✅🎊✂️ Hypnosis Won't Take Me There!! [alternative cut]

Chapter 510: Later

And here's a chapter dedicated to Mike. Thank you! If there's anyone who would like to see a few more, you can support me on Patreon and help me keep writing these.

"I don't like this," Nyx shook her head. "You tell me what you did back then, and it's only confirming my suspicions. You did everything right. Well, it's weird acting like a baby when you didn't have to, but you found a way to own the situation. I don't know if that's healthy or not, but it's better than telling me that Dean knows best, and he's got your best interests at heart."

"Mom!" Adi snapped. "Look, you're making it so hard to get to the bits that really matter. Would you mind just giving me time to talk?"

It wasn't the first time she'd had to stop telling her story in order to argue, but now it was becoming almost every day of the narrative. She'd told them about days of making a mess, making things harder for the babysitter, and hoping that he would give up on his plan. And Adi knew that what she'd thought back then was all wrong, but she felt like it was an important part of understanding why she was here now.

They agreed again, and Adi took a sip of her tea. Then she looked out of the window, at clouds in impossible colours over the top of a skyline like some futuristic construction toy.

"Look," she said, "it's getting late. I thought I might be able to get this story in a day. But the sun's setting and we're still not close to the end. How about we take a break, and you try to think a little more positively now you know I'm safe and happy. You can come back later in the week, or at the weekend, and I'll tell you some more of what happened. Or if Brit's moving in next door, we can talk about it a little over lunch or whatever. Like, not telling a whole story or an interrogation, but maybe chat a little. If you can see that I can hold a normal conversation now, without turning into a baby or being frustrated because you don't understand, would that make it easier to believe I'm here by choice?"

"I think you need to come home so we can see you in an environment we know is safe," Nyx repeated her earlier viewpoint. "So we know you're still..." she only stopped when she saw Adi staring daggers, and Britney's hand on her wrist calling for calm.

"Nyx, I think maybe Adi has a point. Taking her away from her friends is exactly why we were so hostile to Dean in the first instance. We said it's inexcusable, but now we're wanting to do the same thing for the opposite reason. If I'm still here, without all my stuff for tonight but I can cope, then I can at least keep an eye on her. I'll know she's not getting hurt, and they're not coercing her or coaching her on what to say. I mean, I have no idea what they could be planning, but I can't see any way they could keep up a pretense like that with a witness here all day, every day. And perhaps in small talk... it might be easier to speak candidly."

Toni and Britney's eyes met for an instant, and there was a flicker of recognition. Britney didn't say that it was easier to keep a lie straight in a prepared monologue than in casual snippets of chat; or that she might be discreetly searching the suite for any evidence of what the two men had planned. But Toni understood the words that went unsaid, and slowly agreed that it might be good to take the pressure off Adi for now.

"You be careful, Britney," Nyx whispered as she was persuaded to leave for today. "I don't want to be worrying about both of you girls." Britney smiled at that. She was nervous about sharing a lounge and kitchen with Chastaine, a man she barely knew, and she knew it would be difficult living here given that she hadn't brought any of her possessions with her, but something told her that regardless of anything that had happened over the supper, Adi was still a good friend who would want her to feel comfortable, and lend anything that was needed. She didn't need to be afraid for her safety here.