Page 43 of Bitter Queen (Advantage Play 4)

I’ve only been here once before. It was the night Dex drove Regina and me here after the tournament. After I corroborated their lie. After I put a target on my back. One that was even bigger than before.

It feels like a lifetime ago.

“Come on,” Diece urges once the ignition is off.

With his hand on my lower back, he guides me toward the entrance. As he opens the front door, a woman’s scream echoes throughout the main floor and completely takes me off guard. Crippled by the sound, my knees buckle, and I cover my ears as the memories hit me at full force.

“Stop! Please! Don’t touch me! Please don’t do this!”

“Shit,” Diece mumbles under his breath, barely catching me before my knees hit the ground. His grasp is firm around my waist before he sticks his arm beneath my thighs then carries me to the second floor, taking the stairs two at a time.

But the screams don’t stop. No. They never stop. The door slams hard against the wall as he shoves it open before stalking toward the bed.

With me in his lap, he rocks me back and forth.

Back and forth.

Desperate to bring me back to the present.

“Shhh,” he coos. “Shhh, it’s okay.”

“Six,” I beg. “Six.”

“I can’t, baby. I can’t make it stop.”

“Please? Please make it go away.”

Laying me on the mattress, he cups my cheeks and forces me to look at him. The warmth in his gaze slowly makes my demons retreat back into their cages as he grits out, “I’m right here, Q. I’m right here.”

I wipe beneath my nose with the back of my hand. “I can still hear their cries.”

“Stay with me. Don’t let those memories lock you in your past. Please.”

“I don’t know how to stop them. I can still feel my voice turning raw from my own screams as he held me down. I can still see him. Taste him,” I choke out.

He slams his hand against the headboard then presses his forehead to mine, though his jaw stays tight. He’s close to losing his shit the same way I’ve lost mine.

“You’re safe now. You’re safe here,” he promises, focusing on the present the way I should be, but I can’t.

Because there’s just one problem.

“If someone is so safe under this roof, then what’s going on downstairs?” I demand. The tears stream freely down my cheeks as I take in his helpless expression while the wails…the wails keep up their assault.

Brows pinched, he admits, “I don’t know, yet. I gotta go figure out what the hell is happening. Can you stay here?”

Grappling with his shirt, I hold him in place, “Please. Please don’t leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Blue. I just gotta check on a few things. You’re safe here. I promise. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t let you out of my sight.”

“I trust you, but I don’t trust anyone else in this house.”

“If you trust me, then you know I’d never let anything happen to you.”

His eyes shine with determination and honesty. The combination hits way too close to the chest. And even though I hate how vulnerable I sound, I whisper, “Promise?”

“I promise, Blue.” With a slow kiss to my forehead, he slips out of my grasp then strides to the door, leaving it open a small crack before disappearing from view.

Then I’m back to the silence.