Page 56 of Unhinged

He’d been her shoulder to lean on, and he’d given her some great advice over the past couple of years. He didn’t know the whole story, but then few people did. He knew she’d been held against her will and that she managed to escape, but she’d left out all the gory details about Selah’s murder.

She’d opened up to Audrey one night, years ago, finally spilling every detail. But Andrew was a man. A friend, yes, and a great doctor—but still a man. She hadn’t quite crossed that hurdle of being able to trust him enough to fully open up.

Why, then, had she told Luke?

She glanced at his coffee cup where it lay in the sink next to hers. She’d known him for barely two weeks. What in the world had prompted her to air her dirty laundry?

Because he made her feel… everything. Safe. Happy. Loved.

She promptly cut off that last train of thought. It wasn’t love. Attraction, certainly—but not love. People didn’t develop those kinds of feelings in just a couple of weeks. As a doctor, she knew it was nothing more than lust driving them.

As a woman, though… she desperately wanted it to be more.

She smiled at Audrey as she stepped into the room. “How are you feeling?”

“Ready to get out of here.” Audrey sat in a chair by the window, her pale face accentuated by the bruise on her forehead. “I still don’t know why they kept me an extra day. Complete waste of resources.”

She smiled as Audrey rolled her eyes dramatically. It kind of surprised her, too. Usually hospitals pushed people through recovery and out the door to open up the bed for the next patient. Maybe it was more of a professional courtesy than anything, or maybe there really was more trauma than the doctors had initially guessed.

“But everything’s okay?” Brain trauma was a tricky thing. Sometimes everything appeared to be okay initially, but latent injury manifested itself later.

Audrey nodded. “Normal function. Everything’s still there, bad judgment and all.”

She frowned. “You weren’t the one with poor judgment—Scott was. He’s the one who cheated and ruined your marriage.”

“Maybe,” Audrey agreed, “but it was a bad idea to get married in the first place. We were too young.”

She didn’t know what to say to that, so she kept quiet. Audrey piped up a moment later. “My memory from the other night is coming back, too.”

“Really?” That was a good sign. “Did you recognize him?”

“No.” She shook her head. “But I do remember a little bit of what he said.”

“Oh. I didn’t realize he’d said anything.”

“I hadn’t either. But when I woke up this morning, it was the first thing that popped into my head, clear as day.”

Her tone was hesitant, and she warily dropped into the chair beside her. “What did he say?”

“He said you were perfect just the way you were.”

Her brows drew together. “But if you were perfect, then why⁠—”

“Not me.” She glanced her way. “You.”

“Me?” She jerked back in surprise.

Audrey nodded. “He called me a whore. Told me I was corrupting you, that you were perfect just the way you were.”

She couldn’t suppress the shiver that racked her body. Someone had attacked Audrey because of her?

“My God. I’m so sorry, I had no idea.”

Audrey grabbed her hand. “It’s not your fault. I didn’t want to worry you, but this person is clearly obsessed with you. You need to be extra careful.”

She bit her lip. “I think you’re right. I think someone broke into my house the other day.”

She held up a hand as Audrey’s eyes rounded in shock and her mouth opened to speak. “Nothing was stolen, at least not that I can see. But it felt different, like someone had been there.”