CHAPTER SEVEN
I got in my car and drove off through the rain. I didn’t go very far, just to the next street over where I texted Bird and warned him that we might be a bit later than what we had planned on. Then I sent a message to Ada, saying I wasn’t actually going anywhere and that I’d sneak back later. I never got a response, so I assumed she was talking with Perry or her parents. I could only hope to hell that Ada wouldn’t cave in and spoil everything. It couldn’t be easy living in that house, and I wouldn’t blame her for wanting to keep the peace, even if her love for Perry was greater.
While I waited, I rested my head on the steering wheel and kept replaying the images of the night through my head. It was terrible. It was like a car accident you couldn’t stop staring at, a movie where you’re too afraid to look away from the screen. I saw Perry, my beautiful, strong Perry, reduced to a shell. She was being held prisoner in her own body, only allowed to come out on occasion. And she had to fight for it, I could tell. She was dying inside and no one was helping her. Everyone she loved and trusted had turned against her.
Including me. I was here to help her but the damage had already been done and it was done by my own hand. When Rebecca had told me how bitter and angry Perry was, I believed it. And now I believed it went much deeper than that. This thing inside of her was feeding on her rage, the rage I created. I made the monster.
My eyes stung hot with tears that thankfully never fell. I couldn’t handle this. I handled so much before but I couldn’t handle this. Not like this. Not now. Seeing her, being with her…it only drove the knives deeper into my stomach. And knowing she slept with Maximus, picturing her riding him, kissing him, being intimate with him…the knives twisted. My soul was bleeding and the pain wouldn’t stop. It just kept coming, soaking me with red despair. I wanted to scream, I want to hit Maximus some more, I wanted to yell at Perry and ask her why she’d do that to me. Then I wanted to hit myself, yell at myself, destroy myself because I was the reason.
That’s how I spent the night. Waiting in the darkness, the rain falling on the roof, hoping there was still time to make things right.
It was about two in the morning when I decided to give it a go. I started the car and drove back around the corner and down Perry’s street. I parked it just out of sight of their house and checked my phone for any last minute texts. There was nothing. Ada still hadn’t gotten back to me.
It didn’t matter. I’d make a go of it on my own. I got out of the car and crept toward the house. Her bedroom light was off, which was a good sign. She was probably alone. I spied the tree that rather conveniently reached toward the roof and her window. That would do.
A month or two ago, I would have hung from it like a monkey, but now thanks to countless sessions on the pull-up bar, I was able to climb the tree with ease. I quietly stepped onto the roof then moved across the shingles until I was just outside her window.
I peeked in. It was dark but there was just enough light coming from a charging phone in the corner. Perry was lying in bed, still strapped in. I took a deep breath and tried to get the window open. It took a few attempts, and in my impatience, I almost put my fist through it, but in the end it slid open, clattering too loudly in the frame.
Perry’s shape stirred on the bed then froze. “Hey, kiddo,” I whispered. “It’s just me.”
I fucking hoped it was her.
I quickly climbed through the window and made my way over to the bed. I crouched to her level and she turned her head on the pillow to face me. She looked okay, like herself again.
And I realized that was just as fucking frightening. Because if the real Perry wanted to kill me, that was something I couldn’t just recover from.
I was rattled beyond words and tried to give her a smile.
“Sweet climbing tree you’ve got there,” I said, nodding outside, grasping for conversation. What to say? What could I possibly say to her, now, after all this time?
I looked back at her, at the way she was looking at me, open yet guarded. She looked so weak, so torn and ravaged. “How are you?”
“How do you think?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said, smiling softer now. “I know. I’m going to get you out of here, okay?”
“Where?”
“I said I had a plan. Your parents never gave me a chance to tell it to them. You just have to trust me.”
She glared at me. I missed that glare. “How the fuck do you think I can trust you?”
Ouch. This wasn’t going to be easy. I rubbed anxiously at my face, hoping she’d trust me enough to see this through. “I deserve that, I know. And I don’t blame you. But none of that’s important right now. Later, yes. Not now, kiddo. Ada was right. You can’t stay here. Whatever’s inside you, it’s going to kill you. Sooner rather than later. And a hospital, alone...Perry you don’t want to die in there.”
Her eyes widened. Now she was getting it, what everyone else wasn’t.
I reached over and gently ran my fingers down her hand. Her skin was still so smooth, so soft. I battled inside to keep my focus where it needed to be. She needed comfort, she needed to know she was going to be okay. I stared into her eyes, finding her inside them. “It’s true. I’m not trying to scare you. In fact, you’re the one who’s scaring me. As usual. But we have to go.” I took a deep breath. “Will you come with me?”
I asked her like the world didn’t depend on it. But my world did.
She seemed to think about it first. “You’ll have to untie me.”
“I’ll risk it.”
“Promise you’ll tie me up again after?”
That was the last thing I wanted to do. I didn’t want to become like her family. I couldn’t treat her that way, no matter what she had done.
“I don’t want to.”
“But you have to,” she pleaded. “Or I won’t go. I don’t want to hurt you again.”
“Even though I deserve it?”
“You deserve something. But not that.”
I breathed in deeply. I didn’t have much choice here. “Okay, deal.”
I leaned over and slowly untied her left arm. I was so close to her now, closer than I’d been so far. She didn’t quite smell the same—it was a far cry from the shampoo scent I used to smell on the sheets. But there was this musk, this primal essence of her that came off her skin. It was there, pushing through the mask. It gave me hope.
And, if we’re being honest here, a bit of a boner.
Now’s not the time, I told myself and concentrated on getting her free.
Her hand came free first and she wiggled the feeling back into it while I untied the other. With her entire upper body free, I was bit wary. If she was going to bite my face off like some bath salt junkie, there wouldn’t be much I could do about it.
She shot me a knowing smile. “I’m okay.”
I nodded, chewing on my lip before I untied her legs. When I finished, I gently slid my arm underneath her back and lifted her up into a sitting position.
“Here, up you go. Easy...take it easy.” She was weak as anything but fuck it felt good to be touching her again.
She twitched a bit and started rubbing at her temples. I cupped the back of her head, so small in my hand, and tried to support her. She shut her eyes and pointed at the rope I had just freed her from.
“Tie me up,” she said, her voice straining.
“Right now?” I just undid her.
“Please, Dex.”
I sighed and reluctantly started wrapping the rope around her wrists and ankles. I trusted her to know when things were going to get rough, but it pained me to do this to her. I couldn’t even pretend that this was something kinky, that’s how far gone I was.
“Do it tighter,” she admonished me.
See. I couldn’t even make that into a joke.
I reached over and tilted her chin up, forcing her to open her eyes and look at me.
“What?” she asked. “You saw what I did. Your throat is practically blue.”
Blue throat or not, this was the hardest pill to swallow. Even she didn’t trust herself. “I don’t like this.”
“And I do?”
Her eyes pleaded with me and I had no choice but to do what she asked. I tied them as tight as I could without cutting off her circulation.
“I’m obviously going to have to carry you,” I admitted.
“Obviously.”
I put my arms behind her back and knees and lifted her up. I had always found it easy to carry Perry, even though her boobs did make up the bulk of her. But now, with the new body, it was much, much easier. Would it be petty to admit I felt cocky at a moment like this? Probably.