AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I really thought…” I chuckled to myself, feeling like such an idiot. “I just thought Knight hated him.”
“Well, it’s a hate/less hate relationship. Let’s say Knight tolerates him.”
I pointed to the jacket on the back of the chair. “What’s that about?”
“Just a way for Knight to let him know he’s still…friends with Fox. If you want to call it that.”
That made me smile just a little, even though I didn’t know the backstory. “Did Fox really take his shoes?”
“And so much more,” Jason sighed. “Relax, Fox will come around in no time. He doesn’t hold grudges very long. At least, not against regular people. Just…play him a show tune or something.”
“A showtune?”
“Yeah, it’s sort of his thing. But choose wisely. There’s a lot of meaning in them. Choose the wrong one and he might go all psycho on you.”
That had my heart kicking up. “Well, I don’t know what the wrong one is. What if I choose something he hates?”
He tossed his head back and laughed at that. “Fox hate a show tune? Highly unlikely. Just don’t go for anything fromWest Side Story. It puts him in a killing mood.”
He left before I could ask any more questions. I had to fix this, but I didn’t want to do it wrong. I knew nothing about show tunes. But I also couldn’t go around with Fox being depressed for the next week. I had to figure this out and find a way back on his good side. I hated being the reason other people were unhappy.
It had beenthree days since Kate left me here alone with Jack. The worst of the symptoms had started, leaving Jack even more irritable than anything I’d seen before. I was grateful now that Parker had goneto OPS with Rae. If he saw Jack like this, it would be something he’d never get out of his head.
“I need you to calm down,” I said, trying my best not to yell at Jack. He was pacing around the room, destroying anything in his path. Agitated didn’t even begin to describe what he was going through. I was surprised he hadn’t collapsed yet. “If you’d just let me?—”
He spun on me, his eyes wild and feral as he stared me down like prey. Jack wasn’t home anymore. This psychotic replacement was someone I didn’t know how to deal with. Bloodshot eyes, his t-shirt soaked in sweat, and that didn’t touch on the mental problems I could see as he muttered to himself with every step he took.
Whatever they had him on, it was severely fucking up his head.
“Jack, I think we should?—”
In two strides, he was across the room, grabbing me by the neck as he shoved me against the wall. Terrified, I stood still, not wanting to move in case it set him off even more. I could see his pulse pounding rapidly in his neck. He was on the edge, ready to break at any minute. But what I was most scared of was that his heart was beating too fast and would eventually give out. It was known to happen in patients when they went through withdrawal, though it was usually due to dehydration.
But Jack was a different case. The drugs he’d been given were dangerous, and it was shocking that he was even still alive. This wasn’t even the worst of it, though. I knew there was so much more to come, worse than what I was already seeing. I wanted to be here for him, but I wasn’t sure I could handle it, especially with his hand wrapped around my throat.
“Jack,” I whispered, hoping to break through whatever was clouding his mind. “It’s Skylar.”
For just a moment, I thought I saw a spark of recognition in his eyes. But that disappeared seconds later. The hand wrapped around my throat started squeezing harder. I could see the danger in his eyes, the lost look that only saw the threat in front of him. I was keeping him from his drugs, and therefore, I had to go.
I rammed my knee up, hitting him in the nuts. He gasped, bending over in pain as I ran from the room, slamming the door behind me.Jason was there in an instant, catching me just as I was about to collapse.
“What happened?” he shouted, grasping my arms as he led me over to a stool. “Are you okay?”
Tears streamed down my face as I cried out, barely in control of my own emotions. I wasn’t sad or hurt. I was angry, pissed that Jack had been through this—that someone would strap him to a table and torture him like that. The man I knew wasn’t home. Even if he was faking it before, the protective side to him was long gone. I just hoped when the drugs left his system, he would return to the person I knew was buried underneath.
“Skylar, you have to tell me what happened!”
A loud crash came from Jack’s room, making me jump. Jason’s hands were on my neck, craning it to the side as he studied the red marks I knew were there.
“Jesus,” he muttered. “I’m gonna kill him.”
I grabbed him just as he was about to storm off. He spun, glaring at me, but he wasn’t angry at me. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what? He put his hands on you!”
“He doesn’t even know who he is!” I cried. “That’s not Jack in there. You have to find another way to get through to him.”
“And how the fuck am I supposed to do that?” Jason spat.
