Page 35 of Tempting Fire

“Luke said you’d say that.” She noted that Zarek turned up the heat in the truck. Logically she knew that it was probably eighty degrees out, and what’s more the truck had been parked outside for over an hour so it was hotter inside, but he was doing that for her. Damn him.

“I’m going back for three more weeks because he tricked me. But after that I’m never going to see him again.” She didn’t look at him when she delivered the news. She just stared out the window.

“Tricked you how?” He asked the question softly. She hated how he was treating her with kid gloves. Like she was fragile. But she felt like she was going to shatter. The doctor hadn’t made her feel better, he’d made her feel worse.

“He said if he could describe how I was feeling, I had to agree to coming to see him three more times. He made me promise on my honor that I would tell the truth if he got it right. He got it right, the bastard.”

“Luke said he was smart. He likes him.”

“Well I don’t. But I made a promise, so I’ll keep it.” She knew she was sounding bitter, but it was a bitter pill to swallow, that someone could rummage around her head so easily.

Fuck, did she have to think that phrase? She didn’t want to think about pills. That was another thing she’d promised the doctor. On her honor, she’d agreed to take the damn pills for as long as she saw the doctor. He said it would help her. She didn’t believe him. But part of her did. She so desperately hoped that it would help, and that just made it worse.

When she’d talked to him, he made really good points. She thought back to what he’d said.

“Ms. Avery, you have a master’s degree in physical therapy, you know more about how the body works than most people.” Dr. Michaels smiled easily. “You’ve studied the connection between how pain manifests in the body and the connection to the brain. You know how powerful the brain is.”

“You’re saying I’m crazy.”

“I’m saying that at the moment, there are some chemicals that are out of balance. What is the harm in taking a pill each day to put those chemicals back to a normal level?”

Chloe hated how reasonable this little tiny doctor was sounding.

“Because that confirms I’m crazy,” she said vehemently.

“You just told me you’re not eating, you’re sleeping over sixteen hours a day, and the rest of the day you’re doing your damndest to zone out and not think. How is that living a productive life? You’re not a harm to yourself or others, which is the definition of crazy, but you’re definitely depressed. You can’t think clearly. You’re not the person you were eight weeks ago. Don’t you want to be that person again?”

Damn it, did the man have to sound so reasonable?

“I can never be that Chloe again. Didn’t you hear what happened? I was abandoned and tortured by a sick bastard who wanted my sister to supply information that she didn’t have. I’ll never get over that. Never!”

“I’m not asking you to.”

“You want me to take a pill to forget,” she cried out.

“It won’t make you forget. It will help you see things with more clarity, without as much pain.”

“It should hurt! You don’t know what it was like. Everything changed that day.”

“We’ll talk about it. You’ll come back next week and we’ll talk about it. But you’ll take your medicine because you promised.”

“We’ll see.” Chloe got up from her chair and stood over the little man. “What time do I have to be here next week?”

“Will the same time work for you?”

“I guess.”

Chloe left, and here she was in Zarek’s truck with a purse containing a prescription she couldn’t tear up.

“Zarek, I need you to stop by a pharmacy.”

“Okay Cupcake, whatever you need.”