Recovery | On Hiatus

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

AFTER MAKING US both a cup of hot chocolate, Sasha turned on the lamp in her bedroom and sat cross-legged at the end of the bed. I took a seat across from her and leaned back against the headboard. I'd long since stopped crying, but that didn't stop Sasha from being any less generous or caring, and I gradually decided she really was the best person to tell my secret to. Besides Hayden, my mind reminded me.

"Okay," she said cautiously. "So, where do you want to start?"

      I took a sip of hot chocolate and sat the cup down on the table beside the bed. With a deep breath, I said, "The beginning."

      She shifted in her seat and took a drink. "I'm all ears."

      I tugged at my bottom lip with my teeth before releasing it with a sigh. "My brother, Darrin, lost his girlfriend about two years ago. He started to drink pretty badly, blaming himself for her death, and accidentally hurt me."

      "How did she die, if you don't mind me asking?"

      I replayed the memory in my mind. I was there the night it happened, in the house. I heard the arguing, Victoria screaming, and the door slamming. I remembered Darrin screaming her name when he heard the wreck through the phone, just before the line went dead. The police coming to the house a few hours later for questioning. "She left our house after an argument and wrecked when she picked up one of his phone calls."

      Sasha winced. "That's rough."

      "Yeah," I agreed. "It was. He drank for a bit until his accident with me, and stopped as soon as he realized his drinking had hurt me." I shrugged, trying to ignore the tug in my chest at remembering what a nice guy he used to be, and the pain in his eyes when he realized he hurt me the first time. I also remembered the dark look in his eyes, the moment I think he realized violence was his way of dealing with the grief. "Even after going to meetings and getting sober, he ended up hurting me again, and it's pretty much carried on from there."

      "I'm so sorry," Sasha apologized. "I know it probably doesn't help, but I am."

      "It does help," I admitted. "It also helps to talk about it, not that I really have many people to talk to. The only person who knows besides Darrin and myself is Hayden's mom."

      "Your parents don't know?"

      I shook my head. "And I don't want them to. It would crush them."

      Sasha suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I know you might hate me for saying this, but you should tell them. You should tell the police, Scarlet."

      My fists clenched the blanket beneath me. "I'll be eighteen in a few months. It'll be fine if I just avoid him until I can legally leave."

Sasha chewed the inside of her cheek in thought. I could tell she didn't want to voice her thoughts, but she forced them out anyway. "What if he hurts somebody else after you leave?"

I never thought about that before. Darrin had spent so much time just focused on me, it seemed absurd that he'd go after anybody else after I was gone. The thought sent a chill down my spine. If he found another girlfriend and she made him mad—no, he absolutely adored Victoria. There's no way he would have hurt her, much less any other girl he ever decides to settle down with.