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“Lucero? It’s you?” he asked again, almost as if he didn’t dare believe it was her. “What are you doing here? Please don’t tell me they’re keeping you prisoner here too,” he added, anguish lacing his words.
Noelle frowned.
He called her Lucero still, even though he must know by now she’d lied about her identity. More than that, he seemed genuinely worried about her,notangry.
“No, I came for you. I’m sorry it took me this long, I didn’t know where they had moved you…”
“Don’t,” he rasped out.
He pressed his head onto the wall, one palm on each side as he slowly banged his forehead against the hard surface.
Noelle froze, instinctively knowing it was coming. He was going to tell her all he thought about her and how much he hated her. Though she tried to add a layer of steel to her heart, she failed miserably as a sob broke through the air.
“Don’t you dare apologize. God… Please don’t take any risks for me. This is too dangerous,mi luz.If they find you here… If they find you and do to you what they did to me, I don’t think I could bear that.”
“What do you mean?” Noelle blinked. He called hermi luz—he’d called her that before as he’d caressed her flesh and kissed her lips. It was an intimate endearment and one he’d used when he still thought she was Lucero.
“They… They injected me with something, Lucero. I don’t know what it is. I only know that I lose control like never before—of my body, of my mind, of every fucking thing.” He took a deep breath. “That shit does something to my mind,” he continued, his voice barely controlled. “I lose chunks of time and I don’t remember anything. Anything atall.”
“Raf… What are you talking about?”
“One moment I think I’m fine, the next, I wake up shivering in the shower, with no memory of what happened before, or of how much time has passed. But I heard the guards speak. I heard them say Ilasted twelve hours,” he emphasized the words.
“They’re drugging you,” she replied.
“I don’t know what it is, but God, Lucero… The period in-between is the worst. It starts slowly and I can barely function until they give me the next dose.”
“Raf… We need to get you out of here,” she told him.
All at once, a few things were clear. He didn’t remember her coming to him, nor did he rememberseeingher.
She felt awful for feeling relief at his memory loss.
“How?”
“I’ll figure something out, I promise you,” she vowed solemnly. “I won’t let you waste away in here.”
“Please don’t put yourself at risk for me. Please, Lucero,” he begged her, his voice ragged and full of emotion. “I can withstand this. But if anything were to happen to you…”
“I’ll be careful. I swear. You may be able to withstand this, but it’s killing me to know they’re experimenting on you. That they’re…” her voice caught in her throat.
How hypocritical of her to say that whenshewas part of that they—she was the fucking mastermind behind the damn drug he’d been given.
How the hell could she ask for any forgiveness when everything was all her fault? And even as she wished she could free him right this moment, she knew he wouldn’t make it past the front door, never mind further than that. She was fucking useless and it tore at her.
There she was, in charge of the facility but helpless to help the man she loved.
“Just hearing your voice, I already feel better,” he suddenly said.
He was moving his finger on the wall, Noelle noticed as she gazed at her tablet. She zoomed in on it to get a better look, surprised to see he was writing her name—well,nother name.
“I’ll come as soon as I can. I’m not giving up on you.”
“Lucero…” Raf interjected. He looked up, his eyes closed as he took a deep breath. His features seemed pained, and that worried her.
“Tell me you’re not hurt,” she demanded. “Please tell me you’re alright.”
“As well as I can be, I guess,” he answered with a sigh. “At least I’m not dead. They were wondering what to do with me, you know. They couldn’t allow me to go back with the other slaves, so it was either this, or death. I’d rather say this is better than death,” he chuckled.
