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Her eyes flashed. “What are you going to do, drag me to a doctor?”
“You just admitted that you aren’t firing on all cylinders. Aren’t you getting tired of that?” She opened her mouth to lie to me. Before she could, I held up my hand and said a phrase from when we were kids. “Answer me true, Chloe Rose.”
She closed her mouth.
“Answer me true. I’m asking you not to lie. Aren’t you sick and tired of being sick and tired?” I asked the question in the softest and gentlest tone that I had inside of me.
“I…I…” Her head dropped, as if her neck was a broken daffodil stem. Slayer whined and I was beside her in an instant.
I tilted her chin up so that our eyes met. “Chloe, answer me.”
“I don’t know what to do.” Her eyes shimmered with tears.
“Do you trust me?” I whispered softly, my breath mingling with hers.
“So much more than myself. I’m broken, Zarek.”
“No, you’re not. You’re just dented.” I gave her a soft smile.
“I’m scared,” she admitted. I was relieved at her admission. She was so brave to admit her fright. Truth was, I was proud of this woman. I’d called Trenda, then Evie and Zoe for as many details as I could get about what had happened that day at Cherokee Lake. If the guy who had tortured her wasn’t already dead, I’d hunt him down and kill him myself.
“It’s going to be all right, Chloe. I promise.”
“No, it’s not. It’s really bad. I haven’t told you. I can’t tell you.” I saw hell in her eyes. It wasn’t what she had gone through in that cabin, it was the day-to-day despair she had been living with every day since she had left the forest.
“In the last six days, little things have helped, haven’t they? Pecan log rolls? Slayer? Daffodils? Cheese?”
Her eyes shifted as she considered what I said. Finally, she nodded. “A little.”
“Then there’s hope. I’ve made an appointment with Luke’s therapist tomorrow. He’ll see you at three o’clock.”
She stiffened in my arms. I stroked the hair back from her forehead, caressing the scar with my thumb.
“If this was me. If I told you it was really bad, and there were things I couldn’t tell you, wouldn’t you move heaven and earth to get my ass into a professional? Tell me true.”
“Yes,” she breathed out. “Yes, I would.”
“Please give me this. Please let me help you.”
She clutched at my shirt, her nails digging into the skin below.
“Okay.”
I brushed my nose against hers. “You won’t regret this.”
“I hope not.”
* * *
Chloe
God, it felt good in his arms. I’d almost forgotten what good had felt like. His eyes darkened, and I felt his breath mingle with mine.
“Chloe?” He didn’t sound quite as sure of himself. Now what?
“Yes?”
“I have to do this.”
