Chapter 188

Lamar loomed over me. His hands and knees held me down, but I struggled. I’d never stop struggling.

“That’s it, baby,” Lamar said. “Let me teach you what real pleasure is.”

This wasn’t pleasure. This was a violation. If he cared about me at all, if he respected me, he would stop at my first sign of discomfort. But he only seemed encouraged by my adverse reaction.

“Get off me! I won’t do this!” I shouted.

He smiled at me, his typically boyish grin darkening into something fiendish.

He was stronger than me, but I wouldn’t give up. Despite the fear tearing at my chest, I would never stop fighting.

“Let me go!”

“Cynthia.”

That wasn’t Lamar’s voice.

No, that was a voice I recognized and trusted.

“Cynthia, wake up. Please. Wake up!”

I blinked, and was suddenly transported from Lamar’s dorm to a hospital room. Lamar was gone. No one was pinning me down.

Asher was beside me on the bed, his hand gently on my shoulder. He was up on one arm, peering down at me, but not looming. He was giving me plenty of space, even in the close confines of the narrow twin bed we shared.

I focused my gaze on him and the concern on his face.

“Are you awake?” he asked me.

I nodded.

He exhaled. “Good. You’re safe. We’re in the hospital, remember? Nancy had checked you out.”

“I remember,” I said.

We stayed silent a moment, staring at each other. Then I began to shiver.

Asher noticed. “Can I hold you again? I let you go when you said… when you were dreaming.”

I took the time to consider it. I could still feel the phantom grip of Lamar’s hold on me. My bruises and cuts ached.

But Asher wasn’t Lamar. His touch was entirely different. He was warmth and security.

I turned into him and pressed my face against his collarbone. I breathed him in, leather and pine. His scent calmed me. Even Lilith hummed in contentment.

Asher’s arms came around me, solid and strong. Placing my hand to his chest, I concentrated on the steady beat of his heart and the soft rise and fall of his breathing.

Surrounded by him, his aura and his scent, I knew I was safe.

My senses slowly dulled, sleep calling me once more.

Yet while my eyelids drooped, they did not close. My gaze shifted over Asher’s shoulder to the door of the room. Through the window in the door, I saw a face.

A man with a piercing gaze.

The investigator.

He stared straight back at me.

My heartbeat monitor spiked, and Asher immediately began to sit up.

“Cynthia?”

Asher’s movements blocked my vision of the door. I met his gaze. He looked worried again.

“What is it? What’s wrong? Should I call the nurse?”

My voice was caught in my throat. I struggled to say anything. “The… d-door!”

He glanced over his shoulder. I sat up to see for myself.

But the investigator was gone.

Asher glanced back at me. “Cynthia?”

“Someone was there,” I said, finding my voice now that it was clear he didn’t believe me.

“It could be the nightmare.”

“It wasn’t.” I lowered my voice. “It was that investigator.”

Immediately Asher’s face hardened. He moved to get up from the bed, but I grabbed at his clothes, desperately keeping him where he was.

“Please, don’t l-leave me.” I hated the way my voice broke.

He stopped moving, at least. He turned back toward me and held me as I pressed myself into his arms.

I supposed I could have imagined the investigator peering in. My nerves were shot and I was an anxious, fearful mess. But I didn’t think so.

Those investigators were in this hospital. They might have found my name. They weren’t allowed in the rooms but that rule wouldn’t keep them from looking through the windows.

I buried my face against Asher’s chest, seeking his comfort. Yet even having it, I found little sleep for the rest of the night.

The next morning, a policeman came to my room.

“With the video you provided and the promise of your testimony, the district attorney believes we have enough evidence to pursue a conviction,” the policeman told Asher and I.

Asher was no longer in bed with me, but once again standing beside it. He held my hand in his.

The policeman continued, “An arrest warrant was signed, and late last night, Lamar turned himself in.”

He turned himself in. So he was in jail. He couldn’t hurt me anymore.

Relief flooded through me.

“Lamar did wish to speak with you, Cynthia. He insisted he had something to tell you that couldn’t be done through letter or message.”

I froze.

“Absolutely not,” Asher said. “She’s not going anywhere near him.”

“She doesn’t have to,” the policeman said. “I can just as easily tell him no.”

I took a steadying breath. “I don’t know…”

Asher looked at me with an incredulous expression, like he couldn’t believe I wasn’t rejecting the idea outright.

“Perhaps I’ll leave you two to talk this out,” the policeman said. “You don’t have to decide anything right away. I’ll leave you my card.”

The policeman left his business card on my bedside table, and then saw himself out.

Asher and I stayed silent under the door latched closed behind him. Then we both started talking at once.

“I can’t believe that asshole wants to –”

“Maybe he’ll tell me –”

We both stopped. We looked at each other.

Asher motioned toward me. “You better go first. I’m too angry to say anything helpful.”

I squeezed his hand to tell him without words that I understood and appreciated his righteous defense of me. Especially with what I was about to say.

“I have questions,” I said. “And only he knows the answers to them. I want to know why he would do this. Had he only been pretending to be my friend this whole time? Did he genuinely believe that I… wanted it?”

Asher frowned. “The answers to those questions won’t change anything. They might only hurt you more.”

“I know. But I still want to know, for my peace of mind. Things between us were far from perfect, but I still thought we were friends…”

“Cynthia.” Asher said my name like a warning. I knew he disapproved.

“I know you don’t agree, Asher, but… I can’t do this without you by my side.” I’d never have the courage to face Lamar again without Asher beside me, keeping me centered and safe.

His gaze dropped to the ground and he sighed. “Whatever you want to do, Cynthia, I will be with you. But, you really don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. Whatever Lamar wants to tell you doesn’t matter. You are free of him.”

“Thank you. But I think I need to know.”

Asher did not seem the least bit pleased with my decision, but he still gave a curt nod.

“I’ll go with you,” he said, and I felt better for it.

I could be making a terrible mistake. After what happened, Lamar could be lying about absolutely everything. Whatever he wanted to say to me might be only intended to hurt me further.

But… I had to know.

I had to see him.