Royal (Terk’s Guardians #9)

Chapter 6

C alum and Rick and Janna were still on foot, moving forward, heading toward some point in the distant future, and she could only tell them to keep walking in one direction, when suddenly she froze and cried out, “No, no, no, no.”

They turned to her. “What?” Calum asked.

Rick asked, hard and glaring, “Now what?”

“They’ve been found,” she muttered, tears in her eyes. “Royal and Bruce.” She frowned at that. “Wait, I don’t know who Bruce is, but that’s the name.”

“Fine. Who found them?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. All I’m getting is an SOS.”

“ Great .” Rick turned to face Calum. “You getting anything?”

“No. Let me check in.” Almost immediately he blitzed out.

She frowned at the two of them. “Can you guys just go in and out all the time?”

“Yes, at least if someone is available to let us do that,” Rick replied, as he studied her. “Yet you have a lot of abilities. I’m surprised you haven’t developed them.”

She stared at him. “You develop your skills in groups. You know that, right?”

“You also develop in isolation,” he reminded her, “because, when it’s necessary, that’s when our innovation rises.”

“Maybe,” she muttered, “but I don’t think that kind of isolation was quite what I had been reaching for.”

He nodded, not saying anything, which she appreciated. She understood that he hadn’t been terribly impressed with her arrival, though it wasn’t even so much her arrival as the fact that she had insisted on coming along. She was slowing them down, and that continued to be an issue.

At that point Calum stepped forward. “Yes, Royal’s in a tussle at the moment,” he shared. “They found him, but they didn’t find Bruce.”

“But they are together,” she stated, looking at him. “If they found one, surely the other one is not far behind.”

“I’m not sure, but Royal’s been taken. Anyway he’s collapsed. Cara and Clary are working on it, but they’re not terribly hopeful.”

She glared at him, dropped cross-legged onto the ground, and started sending energy to him. Urgent forceful energy. When she got a response, tired and slow, she realized just how physically depleted Royal was, as he could manage only a few words.

Can’t help. Weak. Need energy .

She stepped back out and stared at the men, tears in her eyes. “He’s too weak.… All I could see around him was trees, darkness, and an energy that I couldn’t see because it was on the other side of him.”

At that, Calum stepped forward, grabbed her by the shoulders, and looked her in the eye. “You can see ?”

She looked up at him and nodded. “Yes. I don’t see anything else, but I can see in front of him.”

“So you see from inside his body, looking outward, or do you see him yourself?”

She blinked, trying to sort through the question.

“As in, are you seeing from his perspective, or can you see everything, like from above them or whatever?”

“I’m seeing through his eyes, but he’s not staring at the people who caught him, so I can’t see them.”

“Fine,” Calum said, with a nod. “Even that is huge.”

“It’s not enough,” she wailed. “I can’t… I can’t help him.”

“Sure you can. Have him turn to face the other men, and we’ll see if we can do anything from here.”

Blinking at that, she instructed Royal to turn around, and, when he did so, falling against the tree trunk, she felt the tears collecting in her eyes again. “He is so weak,” she whispered. “He can barely stand.”

“That’s fine,” Calum said. “What is he seeing?”

“A single man in a Russian uniform, holding a rifle on him, some sort of a… long rifle. I don’t know what it is.”

“Move on,” Rick said in a clipped tone. “Is this other man alone?”

She studied the area through Royal’s eyes and nodded. “It doesn’t appear that anybody else is there. I can see a vehicle at the road, but I don’t know whether it is Royal or this guy’s.”

“That’s fine too,” Calum replied. “Now, can you transmit any energy to him?”

She frowned at him. “I have been,” she said cautiously. “With him so weak, all I am doing is trying to keep him alive.”

“Right. Well, this is a bit dicey, but, if we connect to you, and you connect to him, do you think you can direct the energy as we want it?”

She gave a snort. “I haven’t been able to do anything you guys have asked me to do yet, at least not in any recognizable form,” she muttered, yet her determination kicked in. “However, I can try.”

“That’s all we ask,” Calum noted. “Depending on what this other man wants and is planning on doing, and whether the Russians want Royal back alive or not, this could be his only option.”

And, with that, Calum and Rick shared a look and then stepped forward and put their hands on her. “Now, follow these instructions carefully.”

And what followed next was one of the most bizarre scenarios Janna had ever experienced in her life, much less participated in. Still, as she followed their instructions, she stepped even more fully into Royal’s world, telling him not to worry and to stay calm. With the two men directing her, she took over Royal’s limbs. It was like watching a martial artist working from the outside, yet being connected on the inside in some weird way.

Janna didn’t even physically connect Royal’s body with the other man, yet energy came off Royal’s arms. Then the gunman was on the ground and unconscious. Frowning, Janna stepped back out and asked them, “What the hell was that?”

Rick and Calum both smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Tell Royal to get to his attacker’s vehicle, which I hope is military-issued, so that he and Bruce can get through more blockades. Plus, Royal must take the man’s weapon.”

She groaned at that, worried about Royal’s energy levels, yet she immediately connected to Royal. I know this will sound strange, but get that man’s gun and any other things on him, then get Bruce to that man’s car . And, for the first time, she heard Royal reply, his voice gaining in strength.

I’ve already cleaned out his pockets, got the keys, the weapon, ammo, and his coat. I’ve done one trip to the car with all the contraband. Now we’re on to the second trip . I don’t know what you just did or who you even are. You sound just like Janna, but it can’t be . Then came a series of grunts and groans, as he slowly lifted Bruce. If you’ve got any energy to help me get Bruce to the vehicle, I could really use it now .

Immediately she reached out with both hands, grabbing Rick and Calum, firing energy Royal’s way. As soon as she started doing that, she could no longer see from Royal’s eyes. She frowned, but it was as if the overwhelming flow of energy blocked off her third-eye sight, almost blinding her. She still heard him grunting with every step, and she felt the force jarring his body, the bones grating against each other as the muscles struggled to hold his frame upright under the added weight of Bruce.

And then finally Royal whispered, “I’m at the car. I think I’m okay now.” Then, without any warning, the energy between them detached.

She dropped the men’s hands, staring down at hers in awe. “He’s in the vehicle,” she whispered. “Bruce is with him. He stripped down the guard, took everything he could utilize, got his buddy into the guard’s car, and now they’re driving again. They’re in a military vehicle.”

“Okay, that’s good. As long as he’s dressed in a coat and wearing the Russian uniform, that will help them a lot,” Calum declared, with a nod. “I’m already liking this guy.”

She smiled. “You would like him. He’s all about honor and ethics and doing right for the country,” she murmured. “It’s just… he’s had a pretty rough year, or more maybe. I guess I don’t really know.”

“Yep. All of us have our own pretty-rough years to go through,” Calum noted. “Now we need to do our job and go meet him. Do you have an idea where they are? Or is there any chance you can direct us toward them?”

She looked at him in surprise. “If I had a map, I might be able to tell you where he is and where he’s heading.”

Rick snorted, pulled out his phone, and brought up a map of the area where they were, the GPS telling them what restaurants were close by.

She stared at it in delight. “I don’t think of technology in the same way you guys do,” she murmured.

Rick quickly scrolled through, finding the closest area to where they were, and pointed. “This is us. Now where are they?”

Frowning, she slipped the screen side to side trying to find exactly where they were, but the energy messages were coming in incomplete bursts, uncoordinated, or maybe it was just her. When she finally glommed onto one area, she widened the scope so it was more distant, and she said, “They’re in here. I just don’t know exactly where.”

Rick took the phone from her and stated, “That’s still a couple hundred miles.”

“Sure, but it’s not a couple thousand,” she noted.

He agreed. “Let’s get moving. We’ll head in that direction. When we get there, I’m presuming you can give us some better details.” The men took off at a good clip, fast-walking.

“I hope so,” she muttered, already trying to keep up with them, “but I can’t guarantee it.”

“We came here based on what you said earlier, so I hope so,” Calum replied cheerfully. “So far everything’s working. Let’s not do anything to destroy that confidence and just keep our hopes up.”

She snorted. “Yeah. I don’t know what the hell’s working because I still don’t know what I’m doing, and whatever I’m doing seems to take everybody else’s help,” she admitted. “I’ve never worked with anybody…” And then she stopped. “Well, in many, many years I haven’t. I’ve been pretty much alone, and I think that’s part of the problem.”

Calum nodded and headed deeper into the woods. “It is the problem. You put up walls. You put up boundaries, and then nobody can get across them. They don’t know why things are breaking up or breaking apart, but it’s mostly because you set up these boundaries to keep people out of your space. It keeps you safe, keeps you from getting hurt again, yet it also stops you from living a full life because you live inside these walls that are supposedly there to protect you. In reality, they’re not doing anything but keeping you more sequestered. In a way, you are a prisoner of your own making,” Calum described, his tone gentle. “So, when this is all over, you might want to work on that.”

She blinked at him. “Yet I feel like…” She stared off far ahead.

Calum frowned at her. “You feel like what?”

“As if you guys are dragging down my walls, and I don’t have a choice.”

He snorted. “We’re not dragging down your walls, but necessity is. What it comes down to is this. You have no choice. Those walls come down, and it is critical that we work together.”

Rick snorted. “ You are actually allowing the walls to come down, but, in any other circumstance, you wouldn’t allow it,” Rick grumbled at her side. “So, probably, from your point of view, it feels as if we’re not giving you a choice, and we’re dragging you forward, one way or the other. But remember when you were told that you wouldn’t like this trip? Part of that warning was because those walls will come down. We can’t function properly if you’re hiding things, and we can’t tell if you’re hiding things because you’re behind some damn mental wall that we can’t work with.”

She tried to digest that as they kept walking, but she noticed that this time she wasn’t tired. “How come I’m not so tired now?” she asked suspiciously.

Calum looked back at her and smiled. “When you give energy, you receive energy,” he explained. “So the more you help others, the more you get help in return.” She stared at him, and he nodded. “So, with everything you do to help Royal, in your mind, you’re draining your energy. However, if you allow the energy to function the way it’s intended, it’s replenishing your energy as well. Everything is give and take in life, but it’s very much so when it comes to energy.” He smiled. “So, the more you help Royal, that circuit completes itself, so you can turn around and receive the same benefit. You don’t do it to receive, but, when it comes to something like this, it’s a universal law that giving also means getting.”

*

Royal wasn’t sure how long he could keep going like this, but he drove steadily. With this weirdness benefiting them, he could only hope that these people working in the background might get him and Bruce out of this mess. When he came up to a blockade, he glanced at Bruce beside him and noted he was propped up, snoozing. Royal shifted Bruce’s head, so he appeared to just be resting.

With the weapon at his side, Royal drew near and prepared to stop, but the guards just waved him on through. Royal lifted a hand and carried on. Now that was far better than he could have hoped for. Filled with so much uncertainty, he had been afraid but surprise, surprise. With a heavy sigh of relief, he checked out the blockade behind him in the rearview mirror. The two men talked naturally, not interested in him.

When he was out of sight and not likely to raise any alarms, he picked up his speed until he was going as fast as he could. He had no idea if they even had speed limits out here, and he really didn’t give a crap right now. If anybody tried to stop him, he would just barrel through, yet grateful that he didn’t have to yet.

Hearing a sound beside him, he looked over to see Bruce’s eyes open, staring at him, somewhat dazed. There was a sweaty look to his face, as if he were waking up from a fever. “Hey, Bruce. How you doing?” he asked.

Bruce blinked several times owlishly. “We’re still alive?”

Such surprise filled Bruce’s words that Royal had to laugh. “Yeah, I’m nearly as surprised as you are,” he admitted. “We’ve done freaking awesome things to get this far.”

Bruce just stared at him, completely shocked. “Wow,” he muttered. “Not what I expected.” He shifted slowly, wincing, his body ravaged by a lack of food and months of torture. “Will we survive this?”

“That’s the plan. We do have some people helping us out, but from a distance.”

“Hey, anybody who even knows about us and cares enough to help,” Bruce noted, “they’ve got my gratitude forever.”

“You and me both,” Royal agreed. “Now we’re heading down this road, and I really don’t know where it goes. I’m hoping we can get some directions as to how to get out of here,” he shared. “We just passed a blockade, and I think they were probably looking for us, their escaped prisoners, but they waved us through, since we are dressed in Russian uniforms. You were sleeping in the front seat, so you missed out on all the fun,” Royal teased. “With any luck we’ll get the same reception farther down.”

“Man,” Bruce muttered, as he looked out and around. “Not that I feel good, but, for the first time, I don’t feel absolutely horrible.”

Royal laughed at that. “I’m not at all against that either. I don’t even know if any of our stolen money remains with us, the money that we took from the guards, but we need to buy gas and food soon.”

Bruce sat in a mild stupor and replied, “Even the thought of food isn’t making me sick. I’m so hungry, yet I’m past hungry.”

“You had a granola bar a few hours ago.”

Bruce frowned. “Are we in another vehicle or am I dreaming that?”

Royal laughed. “Yep, some guy was following us. I had to stash you under some shrubbery in the woods when we were attacked again,” Royal explained, “Getting your sorry carcass back to his vehicle—now ours—wasn’t easy either.”

At that, Bruce looked at him in shock. “Seriously?” Royal quickly filled Bruce in on all that had gone on while he had been out cold. “Good God,” Bruce muttered. “Why didn’t you just leave me behind?”

“That’s never happening,” Royal declared, his tone hardening. “Hell, we survived a Russian prison. No way we can’t survive our own escape. I’m not giving up now.”

“You know that, if it ever comes to that,… you need to do that, right?” he asked, looking over at Royal, his tone sad. “I mean, only so much we can do sometimes.”

“Yet, so far, I haven’t found that limit,” he muttered. “So don’t even say that shit. If I’m pushing to keep you alive, you need to push too.”

Bruce laughed and then stopped. “Wow, that was actual laughter.”

“It was. Now I’m not sure how you’re feeling and what you might need, but tell me, and we’ll sort it out. Otherwise I propose we continue to drive, and hopefully we’re heading for a border to get out of this godforsaken country.”

“Right. We don’t have a phone, do we?”

“We do, but you couldn’t get into it earlier.”

“I’m feeling better now, so let me take another look.” And, with that, he checked his pockets, pulled out the phone that they had taken off the first guard and then sat back. Almost fifteen minutes later he gave a hard sigh. “No, I’m still not getting into it.”

“That’s fine. It doesn’t matter. We’ll just continue as we have been. A phone would help because it would give us some idea of where we are, but, other than that, we’re definitely heading west.”

Within five minutes of him saying that, they passed a road sign telling him what city they were heading toward. He looked over and smiled. “Now at least we know where we are. How’s your geography?”

“It sucks,” Bruce said. “I mean, it wouldn’t be so bad except my brain’s not firing properly.”

“Right. So, if my geography isn’t too bad, I figure we’re about three to four hours from a border, from the Polish border.”

“Is it that far?” he asked, with a groan. “That means we’ll stop for fuel at least once.”

“Not necessarily. We do have a fair bit in the tank that we’re still working on,” Royal noted. “Don’t forget. We changed vehicles, and this one’s pretty full up. I figure we’ll stop at some point in time. I’ll need a bathroom break if nothing else.”

“You okay with a bush?”

“Damn right I’m okay with a bush. I would rather take a piss on the side of the road than in civilization and end up being back in these assholes’ hands again.” With that, Royal pulled off to the side of the road and looked around, grateful that nobody was around. “Come on. Pee break.”

And they got out, both relieving themselves on the side of the road. With that done, Bruce stretched. “I don’t know what’s happening, but I almost feel decent.”

“Don’t sing too loudly right now about that, or you might jinx it. Yet you do look much better.”

“I hope so. Anyway, let’s get going.”

They got back into the vehicle, and Royal kept driving.

“How did you get away from the other guy?” Bruce finally asked curiously.

“It was the weirdest thing, and I’m not sure I have an answer for you. Not a logical answer.” Royal glanced over at Bruce. “Did you ever have anything to do with Terk’s particular field?”

“You mean, all that paranormal stuff?”

“Yeah.”

Bruce shrugged. “I’ve always had a pretty strong gut instinct but not a whole lot other than that. Although my buddies used to… they used to laugh because sometimes I had the trick of traffic lights always turning green, so I didn’t have to stop. I never waited in lines, and there were always empty parking spots waiting for me,” he shared, with a laugh. “I’m wondering if that shit is what got me in trouble with the Russians to begin with because, among our group, it was a well-known joke. Sometimes people would fight over riding with me, so they wouldn’t be slowed down by traffic lights. But you never know. Still, that doesn’t make any sense as to why I was kidnapped.”

“It kind of does because that’s also why I thought I was kidnapped,” Royal shared. “Except that I do some of that energy work, like what Terk is known for. Not that it’s helped me at all, or maybe it has somehow. I don’t know,” he said, “but I’m just grateful that I’m not there in that prison any longer. The guards there never asked me about any of those kinds of skills though. Did they ask you?” Royal turned to face Bruce.

Bruce shook his head. “No, they didn’t. They joked about it once in a while, and I just looked at them as if I had no clue what they were talking about. Honestly, I really didn’t have a clue what they were talking about most of the time.” Bruce yawned. “They were just being complete assholes.”

Royal nodded. “We were dealing with one prison, whereas another prison may very well have had a different plan, all because somebody explained it to them. In fact, I was in another prison first, and those guards there did ask me all kinds of woo-woo questions.” He snorted. “Did you ever see such shitty communication the way it was with these last guards?”

Bruce shook his head. “No, and yet I’m grateful. It’s probably because of their crappy communication that we’re even alive. If they had any idea that you could do some of that energy stuff or connect with people who could do that stuff, we never would have gotten out of there. But then again, we also wouldn’t have been shot come next Wednesday either.” Bruce sucked in his breath. “It really would happen, wouldn’t it?”

“It really would. Whether they would have gone through with it, I don’t know, but I would never trust them not to.”

“I did hear them joking, talking about it, in my nightmares,” Bruce muttered.

“Yeah. Last time I saw one of the guards, he mentioned something about you not even making it to the firing line next week, wondering why they were even bothering to bring you food. He thought it was a waste of resources, and they just should let you die.”

Bruce stared at him for a long time and then nodded. “And something about that is rattling around in my subconscious. You have no idea how grateful I am that we’re out here and that,… well, that you didn’t leave me behind.”

“Not my style,” Royal snapped, his tone hard. “Now you have to do your job and fight to stay alive because I don’t know what we’ve got coming our way.”

Bruce nodded. “Let’s get the hell out of here, get across the border somewhere, and maybe we can pull in some favors and get us out of here.”

“Honest to God, even if we can’t, I hate to say it, but I have no problem working in order to get out of here. I have some friends I can roust up, but I think the government has pretty-well forsaken us.”

“Ya think?” Bruce quipped, his voice breaking. “Though I don’t even know that I can blame them for this. It’s just a shit deal all around. Sometimes when you get caught, you know ahead of time that absolutely nobody is coming to bail you out. We go into some of these jobs with that threat in our minds.”

“I know,” Royal agreed. “I was in a similar scenario before.”

“Right, so you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Unfortunately I do. Sometimes it’s just the way it is, but, hey, we’re free, and we’re staying that way.”

“You and me both. Now if there was just some food.” Bruce eyed him hopefully.

Royal could only shake his head. “I think we’re out of food. If I get a chance to pull in somewhere, maybe we have enough cash that we can buy something.”

It wasn’t long before they hit a small town and stopped at a grocery store and walked inside, just keeping to themselves, not being friendly, which was probably expected of real Russian military men. They got a couple sandwiches, some fruit, chunks of cheese, and other quick snacks. They paid with the bit of money they had collected, grateful that it was enough, and were quickly on the road again.

With Bruce munching away beside him, Royal drove. “That food will go a long way to improving our situation.”

“Yeah, you’re not kidding,” Bruce said, suddenly stopping. “Before I have another nap, who the hell is Janna?”

Royal looked over at him and glared. “You know who Janna is.”

“The chick you were thinking about getting in touch with again?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I don’t know. I just keep hearing her in my head.”

Royal froze. “Seriously?”

He nodded. “That and some other woman, but I don’t know who that is. It’s such a weird thing. I don’t even know your friend, but it seems,… or feels as if, she’s been there for a while.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Royal muttered, not sure what else to say. “Could also be some hallucinations.”

“She should be your hallucination, not mine,” Bruce pointed out. “I don’t have a partner.”

“Maybe you don’t have a partner, but that doesn’t mean that your mind will listen to anything you try to tell it.”

“I won’t argue with that,” Bruce conceded, as he shifted and curled up against the door again. “Anyway, when you talk to her, say hi for me. Pretty sure she’s been saying hi to me the whole time.” And, with that, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Royal was left wondering just what the hell was going on and what was Janna up to… and how much could she even do. He’d heard her in his head too, but,… but was it her or was it some hallucination? He had assumed this was all about his own imagination. Then again he didn’t know. However, she had been there. It had to have been her in his head when that fight in the forest was going on. It had been so strange and so surreal that even now he couldn’t put it down to reality. When someone knocked on a door in his head, he wondered if that was real too. Then he shook his head, just as the guard’s phone beside him started to ring.

He picked it up while keeping one eye on the road, as he moved his finger across to answer it, wondering if it would unlock, yet it wouldn’t. He tried several zigzags across the phone, when suddenly somebody came through the phone anyway, and he heard Janna’s voice.

“Hey, it’s me. Can you hear me?”

“Yes, hell yes, I can,” he cried out. “What the hell? Where are you? How did you… I don’t even know this number.” He was fumbling with his words.

“We’re about one hundred miles from you,” she said, “and we’re closing the gap. If I thought there was a place that you could hole up and stay, I would tell you to go there, but I’m not sure there is such a place.”

“We just left a town after picking up some food. I’m just… Honestly, I’m just nonstop driving.”

“We’re tracking you, not that it’s the easiest thing to do,” she shared, “but just be sure to keep a low profile and know that we’re on the way.”

“Yeah, but you’re still quite a long way away,” he said.

“Only about an hour according to the men I’m with.”

“Who are these men?”

“They’re part of Terk’s team,” she replied, “but I don’t know if that means anything to you.”

“It does, if it’s the same Terk who used to work for the CIA. I do know about him and his team.”

“It is, although they’ve gone private now.”

“We should all be private rather than trusting in these governments,” he declared. “No, that’s not fair.… I knew going in that they wouldn’t have my back if something went wrong, and yet it was just a typical job. I wasn’t really expecting to get sidelined.”

“Let’s not have that discussion,” she replied, her tone hard. “You know how I feel about the government anyway.”

“I do know,” he agreed, his tone soft as memories flooded him. “I don’t know how you got involved in this, but I’m damn grateful.”

“I got involved because you’ve been calling me,” she stated, her tone sad. “For the longest time, I didn’t even know how to help or what to do, and I even tried to shut you out. I’m sorry for that”—yet not sounding all that sorry—“and obviously you’ve been through much worse because of it. If only I could have listened earlier…”

He blinked at that several times. “But I wasn’t calling you.”

“You were, yet you just may not have been aware of it,” she noted, equally calmly. “Anyway, that’s not a discussion for today. I’ve been trying hard to get through to you but finally just decided to try the phone beside you.”

“How did you know I had a phone beside me? How did you unlock it?”

“I didn’t unlock it. It’s just that mechanical things and I get along very well.”

“Jesus,” Royal muttered. “How come I didn’t know anything about that?”

“We weren’t together long enough for any of that to come out.”

“And yet we had a helluva bond.”

“We had a hell of a weekend. Did that create a bond? Maybe, I don’t know.”

He snorted. “Hey, you’re the one who set the rules with no relationship being one of them,” he reminded her. “I was trying to go along with that.”

“And yet you were supposed to call me,” she stated, her tone equally hard. “That didn’t work out too well either, did it?”

“No, because I headed out for another mission, and then, when I got back, I just didn’t know what to say. I did try to call and never got through, so I figured that you were pissed off or something.”

“Yeah, and that was the part I never understood.” Then she groaned and added, “At the moment, it’s just pointless to talk about it. I’m sure I’m as much to blame for that.”

“I knew that you never wanted anything permanent, so I was willing to give you some space, but I was really hoping to see you afterward too. Then so much time had passed at that point…”

“This isn’t the time or place for our personal issues,” she said. “It’s draining my energy, so I’ll sign off. Keep driving straight. If you come to an intersection and don’t know where to go, I’ll try to give you a nudge in the correct direction.”

“Good. What then? After this, I hope we’ll have a talk, a long talk, because I didn’t know you could do any of this. Our bond was unbelievable as it was, but all this too?”

“That’s partly why I walked away from the government way back when. I just couldn’t deal with what they wanted of me. They knew some of what I could do and pressured me to do so much more.”

“Right, so this all goes back to that. Shit,” he muttered. “I wish I’d known.”

“Wouldn’t have changed anything,” she said. “You’ve been to hell and back, and I have been too but for a completely different reason.”

“You had already been to hell and back because of what that asshole did to your face.”

“True, though I’d managed to make peace with that, more or less, but my life has gotten a whole lot worse since then.”

“Then we’re really going to talk,” he declared, “because you could have called on me at any time, and I would have been there for you.”

“Maybe. But I got stubborn and proud, and then my whole world fell apart, and I didn’t have time for any of it anyway. Plus, explanations seemed to be even harder to figure out. So, just as you didn’t contact me, I didn’t contact you. Anyway, I’m signing off for now.”

And, with that, she ended the call.