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If he wanted to channel anger because it was easier than being hurt, then she could do that too. “Get out.”
“I can't,” he said with infuriating calm. “I have to check your wound, make sure there are no signs of infection.”
Hell would freeze over before she let him touch her again. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
“I also want to make sure that you eat something,” he continued as though she hadn’t spoken. He even had the gall to turn back to the stove and start dishing up eggs onto a plate.
“I am not eating breakfast,” she said tightly. Who did Finthink he was? He didn't want to be her boyfriend, but he wanted to be her mother.
“Are you feeling nauseous?” Fin asked sharply.
“Get out, now,” was all she said, trying really hard not to let it come out as a hysterical shriek.
“I’m going to be checking on your head every day until the stitches come out, so you better get used to that idea.” He watched her like he was daring her to disagree.
“That is not happening. No way. So,youget used tothatidea. Now, get out of my house.” The last word did come out a little hysterically shrieky.
She didn't have to put up with this.
Charlie had told her that she didn't have to let her guilt rule her. She didn't have to take Fin’s anger. It wasn't the punishment that she deserved like her guilt kept trying to convince her it was. She knew all of that, of course, but somehow having someone else say it to her made it seem more real.
She must have muttered something under her breath because Fin frowned at her. “Charlie Abbott? What about him? Are you seeing my friend’s brother? Personally or professionally?”
For someone who had just turned her down flat, he seemed awfully interested in her life all of a sudden.
Since he had made no move to go anywhere, Chloe decided if he wouldn’t leave, then she would. She spun on her heel and ran for the stairs.
She hoped she could make it into the shower before the tears came.
*****
9:03 A.M.
Avery woke to a blinding pain in her hand.
It was so bad she was surprised she had been able to fallasleep.
Not that her sleep had been all that restful. The pain had somehow followed her in, haunting her dreams and keeping her tossing and turning on her fluffy mattress.
Her tormentor had been true to his word. No matter how she had begged and pleaded, he had given her nothing to ease her pain. Her thumb still had a lump in it where one end of the broken bone had been displaced. He said he had no intention of fixing the beak so that it would be a constant reminder of the consequences of disobeying and angering him.
Part of her hadn’t thought he was serious when he told her he would leave her to suffer if she didn’t do what he said.
That was stupid of her.
This was hell. She couldn’t live like this indefinitely. She was going to have to give him what he wanted.
What he wanted was an apology and an acknowledgment that he was the one in control here. That he had had all the power.
It would kill her to say those words, but the alternative was way worse.
How would she cope when he broke her next bone?
If just this one little break was this bad, then what would it be like when he moved on to a bigger bone? At least at the moment, she could still move about, go to the bathroom, eat, but what about when he moved on to a leg? Without painkillers and crutches, how would she get about? Would he continue with his punishments and make her wet the bed rather than help her get to the bathroom, or even give her a catheter? How would she cope with the pain of multiple broken bones?
As much as she hated to admit it, Avery wasn't sure she could.
The cumulative effect was going to be the stuff of nightmares.
