Page 44 of Speak No Evil

Red hair. Frizzy red hair to be precise.

I drop AJ, falling to the floor to crawl to Veruca.

How had I not seen her before?

A quiet voice in the back of my mind offers the answer, and I ignore it.

“V...” My voice refuses to say more as I survey her wounds.

FIX HER!I scream in my mind, hoping Ryker and Thorne might somehow hear my desperate plea.

Both demons sit ramrod straight as their gazes find mine.

Did you just speak to my mind?Thorne asks.

Our minds,Ryker corrects.

Just fucking fix her!

Jade,Thorne starts.

No! Don’t say that. Don’t tell me that. Just fix her! I know you can. Do it, and that’ll be the end of our bargain. You’ll be free of me.

Vrahs’s voice in my head draws my gaze to the other side of the room. He stands like a sentry over AJ.That’s hardly motivating, mate. In case you hadn’t realized, we’re keeping you. Bargain or not.

I don’t care! I don’t care about any of that. Just fix my friend before I try to do it myself and end up blowing us all up!

Ryker takes my trembling hand in his. “Jade. We’ve done all we can. She’ll be OK. She just needs time to rest.”

I make him say it all again in case I didn’t hear it right.

I glance from him to Thorne.

“I tried to tell you.”

I ignore him and try something crazy.

Veruca? It’s Jade. Can you hear me?

Of course I can. You’re in my head. How could I not?

A fresh wave of sobbing tears overtakes me, and I’m not ashamed to admit I let it have me fully.

V, I thought... I thought you...

I know. But I’m OK. Exhausted. And I feel like someone took a pair of steak knives to my guts.

My eyes go to the gaping wound in her stomach, unbidden.

Yeah, that’s kinda exactly what happened.

What? Who the fuck would do that?

You don’t know?

No. And from the sound of it, it’s a good thing. The last thing I remember was coming to Noah’s apartment to get his mail and check for packages. He said he’d be out of town for a while, and I wanted to do something nice for him. Anyway, I get here and then nothing. Not a single memory.

It’s common for trauma survivors to block out their trauma until they can process it,Thorne offers.