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* * *
Trent metme halfway across the parking lot. As soon as his eyes landed on me, I broke down sobbing. I couldn’t contain it anymore. I was so tired of being so strong, and I was tired of hiding myself from Trent. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me to him as I fell apart.
“It hurts,” I sobbed.
Trent tightened his arms around me in response, holding me as I cried into his chest. Though I knew he was trying to hold me together, it was impossible.
I was already broken. I had shattered.
Like glass breaking on the floor, no one would ever find all of my pieces. There would always be shards that would never be found again.
I was never going to be whole again.
* * *
My therapy appointmentwent the same as it did yesterday. She asked me questions and made comments that made me feel worse, though I was sure that wasn’t her intention. She was trying to get me to open up, as was her job.
But I didn’t want to open up. At this point, if I opened up about what I felt like inside, I would be admitted into a psychiatric hospital. I knew that without a single doubt. They’d put me in a damn strait jacket in fear that I would harm myself.
I looked up when someone stopped in front of me. He was wearing a pair of black slacks and a white, button-down shirt, his collar open at the neck. He was muscular and tall with dark hair and blue eyes to match.
He was gorgeous, really. Too bad I was hung up on someone else.
“Hey.” He grinned at me as he held his hand out. “I’m Brayden. I haven’t seen you here before.”
“Um, I’m a new patient,” I said quietly.
“Really?” he asked. “I’m interning here—finishing up college.” He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his slacks when he realized I wasn’t going to shake his hand, but he wasn’t deterred, surprisingly. I was sort of hoping he would be. “You want to go to dinner with me sometime?”
“That’s very bold of you,” I said, a bit taken aback. He reminded me too much of Seth, and it made my chest hurt.
He shrugged. “I’m a bold kind of guy, and when I see something that I like, I go after it.” Normally, I would have been blushing, but that was before Seth came in and wrecked my life. Now, I wasn’t even sure if blood flowed to my cheeks anymore.
When I didn’t answer, his eyes turned pleading. He ducked his head a bit so his eyes met mine. “Please?”
I sighed. Maybe it would help to move on from Seth, though I felt no chemistry at all with this guy. But maybe that was because I was beginning to become numb to some things.
That thought was terrifying.
“Um, sure,” I mumbled. “My name is Bailey, by the way.”
He grinned. “Give me a couple of minutes. Let me grab my things, and then we can go.”
He walked inside. Dad got out of his car and walked over to me, his eyes on Brayden’s retreating back. “What was that?”
I shrugged, honestly a bit lost and dazed. “Um, I think I’m about to go on a date.”
Dad’s lips twitched with amusement. “You think?”
I shrugged. “It happened very fast.”
He laughed and wrapped me up in a hug, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Be safe. Don’t stay out too late, and make sure the location on your phone stays on.”
My heart clenched. They never used to be worried about my location. Now they needed it so they knew where to find me if I didn’t come home. And it was less worry that someone would do something to me and more worry that I would end up doing something to myself.
“I will,” I assured him.
I watched him walk back to his car before I leaned against the railing and waited for Brayden to come out.
