Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 88580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
“Stop it.” I shove back and try to get to my feet, but the pain in my legs flares. It’s so intense, I nearly fall and have to grab onto the island for support.
He’s there. Faster than I expected, supporting me with his strong arms. I shove him but he doesn’t move, only steers me to the couch. Before he can sit me down, I struggle back, stumble, bump into a chair, and flail before he can grab at me again.
“Casey,” he says. “Let me help you. It’s not a burden. You’re not a burden. I’ve been taking care of you for so long now that it’s like second nature to me.”
“I can’t process this,” I say, rubbing at my eyes, trying to focus. Everything’s blurry. “This doesn’t make sense. We didn’t know each other before I started working at the Sunrise. Why would you care about me? I’m a nobody, just some random table dealer.”
“When you stand in a museum and you stare at a beautiful work of art, do you question why you enjoy looking at it? Or do you simply keep on staring?”
“I’m not a painting,” I snap at him, backing down the hall. He follows but keeps his distance. “I’m a person. I swear, you keep forgetting that. Why, Adler? Why me? Why did you help me back then? How do we know each other?”
Something hits me. A fragment of a memory. It’s dark, shaky, unclear, and it makes my skull pound with a sudden intense agony so sharp I have to lean up against the wall to keep from collapsing.
In the memory, I’m lying on my back. I’m staring at the sky. Everything hurts. It hurts so badly. And I hear his voice. Whispering to me in the darkness. Hold my hand. Hold it tighter. I swear I won’t let you go. Just keep holding tight. I feel the pressure of him squeezing, but like it’s happening to someone else. Sirens blare in the distance, coming closer. He keeps saying it, over and over.
Adler’s standing over me. I’m curled up on the floor, head in my hands. He crouches down, back in the present, and touches my shoulders. His voice is low, gentle, soothing, and horrifying. “Hold my hand,” he says. “Hold it tighter. I swear I won’t let you go. Just keeping holding tight.”
I nearly throw up. A scream sticks in my throat. I slowly raise my chin to stare into his eyes.
Nobody knows those words.
I’ve never told anyone. Never, not a single person in all the years since the accident.
What he said to me is mine alone. The man that saved my life—the angel that kept me from dying that night—I saved those words, made them precious, turned them into a sort of prayer.
“Hold my hands,” Adler whispers, here and now. He’s not smiling. “Hold it tighter. I swear I won’t let you go. Just keep holding tight.”
“No.” I scramble away from him. Everything hurts. My knees, my hips. He watches me go. “No, no, no, this can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.”
“I should have told you sooner.”
“Adler, how do you know that? How do you know what he said to me?”
“Think, Casey.”
“Why did you pay my hospital bills? How did we know each other?”
“Just keep holding tight. Isn’t that what I said to you? Right up until the paramedics arrived.”
My mouth falls open and the agony in my skull reaches a fever pitch.
Chapter 29
Casey
The lights are too bright so he turns them off. He puts me down in the bed, gets me under the sheets, and pulls them up to my chin. I watch him undress in the darkness, only his silhouette as my eyes adjust. Then he gets in behind me and pulls me against him, his big, strong arms wrapped around my body.
My headache’s still pounding, but it’s dulled now. The reality of my situation’s slowly unfolding like a creeping vine reaching for a new victim.
It was Adler.
All this time, my guardian angel was right here in the Sunrise.
Watching me from a distance. Making sure I was safe, making sure I was taken care of.
Those tips kept me going. My mother’s extra income saved her life. If he hadn’t paid my hospital bills, I’d still be in debt.
It’s been him this whole time.
“I don’t understand why you never told me.” I can’t turn to look at him right now. Instead, I touch his arm, the one wrapped around my middle. He reacts by pulling me tighter against him.
“You weren’t ready. You’re still not, but the longer I wait, the worse it gets.”
“You should’ve said something.” I close my eyes, willing myself to keep breathing. “I wanted… I wanted to meet you so many times. I even asked the hospital.”
“I know. I told them not to say anything. I bribed the EMTs, the doctors, anyone that knew I had anything to do with your accident.”