AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Maybe she has a thing for toxic guys. I mean, you'd be surprised how many actually consider toxic as a type. However, I've dealt with enough crazy to never want to go down that road again.
"How are you doing?" Doc asks. "It's been a couple weeks since I last saw you."
Usually, I wouldn't answer, but this time, for once, I feel like I want to. "Better, I think."
Her brows raise as she realizes I actually responded for once. "That's good. I'm really happy for you."
"Thanks."
She takes out her clipboard and her pen. "Do you want to talk about why you had to miss last week's appointment, and needed a few days out of school, for that matter?"
I look at the notebook. "Can it be off the record?"
Thankfully, she smiles at me and puts it down on the table. "Of course."
"I was doing drugs. Last week, my friends helped me get off of them."
She brings her hand to her face and rubs her knuckle against her lips as she crosses her legs. "I see. And what drugs were you taking?"
I shrug. "Oxy. Percocets. Molly. Just about anything I could get my hands on. It didn't matter."
"And you were doing that for fun or to block out the trauma you endured?"
"To block out the trauma, for sure. I don't think I ever would have started taking them for the hell of it."
I watch as she thinks it over for a second and hums. "What made you want to get off of them? If you don't mind me asking."
"My...friend." The term sounds so wrong. It doesn't even begin to explain what Paige is to me. "Well, I guess she's more than that, but it's not really defined."
"I see, and this friend, she got you to want to quit?"
"I didn't have a choice," I answer honestly. "It was her or the drugs, and I'd pick her a million times over."
The doctor's smile widens, and she looks proud. "I'm glad you've found someone who makes you find living worth it. That's important. But have you told her about what happened?"
I shake my head. "I can't. I haven't told anyone. I can't...I can't think about it. It pulls me back to that place, and I can't go there."
"I understand," she says softly. "But I don't think keeping it bottled in is helping you at all. I can see why you don't want to tell me. After all, I'm just the doctor your father makes you come see. But I really think you should consider telling her. You might find that letting it out can be very therapeutic."
The whole idea scares the crap out of me, but there is the chance that she's right. I mean, she is a professional. "But what if she leaves me?"
"This woman stayed with you through a drug withdrawal, Jace," she points out. "It doesn't seem to me like she's the kind to hold anything against you. It also sounds like she cares about you very much."
Even just thinking about Paige and her feelings for me makes me bite my lip to conceal my grin. "She does. We've known each other since we were kids."
She nods. "So, she knew you before everything happened."
"Yeah. We kind of dated before we left for college, but we were on opposite sides of the country."
"And I'm guessing this is the same person you thought of when you had a reaction to me asking if anything new happened that week?"
"She and I had just started getting back into the swing of things, I guess you could call it." I pause to think of how to explain it. "She's going through a lot with her dad. He's dying of cancer. And of course, I'm a walking train wreck who isn't capable of having a healthy relationship."
"Why do you think that?" she interrupts.
"Think what?"
"That you're not capable of having a healthy relationship."
