Page 123 of Crossed

We stay like that for a long while, until her sobs quiet into whimpers and her stuttered explanations turn into long, grief- filled confessions. My rage pounds in my ears, but I get the gist of what she’s saying.

Parker. Virginity.Rape.Forced marriage.Rape.

I hold her until she falls asleep in my arms, and then I move her to the bed, tucking her in and pressing a kiss to her lips, whispering my assurances that I’ll be back.

Then I close the door behind me and head downstairs into the kitchen where Sister Genevieve is sitting at the table and sipping a cup of tea.

“I saw your car, figured you’d be down here eventually to explain.” She grins. “Is it weird I’ve missed you?”

The first aid kit is out and next to her, clearly having assumed I was here to be sutured up again.

I shake my head, uncomfortable with what she’s just said. “I have a friend here. She needs a safe space to stay. Can I trust you to take care of her?”

Sister Genevieve bobs her head, sipping from her cup. “Of course.”

“I’ll be back as soon as possible,” I say. Unease tightens my stomach, not wanting to leave Amaya here at all. But I need to find Quinten.

And now I need to find Parker as well.

“Sister…” I add, right before I walk out of the door. “If something happens to her while I’m gone, I will make the devil look like a saint.”

Chapter49

Amaya

ALITTLE BIT OF DROOL IS DRIED TO THE SIDE OF my cheek, and my hair is stuck to it. I blink slowly, gathering my bearings as I reach up and rip away the strands and then sit up entirely, the scratchy blue quilt falling to my waist.

Where am I?

I stretch, lifting my arms above my head and reveling in the way a pop crackles down my spine. Slipping out of the bed, I look around the small room. It’s very bland, just a full- size bed with plain sheets and a dark blue quilt and a small desk in the corner with a lamp on the right- hand side. Across the way, there’s a door leading to a bathroom, and suddenly the day’s events flood through me, reminding me that I’m up high in the mountains, hiding out like a criminal.

Technically, I guess I am one.

I wonder if she’s still alive.

My body drops back down on the edge of the bed, and my fingers twist in my lap. I look down at my nails, noticing there’s still bits of dried red flakes caked beneath them, and flashes of just how much Florence can bleed assault my memory. I search deep inside me for feelings of remorse, but I come up empty.

The only thing I feel is satisfaction that the bitch finally got what she deserved and a little bit of power flowing back into my soul that I had lost when Parker shoved his filthy cock inside me.

How dare she try to put Quinten on a stage like that. The only thing I regret is doing something that could truly take me away from Quinten now, when I’ve worked so hard and sacrificed so much to be able to keep myself in his life.

Quinten.

His name is a shot of anxiety straight into my heart, and my stomach rises and drops like a roller coaster. I shove the blankets off me, the fabric suddenly feeling stifling, and I jump up from the bed, pacing back and forth, my fingers tugging at the roots of my hair.How could I have left him like this?

I consider looking for my phone but stop myself, assuming Cade took it with him so I couldn’t be tracked here. And I get that, I do, but until Quinten is here with me, I won’t be able to breathe. Even though I saw Dalia take him away with my own two eyes, and even though I know being here is what’s for the best…I still feel like a piece of shit for not being with him right now, when he’s the one thing that I need.

Him and Cade.

Cade’s going to get him. Everything will be fine.

It fucking terrifies me to trust someone else so fully, but I don’t really have another choice. And I can’t go back to Parker. Not now. I’m sure he’s already trying to hunt me down, either to kill me or to break me, depending on his mood.

Oh God. What if he gets to Dalia?

Bile burns my throat and I race to the bathroom, dropping to my knees so hard they crack against the tile. I fling up the seat and wait for something to happen, but instead of dry heaves, I just feelsick.

Cade will get to them, I tell myself again.