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I slip.

Water sloshes.

Something crashes, the shattering sound echoing around me.

A voice is loud but I can’t make it out through the fog.

Fuck, something’s wrong.

“MALLORY!” Nox’s terrified bellow cuts clear through my panic. Is he okay?

Snapping my head in the direction of his voice, my long hair whips around me, lashing my cold goose-bumped skin. The panic abates and my vision clears. “What the fuck?” he harshly whispers.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” I cry. Blood stains the towel beneath his feet, and guilt presses down on me, threatening to crush me beneath its tremendous weight.

“Are you?” he pants, hands reaching out to grip my forearms and steady me.

“You’re bleeding!”

“Are you okay?” he gruffly asks.

“Yes, yes. I’m okay now. What happened?”

He assesses me, debating whether to tell me the truth or not. “I stepped on the broken plate trying to make sure you didn’t slip and crack your skull open.”

A fat lump gets stuck in my throat. I gulp it back, force it down. He’s hurt because of me. My eyes burn as tears spring to the surface.

Stop it, Mallory,the voice snaps.

A white towel works to soak up his blood, the pool increasing in size the longer I stare at it.

“Look at me,” he demands and I obey, lifting my ashamed eyes to his. “I know you left a shit-ton out of your police statement,” he starts. I open my mouth to interject but he silences me with a look. Nox’s anger and concern flow out into the atmosphere around us as I stand there shivering. The malice in his eyes promises violence, and I want to climb him like a tree. Shit, he’s still talking to me.Focus.“…need you to talk to me. I know you don’t want to…but by not knowing, I’m unintentionally hurting you. It’s gutting me that every issue tonight was because of me.”

“I can’t be scared of everything forever,” I reply.

“Mallory,” he says fatly, “you were subjected to unimaginable things for weeks. Victoria was strangled unconscious, and you thought she died. Then I was shot.”

I wince, Victoria wouldn’t have been taken and Noxwouldn’t have been shot if I had killed Ted when I had the chance.

“Then,” he continues, “you were poked, prodded, and tested on at the hospital in order to save my life.”

“You know?”

“Of course I know.”

“Oh.”

“After that, you had a million other tests and exams done. Then you never left my side while I recovered, all while hiding everything that happened to you from me. I can’t imagine the weight you carry, let me help. Let me in, Mallory.” His voice fucking breaks, and he’s barely holding back tears of his own. “I fucking failed you, over and over. Let me try to save you now.”

“Okay,” I surrender, and his face brightens just a little bit. Leaning down, I pull the plug from the tub. “Can I just start with a list of things to avoid before I get into the specifics?”

“Yeah, baby. Whatever works.”

“You didn’t have to break a plate to get out of the glitter bath,” I joke, trying to lighten the mood.

“Tiny victories,” he says. “Watch the glass.”

I lift my leg to step out of the tub, and he steadies me.