Uncovering You 9: Liberation by Scarlett Edwards Read Free Book Online Page B

“Let’s go to bed,” I say.

Chapter Seven
     
    The next morning truly and finally feels like the dawn of a new day.
    I feel rested and fresh and clear. The discord of last night is like a distant memory. It’s something that happened a lifetime ago… to another person.
    I’m aware that’s not the healthiest attitude to take. But I’ve become the master of self-delusion. Forgetting painful things from my past just comes with the territory of being with Jeremy Stonehart.
    Jeremy’s left for work without a word, obviously. I hate how he can wake without rousing me. Not once have I felt him leave. It’s just one of those things where I wake up, and poof, he’s already gone.
    I find a short note from him, however, saying that when he returns tonight we’ll talk about my employment at Stonehart Industries and my… capacity for the job.
    The ominous implication there—that I’ve become too damaged to return to work—is unsettling. But instead of ruminating on it and letting it ruin the beauty that is outside, I file it away amongst all the other shit I refuse to think about… and go out into the sun.
    Spring in California feels wonderful. The fresh crests of the waves at sea crash against the cliffs and bring a delightful aura to the day. Wandering in the woods around Jeremy’s property, I lose track of time.
    Only when the sky starts to darken a deep red do I venture back to the mansion.
    I find Jeremy alone, reading, at the table. He looks dashing in a radiant silver-grey suit.
    He looks up when he hears me enter. He smiles. “And there she is,” he says, with the barest hint of sarcasm. “Finally deemed yourself ready to greet me, have you?”
    “Jeremy, stop,” I say, sitting across from him. He reaches out and touches my hand, squeezing once.
    “How do you feel?” he asks.
    “Fine,” I say quickly. Too quickly. Too automatically.
    He frowns for a split second. “Is there something you want to tell me?” he asks.
    I shake my head. “No. How’s Stonehart Industries? I’ve been thinking about the note you left. If I’m going back to work—“
    “Tracy told me how she found you,” Jeremy interrupts.
    My heart stops. The illusion shatters. And all traces of normalcy are gone.
    “What did she say?” I ask weakly.
    “Everything,” Jeremy replies. “She told me as she was leaving last night. I wanted you to bring it up on your own. But I could not wait any longer. This is a serious problem, Lilly.”
    I hang my head in shame. “I know,” I mutter. Even that admission—simply acknowledging his words—makes me feel like I’ve let Jeremy down, somehow.
    “It’s a problem not because of what happened,” he continues softly, his voice endearing him to me in strange and soothing ways, “but because you did not tell me,”
    “I didn’t want you to—“
    “To what?” His voice is low, but it cuts me off as clearly as if he’s yelling. “To know?”
    “No,” I shake my head. “To worry.”
    “To doubt, you mean,” he says. He’s speaking in a tone that is foreign to my ears. He sounds…untruthful, somehow. Like he’s in the middle of a bluff that he does not want entirely concealed.
    “Excuse me?”
    “I know that’s why you didn’t tell me, Lilly. You don’t want to tarnish my impression of you. What concerns me, though, is how you could be so short-sighted.”
    My head snaps up to him. “What are you talking about?”
    “The same thing I always do. The one thing I give you chance after chance to prove. The one thing that you consistently fail to do.”
    My hackles rise at the turn our conversation has taken.
    “Trust , Lilly!” he says after a lengthy pause. The outburst is full of exasperation. “Why do you think I invited all those people here last night? Why do you think I let you slink off when you did?”
    “I didn’t— slink ,” I challenge, detesting that word. “You told me to go!”
    “You ran from the sight of too many people.”
    “I was by your side