Gone Girl 2

Chapter 24

"Admiring the view?" I chuckle.

"What?" she asks mindlessly. "No!"

"Sure," I say as I stand up. I quickly groan in pain when I move. The gunshot wound always hurts when I make sudden movements.

She looks at me worried but I ignore her as I grab the shirt from my closet.

"Today I have to go to my dorm..." she says and I look at her.

There is no way she is going to campus before I beat up that idiot.

"No," I simply say as I put the shirt over my head. She continues staring at me.

She doesn't know that I know we were kind of cuddling in our sleep.

"I will see Alex today."

"No!" she shouts as she walks near me.

"I swear I'm going to make him regret it." I clench my jaw and she does something I didn't expect.

Veronica cups my face with her tiny hands and I freeze for a second. She is so close I can feel her warm breath on my chin.

"You are hurt, please don't," she whispers and I relax my jaw.

"I'm okay," I try to convince her even if I can't even stand up from a bed without groaning in pain.

"You aren't. You need more time to get better," she adds, her fingers grazing against my stubble.

I stare into her warm sea eyes as I say, "I'll go with Dominic."

"I don't care. You aren't going."

"Do you want me to remind you what Alex did to us? Prison? You getting kidnapped and Shanice almost dying?" She lets go of my face. "Or the fact that he drugged you several times? You don't even remember what happened... he could have sexually assaulted you!"

The moment I say the last phrase she takes a step back and I instantly regret it even if I am right. He is a psychopath, and he deserves whatever it's coming his way. But she doesn't care about him. She cares about me. She is right, I wouldn't be able to fight, not like this. I'm not as strong as I was before the shooting. Going with Dominic is not foolproof.

Her eyes are glossy and I tighten my jaw when I realize that the last phrase struck a nerve for her because it happened.

I don't walk closer to her, afraid I'd make it worse. I want to smash everything in this room. I want to end Alex... if he touched a single hair of hers.

"It wouldn't be the first time," she says and my jaw drops to the floor. Some part of me wishes I didn't understand, but I did.

I want to comfort her but I don't think she wants me near her.

"Did he rape you?"

She bursts into full-on crying and my heart breaks when I realize that it did happen.

I asked the wrong question. It was insensitive. I hate myself for it.

God, I'm an idiot.

I want to walk closer to her, I want to comfort her. But what do you say to someone who's been through that?