“Just kidding on the big poly wedding, huh?” he asked, teasing me, but my eyes filled with tears. “Oh shit, Ginevra, I’m sorry.”
I shook my head, dashing the tears away with my finger. “No, it’s okay. No wedding, no commitment ceremony, just Ginevra back in California, ready to get back to work after a very exciting week and a half visiting her family.”
He kept the conversation light as he drove me home. That seemed to happen to me a lot lately, as if people sensed my emotional fragility and veered away from any subject that could shatter my carefully cultivated calm.
Cheryl: Welcome back! <3 <3 <3 I’m bringing Thai back tonight and you’re going to dish on everything that happened.
Ginevra: I don’t know if I can.
Cheryl: Did you sign an NDA?
Ginevra: *frowning emoji* Shit, should I have? *laughing emoji*
Cheryl: I’ll be there at six.
“Cheryl’s joining us for dinner.”
Min-joon nodded as he parked the car in front of the house, then jumped out and ran around the car to help me out. “So’s Jeff.”
“That was quick,” I teased.
Min-joon’s smile was sweet and sappy. “You’ll like him, I think. He’s very straight-laced, an accountant.”
I blinked. “You’re dating an accountant? Like, a numbers guy?”
He sighed. “Iknow. Before you left, I was going to introduce you. I think it’s getting serious.”
Min-joon left me in the doorway when he returned to the car to grab my bags. I stood there looking at my house, wondering why it didn’t feel like home.
“How serious?” I asked my roommate, curiously.
“Serious enough that he’s asked me to move in.”
Well, damn. “I’m so happy for you!” I hoped my watery smile communicated effectively that I really was happy for him, and that any upset was lingering terror about spending the night in the house by myself.
I’d cross that bridge when I came to it.
I screamedas I woke up, clutching at the gun I’d stashed underneath my pillow. The familiar nightmares of the auction blended seamlessly with the darkness and pain that Yuri left me with. My heart pounded and my hands were clammy as I sat up in my bed, my fingers white where they gripped the gun.
Fuck.
Unable to shake the image of Yuri’s grinning, cackling face from my memory, I hobbled to the bathroom and splashed water on my face. My skin was pale and wane, and my eyes were bloodshot. It had taken years before the nightmares had truly faded the first time. Was I doomed to repeat this cycle, over and over?
I lay in bed staring at my ceiling in the dark, unable to close my eyes without memories of the assault and torture overwhelming me. I checked the clock. Three hours ahead, on the East Coast. It’d be almost three in the morning there.
Fuck it.
I thumbed open the phone and called Liam.
“Ginevra? Are you okay?” he asked, opening up the video and letting me see him disheveled and shirtless, dragging himself to a sitting position in his bed. He ran his hand through his red hair. “What’s wrong?”
Suddenly, I felt foolish, embarrassed. “It’s nothing. Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up. Go back to sleep.” I hung up, only for him to immediately call back.
“What’s wrong, Ginevra?” His green eyes filled with an emotion I wasn’t ready to accept from him. “Tell me what you need, little lamb.”
I sobbed once, twice, and then bottled up the emotion threatening to pour out of me. “Nightmare,” I whispered.
“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.”