Page 17 of Queen of Ruin

His hand closes over my elbow and he tosses the glass piece away. “Anything is good.”

“It’s just…” I flatten a hand to my abdomen. “Sensation. Feeling. When you mentioned the car flipping, I kind of remembered it. And I remember headlights so bright that they burned my eyes. And feeling like… this sort of urgency. Like I was desperate to get somewhere. But that’s…”

The fog remains, swirling around the painfully few memories I’ve managed to scrape together. Worst of all, it’s like every other part of me remembers and is trying to coax my thoughts toward something just out of sight.

“We should go.” Diego slides an arm around my waist and pulls me close. “I get the distinct feeling that whoever cleaned this up did it for a reason.”

Caught up in my thoughts, I only nod and allow Diego to guide me away from the street.

The taxi back to his apartment is as quiet as the first and I sit deep in my thoughts, replaying what little I have over and over. I have pieces that won’t fit together, sensations that clash, and injuries that barely feel survivable.

How am I here? Is there anyone out there looking for me? Did I deserve what happened, or is there something else I’m missing? Between the injuries, the crash, and the wedding rings, I’m utterly lost.

“I’ll order takeout,” Diego says as we climb from the taxi and he offers me his hand.

I take it and smile tiredly. “How prepared are you to discover I’m allergic to something?” I ask softly.

“Given everything that’s happened?” His smile turns cocky. “More prepared than most.”

“So it’s true!” A shrill, rough voice rises up from behind Diego and we both turn.

A woman with blonde hair pulls herself to her feet using the railing next to the steps leading up to Diego’s apartment.

“Ah, shit,” Diego mutters under his breath.

“You cheating cunt!” the woman screams, stumbling forward on unsteady legs. “I’m gonna cut your fucking balls off and feed them to your whore!”

7

DIEGO

Fuck.

“Mindy, what the hell are you doing here?” Balancing Amber’s exhausted form against me gets slightly trickier with Mindy storming toward us down the path, but I grit my teeth and keep all my focus on helping Amber approach the stairs.

“Oh, so now you want to talk?” she snarls once she’s close enough. “I had to find out from fucking Tech that you’ve got some fucking whore here. Is that really how you want to do things? You ain’t got the balls to break up with me so you just cheat on me?! How is he, huh?”

The moment Mindy goes for Amber, I lift my shoulder and use it to push her away while we walk past. “Mindy, just fuck off!”

“Are you fucking him?!” she screams. “Is that wrinkled little rat between his legs worth it, fucking someone else’s man, huh? You look like the type, that’s for sure!”

“I’m so sorry,” I murmur to Amber as we reach the door.

She flashes me a tired, sympathetic smile but doesn’t speak. The walk’s taken it out of her, and right now, all I care about is getting her inside and into bed where she can rest before she collapses. I wouldn’t put it past Mindy to call the cops if she witnessed something like that and then I really would end up with a kidnapping charge on my record.

“Later, Mindy,” I yell back at her, scrambling with my keys to get inside. “Call me later and we can talk.”

“No fucking chance am I leaving your cheating ass when I’ve caught you red-handed,” she snaps at me. “I’m staying and we’re talking right here, right now!”

She means it since the moment I have my door open, Mindy shoves herself past Amber and me and storms into my apartment like she owns the place.

“Mindy, you can’t— Fucking hell. I’m sorry, Amber.”

“S’fine,” she murmurs with heavy blinks. “I’m tired.”

“I know. I know. Come on.”

It doesn’t take me long to carry Amber back to bed. After ensuring she’s got painkillers and water, she sinks back into the pillows with her eyes closed. I’d wait and watch her sleep to make sure she’s okay, but a crash from the lounge draws me out of the bedroom. I close the door softly, not that it’ll do much good with how thin these walls are, and track down Mindy.