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“Luke said you’d say that.” I noted that Zarek turned up the heat in the truck. Logically I knew that it was probably eighty degrees out, and what’s more the truck had been parked outside for over an hour, so it was hotter inside, but he was doing that for me.

Damn him.

“I’m going back for three more weeks because he tricked me. But after that I’m never going to see him again.” I didn’t look at Zarek when I delivered the news. I just stared out the window.

“Tricked you how?” He asked the question softly. I hated how he was treating me with kid gloves. He made me feel like I was fragile, but I wasn’t going to tell Zarek that. Now I felt like I was going to shatter. The doctor hadn’t made me feel better, he’d made me feel a hundred times worse.

“He said if he could describe how I was feeling, I had to agree to come to see him three more times. He made me promise on my honor that I would tell the truth if he got it right. He got it right, the bastard.”

“Luke said he was smart. He likes him.”

“Well, I don’t. But I made a promise, so I’ll keep it.” I knew I was sounding bitter, but it was a bitter pill to swallow, that someone could rummage around my head so easily.

Fuck, did I have to think that phrase? I didn’t want to think about pills. That was another thing I’d promised the doctor. On my honor, I’d agreed to take the damn pills for as long as I saw the doctor. He said it would help me. I didn’t believe him. But part of me did. I so desperately hoped that it would help, and that was just another thing that made it worse.

When I’d talked to him, he made really good points. I thought back to what he’d said.

“Ms. Avery, you have a master’s degree in physical therapy. You know more about how the body works than most people.” Dr. Michaels smiled easily. “You’ve studied the connection between how pain manifests in the body and the connection to the brain. You know how powerful the brain is.”

“You’re saying I’m crazy.”

“I’m saying that at the moment, there are some chemicals that are out of balance. What is the harm in taking a pill each day to put those chemicals back to a normal level?”

I hated how reasonable this little tiny doctor was sounding.

“Because that confirms I’m crazy,” I said vehemently.

“You just told me you’re not eating, you’re sleeping over sixteen hours a day, and the rest of the day you’re doing your damndest to zone out and not think. How is that living a productive life? You’re definitely depressed. You can’t think clearly. You’re not the person you were before you were beaten. Don’t you want to be that person again?”

Damn it, did the man have to sound so reasonable?

“I can never be that Chloe again. Didn’t you hear what happened? I was abandoned and tortured by a sick bastard who wanted my sister to supply information that she didn’t have. I’ll never get over that. Never!”

“I’m not asking you to.”

“You want me to take a pill to forget,” I cried out.

“It won’t make you forget. It will help you see things with more clarity, without as much pain.”

“It should hurt! You don’t know what it was like. Everything changed that day.”

“We’ll talk about it. You’ll come back next week and we’ll talk about it. But you’ll take your medicine because you promised.”

“We’ll see.” I got up from my chair and stood over the little man. “What time do I have to be here next week?”

“Will the same time work for you?”

“I guess.”

I left, and here I was in Zarek’s truck with a purse containing a prescription I couldn’t tear up.

“Zarek, I need you to stop by a pharmacy.”

“Okay, Cupcake, whatever you need.”

Chapter Ten

Chloe