Page 126 of Weight of Guilt

His face looked paler. “I . . . I don’t know. Nothing makes sense, does it? How I got here. Where I’ve been. Why I’m doing weird things at night. Maybe my brain is messed up.”

She squeezed his arm. “No one said that. But we don’t know what you’ve been through either. The subconscious has a way of showing us what our conscious won’t.”

“Are you scared of me, Wren?” He stared at her.

Wren sucked in a breath. How did she answer that? She wanted to be honest, but . . . honesty right now might hurt him. Because the truth was that sometimes he did scare her.

“The unknown has a way of scaring all of us, right?” she finally said.

He thought about it a moment and then nodded.

She blew out a breath of relief. “Are you ready to come inside?”

“Not yet. Can I stay here longer?”

She hesitated to let him stay. Was that safe? Would he try to run?

Finally, she said, “Of course. Come inside when you’re ready.”

She hoped she didn’t regret that.

He nodded, and she squeezed his arm.

Then she stood.

Behind them, another voice carried from the front yard.

Someone called Christian’s name again.

Wren closed her eyes.

When was this going to get easier?

By the time Wren got back inside, Nora had drawn all the curtains.

Despite that, Marlowe stood near the front window and peeked through the smallest gap.

“Still there?” Wren stepped up beside her, her hip still aching from her fall. But it was the least of her worries.

“Three vans now. And another car just stopped.”

Wren stared out the window until the images on the other side blurred.

Outside, someone shouted another question toward the house.

Christian Loveless.

Where have you been?

Are you really Christian?

“How did word get out?” Nora turned to look at everyone.

They all shook their heads, denying they’d told anyone.

Wren’s thoughts went back to Cody. Would he have done this? Was this a ploy of his so he could get custody of Mason?

She had no idea. The only other people who knew were Jacob, Nash, and the people who’d seen them at the hospital. The staff there wouldn’t be allowed to share any information—but that didn’t mean someone didn’t break the rules.