. “I guess I just—”

“I’m just going to cut you off right there,” Raechel says, interrupting us.

I turn to her in shock. “Excuse me?”

“The whole being woozy thing; yeah, none of us were going to buy it. So, I just decided to stop it.” Jackson makes a sound deep in his chest, and I look at him in surprise. But he’s not looking at me; he’s looking at Raechel. Actually, he’s more glaring at her than anything. Raechel crosses her arms and waves a hand at Ava. “The floor is yours.”

Ava rolls her eyes. “You’re making a mess of this.”

“Yeah, well, we leave in literally like a day or two. It’s time to hit this thing head on,” Raechel responds, waving a hand.

I look between the two of them and decide I’ve had enough. “Okay, I get that Jackson knows you all, but I don’t. I have no idea why any of you are here, but I’m tired. I have an early shift tomorrow, and Noah has school. So, it was nice to meet you all; but it’s time for you to go.”

There’s complete silence for all of about three seconds before Ava and Raechel exchange glances and then smile. “Look at you. All right.” Raechel nods, still smiling. “That was good.”

I throw up my hands in exasperation and turn to Jackson. “Can you get rid of them?” I ask the question softly.

“We’ll get out of your hair,” the blond guy says. Bryce, I think. “But we do need to talk. Is there somewhere we could meet tomorrow? Somewhere private? Somewhere that would accommodate all of us?”

I know what he’s politely not saying is that my apartment is way too small; which it is. It was already small with just Jackson. But now it's absolutely miniscule.

Chapter 19

Kayla

“We can meet at the hotel we’re staying in,” Jackson says. “I’ll see if the meeting room is available.”

“Bryce?” Ava asks, and I lock in the tall blond’s name.

He nods. “That will work. Send me the address. What time?”

It takes me a moment to realize he’s asking Jackson and me. “Oh. Do I have to be there?”

“Yeah, Chica, you have to be there. You’re like the main person in this conversation,” Raechel says.

I look at Jackson for confirmation, and he tilts his head just the slightest bit. I resist the urge to bury my face in my hands; because that’s seriously all I want to do right now. I can barely keep my eyes open. “I recognize that look,” Ava says. She turns to Jackson. “She needs fluids, some sugar, and sleep.”

I glance up at Jackson, expecting him to refute her words. But he simply nods. Confusion swirls around me, but I literally can’t make sense of any of it. My head throbs, and I feel like I’m going to be sick. The room starts to spin, and I take an unstable step backwards. A hand catches my elbow, and then there’s suddenly a seat behind me. “Sit,” Jackson says gruffly.

“I have juice,” I hear Ava say as I put my head down on my arms, trying to get my head to stop hurting.