TWO DAYS LATER, ANDERSON AND Robbie had been down in the basement for over three hours. He had promised me he wouldn’t kill Terry, and in his exact words he would only ‘tease the truth out of him but leave the rest to me.’
I wasn’t sure I wanted him to ‘leave it to me’. I never wanted to lay eyes on Terry Asher ever again, but Anderson insisted it would be the only way for me to move on. I don’t think he got that I wasn’t like him, that violence and retribution didn’t fuel the calm in me.
Caroline came in and smiled. She was quite pretty, her full figure and bright twinkling eyes a true replica to how I had pictured her in my head.
Everything seemed so clear, each inane object sharp and vivid, each colour ten times more vibrant than how I used to see them. It wasn’t that my eyesight had improved, just that I now appreciated every single thing in my vision.
My eyes were still sensitive to light, but Anderson had drawn the curtains before he had descended down the rickety steps into hell.
“It’s so good to see you up and about, Kloe.” Caroline beamed as she stood a safe distance from me.
Shame made my cheeks heat. I lowered my eyes to my lap where Red’s head stayed completely still under the stroke of my fingers, my apology to her already accepted. “I’m sorry, Caroline. I…”
Instantly she waved off my apology. “Don’t you worry. I’ve dealt with worse. Much worse.”
I doubted that very much but I appreciated her kindness.
“How is your pain level?” she asked, already delving into her box of tricks before I could give her an answer.
“I’m okay. It’s bearable.”
“Are you sure? It’s better to deal with little niggles before they become big problems.”
I smiled and nodded. “I’d rather not drown my baby in drugs, but thank you.”
“Your baby is completely fine. The painkillers won’t affect him in the slightest. But what will affect him is an unhappy mum.”
Giving in, I shifted in the chair, wincing at the pull on my sore skin. “Well, if it’s safe.”
Her smile answered my question. She placed two tiny pills into a small pot and handed them to me with a glass of water. She was still wary around me, and watching the caution in her made me hate myself even more than I already did.
Red nudged me, sensing the dip in my mood, and licked my hand. She had been beside me ever since I had come back here, and her love and infinite loyalty would never be taken for granted again.
The change in Anderson was astonishing. Gone was the cruel, angry man that had taunted me and made me cry. The first side of him that I’d encountered at Seven Oaks was dominant, his tenderness consuming me in adoration and attentiveness. The way he looked at me with both devotion and sadness alerted me to the fact that he was holding something back from me. I’d asked him many times since my sight had come back what was bothering him but he’d brushed me off every time. Yet I saw it, and it scared me.
“Are you hungry?” Caroline asked as she hesitantly slipped the thermometer into my ear.
Food. I hadn’t had an ‘attack’ for weeks, but the shift in my heart rate told me that I needed to settle the quickening of anxiety before it became a problem. “Actually, I thought I’d fix myself something today.”
Caroline’s eyebrows elevated but she smiled. “I think that’s an excellent idea.”
I nodded, agreeing with her, and already shifting off the bed.
I was still in my pyjamas, still with paper and pen in hand, still desperately counting the contents of Anderson’s pantry when his dark voice made me jump.
“Do we have enough food for the apocalypse, or not?”
My mouth dried and I blinked, recounting the packets of noodles I’d just finished tallying up.
Anderson’s fingers curled around my wrist, halting my rabid scribbling. “Kloe! Stop.”
“I won’t be long,” I muttered as I narrowed my eyes on the wheat crackers, trying to determine the number of packets lined up next to the bags of rice.
Strangely, his hold on me withdrew. “I made sure we were stocked, Kloe. You don’t need to do this.”
Vaguely giving him a shake of my head, I shifted aside some tins of fruit and tutted at the out-of-place packet of biscuits that had been hiding.
“WILL YOU FUCKING STOP!”
I jerked with Anderson’s sharp, loud yell but didn’t cease my endless counting; there were too many things to document.
I gasped, crying out when his hand snatched the top of my arm and I was yanked out of the pantry and across the kitchen. My cheek hit the wooden top of the table and Anderson’s hand held the back of my head, forcing me down. His body totally eclipsed mine, the fullness of his strong chest and stomach pressing against my back.
“I – told – you - to – stop,” he hissed in my ear. His breath rushed over my face causing a shiver to journey around my body. My skin prickled with awareness, the violence that flowed from every one of his pores lighting the parts deep down inside me that craved what I knew he could give me.