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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Jagger
I’m surprised to find Slade alone on the sofa when I get back. He looks up at me as I enter and takes a sip of his beer.
“Where’s Astrid?”
“She’s taking a nap.”
“She seems to need a lot of naps lately.”
He smirks, but it quickly fades away. He places the bottle of beer on the table and leans forward. “She told me a little bit about her past.”
I walk over to the sofa and sit on the arm, facing him. “What did she say?”
He looks down at his beer, as if deciding whether he wants to spill her secrets. A tendril of jealousy weaves through me at the knowledge of how close they are getting. Not gonna lie, it sucks ass standing on the sidelines, even if I’m the one who’s holding back. I know Slade needs her more than me, more than he knows. I just didn’t realize how it would make me feel.
“She was kidnapped.”
His words snap me out of my thoughts, my mouth dropping open, not expecting that at all. “What the fuck? Are you serious?”
He nods, his hands tightening into fists. “The kicker, though, is she wasn’t just kidnapped once, but three times.” He frowns before looking toward the bedrooms. “Or three times that she told me about. I want to believe that’s it, but… Fuck!”
“How is she not a basket case?”
He shakes his head and shrugs. “I don’t know, man. Especially knowing a little of what she went through.”
My blood turns to ice. “Explain!” I bark.
He blows out a breath, running his hands through his hair in frustration. “The last one was the worst, though she was young enough the first two times that she doesn’t remember much. You know her father refused to pay the ransom the last time? She’s only here because someone else was taken by the same guy, and the rescue team sent to retrieve her took Astrid with them when they found their target dead.”
“She died? Jesus fuck. Did Astrid see this? How old was she?”
“She was fourteen. She didn’t see it, but it happened next door, so she heard it just like, like—” His eyes widen, and he curses. “Shit, no, she did see it. She had a vision. So even though she didn’t watch the act itself, she didn’t need to. She’d already witnessed it. So, when the screaming started, she knew exactly what was happening, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.”
I think about how we kept her locked up here when she first arrived and how she tried to make a run for it. How her reactions were both fearful and resilient. At the time, I was confused. But now her actions make sense.
I rub my eyes, feeling tired all of a sudden. “We need to let the others know about this.”
“Why? It doesn’t change her reasons for being here,” he tells me with a sigh.
“It does, doesn't it? It has to.”
He opens his mouth but closes it again. We sit in silence, staring at each other, both of us thinking about Astrid and what this means.
“She told me in confidence. I know we need to tell the others, but I can’t help but feel like shit for sharing what isn’t mine to share. She trusted me.”
Again, I feel that slash of jealousy because he’s right, especially knowing all this. Gaining Astrid’s trust must feel a lot like winning the lottery.
“We still have to tell them,” I remind him quietly. “They were upfront about Salem.”
“Yeah, but she was on board with that.”
He looks toward the bedroom again before cursing and climbing to his feet.
“We can wake her if you want and explain.”
He shakes his head and runs his fingers through his hair again, making it stick up on end. “If she says no, I’ll have to break her trust and do it anyway. This way, at least, I can claim ignorance.”
