Page 103 of In Every Chapter

The road was blurred by a flood of tears. I’d married a monster. A monster. Wrapped in the package of a nice-guy façade.

I remembered.

The memories assaulted me. I tried shutting the movie off. Blocking the images. But my brain was stuck, forcing me to watch my past play out in third person. And for the first time in eight weeks, I didn’t want to remember.

My phone rang. It was Greyson, but I ignored it. I couldn’t face him. Not like this. Not after I’d shown him that part of myself. Not after mistaking him for Jared.

Somehow I made it the two minutes to Juliet’s house. But it felt like an eternity. I pounded on the door, limbs shaking like autumn leaves in the breeze.

Myles opened the door. “Pais?” One look at my face, and he was reaching for me.

I flinched before he made contact with my shoulder, cowering. He’s huge. So huge.

He halted, understanding seeping across his face. Stepping back slowly, he hollered, “Juliet, I need you.” To me, he added softly, “You can come in.”

I inched past him, stumbling over the threshold. His hand shot out to steady me, but I whimpered, retreating away from him.

“What’s going on—Pais?” Juliet was at my side in a flash. “What happened?”

“I . . . He . . . ” I wrapped my arms around my waist, trying to stop the shaking.

“Did someone hurt you?” Myles asked with quiet firmness, like he was ready to go to war. “Was it Denver?”

I shook my head. I’d forgotten all about the too-flirty bartender.

Myles relaxed a fraction.

Juliet half dragged my limp body to the couch, and I curled up into the fetal position with my head in her lap.

She stroked my hair in silence while terrifying images shook my body. Myles silently moved around the kitchen, and five minutes later, he set a tea tray with a pot of tea and two cups down on the coffee table in front of us.

He bent and whispered something to Juliet.

I caught the words. Greyson and phone. Greyson was probably panicking.

Myles slipped from the room with nature-defying quietness.

“Pais, talk to me,” Juliet said softly once he was gone, and my lungs loosened a fraction. “It’s just us.”

“He hit me,” I whispered. “Jared. I remember. I remember.” I sobbed. “I saw it.”

“Oh, Pais.”

I choked out the story in broken, halting sentences. Of how Greyson and I were arguing. How he moved. How Greyson’s words mirrored Jared’s. How I ran.

Juliet didn’t say much. Just held me together, stroking my hair.

The gentle touch grounded me in the present as the past horrors of Paisley Nichols threatened to drown me.

Chapter forty-five

Greyson

I rushed out the front door, but Paisley was already gone, the blue of her car a smudge of motion turning the corner out of the neighbourhood.

Running back inside, I grabbed my phone and dialed. Not that I really wanted her picking up while driving, but still. Straight to voicemail. “Pais, please call me,” I pleaded. “I need to know you’re safe.”

I pulled up the tracking-location app and watched until her bubble stopped south of downtown. Juliet’s. I groaned and paced the small kitchen. My heart screamed at me to go after her, but my head knew otherwise. She’d remembered him. Really remembered. It had been years since she’d reacted that strongly to me. And I doubted my presence would help right now.