Page 109 of Depraved

“Not a chance.”

“Jesus. What does a person have to do to get you to leave? Die?”

Ink crossed his arms. “Not even then.”

“Fuck,” she cursed. “Asshole.”

I smiled. “Neon, you have no idea how happy I am to know you’re alive.”

“Yeah, you and me both, Swan Lake.” Her words slurred, and within seconds, her breath found a slow rhythm as she fell asleep.

A hand wrapped around my elbow, and I knew it was Granite by the way my skin tingled underneath his touch. “Come on.”

I met his eyes. “Promise me I can come see her again.”

“Alyx—”

“Promise me.”

He let out a breath then answered me with a simple nod. But I took a moment to look at him, my heart aching, and a gnawing pain slowly tearing at my insides. Granite was tearing me apart…little by little.

I brushed past him and out of the room. By the heavy footsteps that followed, I knew he was behind me, and the second I heard the door shut, I spun around. He was so tall I had to crane my neck in order to look him in the eye.

“What exactly did they do to her?”

“Alyx—”

“Tell me. And don’t you dare sugar-coat it.”

Granite pulled out a cigarette, cursing under his breath. “They broke her arm.”

“That’s obvious.”

He indicated with his finger to his cheek. “Those wounds on her face. It’s cigarette burns.”

My stomach turned. “What else?”

“Don’t do this to yourself. What’s done is done. No one can change the past, so it doesn’t matter now.”

I stepped closer. “It matters to me. I want to know what those monsters did to her. Did they…” I couldn’t say it. “Did they…”

“Rape her?” He finished my question, taking a deep drag of his cigarette then tossing it to the ground. “Yeah, Alyx. They did.” Suddenly, his face turned as hard as stone, his expression cruel and menacing. “They raped her repeatedly in every way they could think of. And not just with their dicks.”

I stumbled back. “What?”

“That’s right, Alyx. Believe me when I say you don’t have the stomach to deal with what they did to her.”

“Tell me.

“No.”

“Granite.”

“See, this is exactly why I fucking lied to you. I knew you’d push. I knew you wouldn’t be happy with just knowing she’s alive. Goddammit, Alyx. Isn’t it enough, the fact she’s still fucking breathing?”

“No!” I shouted. “No. It’s not enough. It’s not fucking enough. I want to know every little thing that happened to her because I want to carry the burden with her. Maybe if I knew what kind of hell she’d been through, she wouldn’t have to deal alone.”

Granite cocked his head, and his eyes flashed with awareness. “And then you’d feel less guilty.”