Page 13 of What’s Left of Me (What Left #1)

Exhaustion beats out the nightmares, or I’m too deep into sleep to escape them. So when my phone buzzes me awake the next day I crack one eye open and glare at the screen.

Unknown Caller.

I sit up and rub my eyes, hearing a voice carry into the bedroom.

I know instantly that it’s Vinny, and although he’s a little too far away to pick up on what he’s saying I can hear the deep rumble of his voice as he talks.

If I had to guess, he’s on the phone with one of two people: his mother, or Emeric.

I really hope it’s Emeric.

The incoming call on my phone ends, and I glare down at the screen. We’re into late afternoon, and when we woke up this morning to the news of another death I couldn’t will myself to get out of bed. I don’t know if Vinny got up right away or if he hid in bed too.

I took sleeping pills. Originally I planned on three. When Vinny saw how badly my hands were shaking from the news I couldn’t hold the bottle, he dropped it down to one pill before hiding the container.

For a moment, I close my eyes. I don’t have an addiction.

For a long while after Alastair I needed the drugs to sleep at all, but it became a crutch.

Vinny intervened, and at the time he had Emeric and one of our best friends Nate on his side.

I gave into the peer pressure, and since I slept in the same bed as Vinny at night there was no fooling him. I got help whether I wanted it or not.

The drugs were the only way I could stand to fall asleep.

I didn’t want the nightmares, and the pills didn’t necessarily stop them, but they forced me under long enough to get something close to rest. Now I needed them to escape reality, and my husband immediately stepped in to ensure I took the proper dosage and not what I thought was okay.

My sleepy thoughts drift to the pained look on Vinny’s face when he saw me pouring out a handful. Every time something gets a little worse here, I see his determination to leave Florida. Three days in and he’s ready to usher me out of the state for good.

My phone goes off again and I can still hear Vinny on his own call. Unless my cousin wants to call and complain to me about her co-manager, no one calls me. It’s mostly all texts, and they route calls to Vinny’s phone. It’s the same number calling again.

I shouldn’t answer calls from unknown numbers when there’s a killer on the loose, one who possibly will take an interest in me because of the last CGS. I swallow and snatch the phone off the bedside, answering the call before I can lose my nerve.

“Who is this?” I ask, my voice scratchy. I should’ve taken a sip of water, but this makes me sound as grumpy as I feel.

“Joelle. Always a pleasure.”

I startle, sitting up in bed. “Uncle Wayne?”

“Hmm.” He sounds less than impressed with my surprise. “How’s Florida treating you?”

I hesitate, still trying to wrap my head around the call.

Sleep leaves me slowly after the medication, and I force myself to stand up and pace the length of the bed so I’m more aware.

Uncle Wayne never really called when I used to live in Florida, and he certainly doesn’t call in and check on me now that mom’s dead.

I didn’t even know he transferred to Colorado until I contacted my cousin and she shared the news.

I’m not thrilled to have to talk to him first thing.

“Poorly. Things are going poorly down here if you are that interested.”

He scoffs, but it sounds closer to a laugh than annoyance. Of course hearing that is what puts him in a better mood. “Perfect. I expect you’ll be back soon to relieve my daughter of the heinous job you offered her.”

I massage my temples. I didn’t factor Uncle Wayne into my decision when I selected Serenity to run the club.

My cousin is in her twenties, so she’s well and beyond the need for parental approval to do anything.

“Serenity worked out the terms of the agreement with me. I’m sure she’ll let you know once things are settled.

We’ve only been down in Florida for a few days. ”

“So I’ve heard,” he says dryly, and I resist the urge to snap at him.

When I originally heard from my cousin last year that Wayne accepted a position at a pretentious medical center in Denver I thought she was joking.

For fifteen years - no, longer - he’s pretended I don’t exist. Not for the holidays when mom was alive, not for the days and weeks after she died, not for anything. In his perfect world I’m not important.

The only thing I have to give my uncle credit for is the surgeon he flew in to care for me after Alastair.

The cuts were meant to kill, but there wasn’t enough time to finish the job.

It was butcher’s work at that point, and although I don’t remember any of it, Vinny told me that they placed me in the ICU and were unsure if I would survive the ordeal.

I was unconscious for three days after the attack, and the minor burns I received during my escape grew infected.

I’m thankful I was unaware of all that pain for a short amount of time.

Uncle Wayne, my next of kin after Mom’s passing, paid for a surgeon to come out and see me in Florida.

The surgeon managed to repair most of the physical damage and did a lot of cosmetic work as best he could to reduce the long term scarring all across my body.

Unfortunately, the damage was already done.

After that my uncle tried to pay for a team of doctors and nurses to watch me, which Vinny covered instead. Uncle Wayne never personally came to Florida to see me and when I woke up I was in better condition than anyone expected.

When my care was over and it was time for PT and OT, he withdrew his care.

I was alive, and that seemed to be the only fact he really cared about.

It was just me and Vinny against the world after that.

I wasn’t upset when Vinny proposed in the living room of his house shortly after and we married at a courthouse in Tallahassee.

Vinny took care of the expenses that I couldn’t handle and, once we were married, updates about my care were sent to my husband and his insurance over anything Uncle Wayne provided.

“Joelle,” my uncle says, drawing my attention again. I don’t know if I drifted into thought or if he expected me to say something else. “I do not appreciate you setting my daughter up at that club. She’s a sweetheart, and you’re-”

“Ruined?” I supply, raising a brow as I glare at the wall. “I believe those were your parting words when we last spoke.”

Another scoff. “Serenity is kind. Sweet. She’s kept her nose out of anyone’s business and knows to avoid danger. And you go and destroy all that by offering her a sex club?”

“First of all,” I correct, “I didn’t give her the club.

I requested that she come to Denver and help our friend Emeric co-manage Sins and Secrets while we’re in Florida.

We told the both of them that we didn’t know how long it would take, and they are prepared to remain in their positions until we can return. ”

“She’s been there long enough-”

“She’s only been a manager there for a couple days,” I correct.

“She was learning beforehand. Your child is an adult, Wayne. Treat her like one. Vienna is going to rebel if you keep giving her examples of what her future holds by continuing to control your eldest daughter. Do you really think your children want to live in a constant state of parental control?”

He growls, and I remember why I never got along with mom’s brother the few times we spoke. As thankful as I am for the surgeon he sent, his response to my trauma was clinical and cold, not the warming comfort my heart needed from family. “You don’t speak for my children!”

“Neither do you,” I reply smoothly. “If you just called to complain, I have nothing to say. We have no timeline on our return and I will continue to relay everything to Serenity since she’s the one who needs to know these things. Now did you call for an actual reason, or just to bitch at me?”

There we go. Sleepiness is abandoning me, and I’m quicker to snap back at him when I’m not warring with exhaustion. For once the sleep meds are working against me.

My eyes drift to the stairs again. Vinny would never stop me from talking to my uncle, even if Wayne’s a raging asshole half the time, but my husband will tell him off if he tries to be a dick again.

One moment of kindness ensuring I didn’t suffer after getting cut apart like an animal doesn’t make Wayne a saint, it just reminds me he’s human.

“My daughter has real work to be doing,” Wayne says, and it’s almost like I didn’t snap at him at all. My tone did nothing to cut through the grump in his voice, or that holier-than-thou attitude.

“Recording procedures?” I ask dryly.

“And bettering herself!” he hisses. “She doesn’t need your slut club-”

“ Don’t speak about my club that way,” I tell him, straightening. “That club offers protection and care to people so they can enjoy their kinks in a safe environment. If that makes you uncomfortable, Uncle, it’s because you’ve never tried to enjoy anything new in your life.”

“That’s exactly why Serenity doesn’t belong there!”

“Because of enjoyment?” I roll my eyes and don’t wait for him to clarify. “I have things to do, Uncle. If you prefer I get back to Colorado ASAP, I recommend you don’t call me. I have plenty of other things to do.”

“Yes,” he replies, his voice turning eerie. “Wouldn’t want you ending up as one of the dead girls again.”

A chill races down my spine as he hangs up. I’m left staring at the wall, his words replaying in my head.

Dead girl, dead girl, dead girl…