Reprieve by A.E. Woodward

Author:A.E. Woodward [Woodward, A.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
Publisher: A.E. Woodward
Published: 2015-09-26T16:00:00+00:00

YOU’RE TOO MUCH . . .

Asher’s words echo in my brain over and over again. What does he mean, too much? Try as I might, I don’t understand. I probably never will. It’s beyond me. But there is one thing I do know. He came for me. He rescued me.

He cares.

I feel weightless, the emotion of the moment taking control. My breath comes fast. I’m hyperventilating. I’m trying to stay awake, really I am, but his voice starts to sound really slow, like a cassette player when it’s running low on batteries. His face distorts left, then right, then back again. His arrival, him saving me, the thought that I would have relapsed . . . it’s all too much for me. My eyelids are fluttering.

Once.

Twice.

Gone.

I’m back in Asher’s office. It’s yesterday again. That can’t be right. How am I back here? It seems so real. There is no sound and the quiet feels strange. Unnatural even. He’s standing in the doorway, holding it open for me. But this time he isn’t looking away. He’s looking straight at me. He’s smiling. He doesn’t want me to be with someone else; I just know it. He wants things to be just as they were. Just the two of us. I try to smile back at him but for some reason my lips wont move.

He’s staring at me now.

“Stay with me, Tegan,” he’s mouthing, but I can only see his lips moving. No sound comes out of his mouth. His face is changing, warping almost. My body jostles. Blood rushes in my ears. I can hear sounds. Loud sounds. People are talking. I recognize their voices.

Opening my eyes slowly, I have to shield my eyes from the fluorescent lights above me. And then, somehow through the light, I see his face. He’s here. I feel strong arms under the backs of my knees and shoulders. He’s got me.

I turn my face toward Asher’s chest, burrowing my face in the crook of his arm, feeling his grip around me tighten. Immediately I relax. He will keep me safe, I know it.

If I strain, I can make out Jim, the night security guard, saying, “If she relapsed she’s outta the program, Hughes.”

“She didn’t relapse,” he bites back.

“Well where the hell was she? She looks terrible.”

“She’s back, isn’t she?”

“You better talk to her about consequences for her erratic behavior.”

“I told you, don’t worry. I’ll handle it.”

I hear an exasperated sigh and then nothing but the pounding of footsteps against the tile floor. Eventually he slows and I hear a door creak, then click shut, before my body is lowered onto something; a bed, maybe? I open my eyes and recognize the four walls as those that have come to be my home. My room at the center.

I look around for a moment before allowing my eyes to land on his. They’re staring at me with concern. The feelings of shame and remorse flood every fiber of my being and I can’t keep the shame from spilling out of my eyes and down the side of my face.

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