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Bishop was frowning. “He didn’t drink that much alcohol. I was watching.”
“Valium,” Ghost mumbled.
Knox exchanged a worried look with Bishop. “Ah, Christ. You shouldn’t mix that shite with alcohol, mate. How many did you take?”
Ghost grabbed the water bottle out of Knox’s hand. His eyes blinked open. “Just two. And it’s fucking starting to wear off. I can feel the anxiety returning.” He turned his head to look directly at me. “Or maybe it’s just the company.”
I tensed up. “Ghost, I want you to know that I’m not here to hurt you. I promise. I’m not going to publish any of that stuff about your step-brother.”
He pushed away from me, sitting up on his own. “I need to talk to Remi alone.”
Knox hesitated for a moment before nodding to Bishop. “Alright, I’ll be right down the hall. Call me if you need me.”
With that, they left the room, leaving me alone with a half-drunk Ghost. My heart pounded as I took a deep breath, preparing myself for what might come next.
“Ghost,” I began, my voice steady. “I’m so sorry you’re hurting because of me. I swear to you, I won’t use your past against you. That’s not why I’m here. I care about you. I’d never hurt you like that. Please believe me.”
He stared at me for a moment, then nodded, his expression clouded with pain. “You should know the truth, then,” he murmured, his voice barely audible. “My mother left my father when I was young. He met Adam’s mom, and she ran off too, leaving Adam behind. My dad raised us on his own, but he turned to alcohol. He was an abusive drunk.”
I held my breath, my chest tightening as I listened. I knew this story didn’t have a happy ending.
“Things got so horrible that Adam couldn’t take it anymore. I think back now — if only we’d just run away when things got bad with my dad.” Ghost was staring off into space as he recounted the horrors. “But we took the fucking abuse. Day after day. Until one day, I found Adam hanging in his bedroom.”
“My God, I’m so sorry you went through that.” I couldn’t hold back my tears as I reached for his hand, gripping it tightly. The horror of his past washed over me like a cold wave.
His eyes glittered with anger. “I have to accept it and forgive myself so that I can begin healing. But I’ll never forgive my bastard of a father.”
I swiped at my tears. “There’s a quote that goes something like this: forgiving is not forgetting. It’s remembering, but letting it go.”
He pulled his hand away from mine. “Yes, Maggie told me something like that.”
I wondered who Maggie was, but I didn’t say anything. After a minute of silence, Ghost spoke again. “I’ll give you a sound bite about Adam that you can use for your story.”
My heart sank. “I told you I’m not going to use that. I meant it, Ghost.”
He stared straight ahead. “It doesn’t matter. I have to accept that it happened.”
I didn’t know what to say. As we sat in silence, I couldn’t help but feel the weight of Ghost’s pain. It was a palpable thing, heavy and suffocating. I wanted to reach out to him, to comfort him in some way, but I knew better than to try.
After a few minutes, Ghost spoke again.“ Adam and I,” his voice cracked. “We were sexually abused by my father’s friends for money when we were just kids.”
As Ghost’s words echoed through the room, a raging storm of emotions surged through me. An intense wave of horror and anguish surged through my veins, making me nauseous. Every nerve in my body screamed in agony for the unbearable pain he was suffering.
My stomach churned as I tried to process the atrocities Ghost had just recounted. No words could possibly express the heartbreak I felt for him at that moment, but I knew I had to try. “No one should ever have to go through that,” I whispered, choking back the tears that threatened to spill once again.
His haunted eyes met mine — my only thought was to protect him from any further pain. He looked so vulnerable, his eyes were full of raw emotion that tugged at my heartstrings.
I reached out to him, my hand shaking slightly as it brushed against his cheek. He flinched at the contact but didn’t pull away. “I’m so sorry, Ghost. I wish I could take away all the hurt and pain you’ve been through, but I can’t. All I can do is to be here for you, if you’ll let me.”
Ghost’s expression softened, his eyes searching mine as if trying to find the answer to a question he wasn’t sure how to ask.
I would do anything I could to help him face and overcome the darkness of his past. There were demons lurking beneath Ghost’s surface — as evidenced by his self-destructive behavior — that threatened to consume him whole, and now I knew where they came from. He’d been battling them for years, and deep inside, I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy fight.
I pulled my hand back slowly. “You should get some rest. We can talk in the morning if you’d like.”
As I stood to leave, he reached out and caught my hand. “Please don’t go,” he whispered. “I don’t want to be alone right now.”
My heart ached for him, and I couldn’t bring myself to walk away. Instead, I sat back down beside him on the edge of the bed, our fingers entwined.
