Page 12 of Journey To Sunrise (Protectors of Jasper Creek #6)

Chapter Nine

Zarek

“Six things?”

“I beg your pardon?” I turned to look at Chloe in the waiting room. We were the only two people in small area, but she was still whispering.

“There are six things that are making me feel better.”

I grinned. “Let me guess. Butterfly Bakery’s cupcakes have now made the list.” She’d had one for breakfast this morning.

Chloe nodded.“Yep.”

“Okay, so what’s number six?”

“You are.”

The door to the therapist’s office opened and a small man came out. “Hi, I’m Dr. Michaels. You must be Ms. Avery. Would you like to come in?”

Chloe stood up, and they looked to be the same height. I imagined how Luke must tower over the doctor. As if I could read his mind, Dr. Michaels looked over at me, his eyes twinkling. “You must be Mr. Post. Mr. Larkin speaks highly of you. Are you going to be waiting for Ms. Avery?”

“I am.”

“Follow me, Ms. Avery.”

“Thank you,” she mumbled as she followed him into the office. Then the door shut.

I picked up a magazine and thought about what Chloe said. I was one of the six things that made her feel good. That was huge. Thank God she felt that way. Luke’s comment the other day had hit home.

The last relationship that I’d had lasted four months, and that was two years ago.

When we’d finally parted ways, I’d been relieved.

After a few beers, I admitted to Luke that the woman hadn’t measured up.

When Luke pressed me to explain that comment, I couldn’t.

Luke had just laughed and made some remark about me having my head up my ass.

Now I realized that I had been measuring women against Chloe Rose for years.

I stretched back in the small office chair and let my head rest against the wall and thought about what that meant.

I felt a grin form on my face. For one thing, it meant that Luke was right, and I’d had my head up my ass.

For another, it meant that I had to figure out a way to find out if Chloe might be on the same page.

Me being the sixth thing was a good sign.

I felt my phone vibrate. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the group text.

The Averys were a pushy lot. They demanded daily updates.

Up until today, I hadn’t had anything significant to report.

Seeing Zoe’s request, I realized I wasn’t going to tell them about Chloe’s appointment.

It just felt wrong to basically go behind Chloe’s back about this step.

She’s eating more. I see improvement.

I pressed send.

Drake was the first one to reply. He was always the first to reply.

What else do you have to report?

I ignored it.

My phone buzzed.

It was Drake.

I let it go to voicemail.

* * *

Chloe

I felt drained. I stared out the window watching the traffic go by on the toll road.

It was taking forever to get back to Zarek’s house.

It felt cold. I looked at my purse that held the vile slip of paper.

I hadn’t realized that the therapist had actually been a psychiatrist. He had prescribed medication.

Averys didn’t need fucking pills. We pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps.

I needed to get back to the house so I could get to the guest bedroom and tear the paper into tiny little pieces. Tiny, tiny little scraps.

“Chloe, are you okay? You’re shivering.”

“I hate him.”

“Luke said you’d say that.” I noted that Zarek turned up the heat in the truck. Logically I 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 me.

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.” I didn’t look at Zarek when I delivered the news. I just stared out the window.

“Tricked you how?” He asked the question softly. I hated how he was treating me with kid gloves. He made me feel like I was fragile, but I wasn’t going to tell Zarek that. Now I felt like I was going to shatter. The doctor hadn’t made me feel better, he’d made me feel a hundred times worse.

“He said if he could describe how I was feeling, I had to agree to come 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.” I knew I was sounding bitter, but it was a bitter pill to swallow, that someone could rummage around my head so easily.

Fuck, did I have to think that phrase? I didn’t want to think about pills.

That was another thing I’d promised the doctor.

On my honor, I’d agreed to take the damn pills for as long as I saw the doctor.

He said it would help me. I didn’t believe him.

But part of me did. I so desperately hoped that it would help, and that was just another thing that made it worse.

When I’d talked to him, he made really good points. I 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?”

I hated how reasonable this little tiny doctor was sounding.

“Because that confirms I’m crazy,” I 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 definitely depressed.

You can’t think clearly. You’re not the person you were before you were beaten.

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,” I 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.” I got up from my 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.”

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

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

“Okay, Cupcake, whatever you need.”