Chapter 73

**Blue**


Blue and red lights flash everywhere I look. There are people yelling and cameras being pushed in my direction but I push past them toward the house. A house that looks vaguely familiar but I can’t place it. I don’t know what I’m doing here but none of the cops I pass is stopping me, so I keep going. Once I’m standing on the porch I’m flooded with familiarity. It looks exactly like it did when I was here. All except for the blood…that’s new. I follow the trail into a small bedroom in the very back of the house. Before I even reach the opening of the door I feel an intense urge to throw up.

Everything inside me wants to get as far away from that door as possible but my head keeps urging me on. It wants me to see what’s inside but why? In the end my head wins and I move to the door. There are a few people taking photos and samples of stuff. It’s the figure on the floor that has all my attention though.

“Who could do this to a kid?” An officer says with a shake of his head.

I walk past him and crouch next to the body covered by a sheet. That nausea is becoming more intense but I can’t stop now. So I reach out and slowly pull the sheet away and scramble back when I see myself. It’s me as a child lying there on the floor. I cry out and try to run but strong arms wrap around me from behind to keep me from running. A hand covers my mouth and I’m pulled back against a large body. The stench of alcohol and body odor is so strong I nearly gag.

“This has always been your fate little girl. You’re nothing, and you’ll die the same way you were born. Unwanted.” The venomous words are whispered in my ear, but I can feel the pain of them all over my body. “It’s time.”

A figure steps out from the hall and my eyes set on my foster mother. She smirks and the lights catch on something shiny in her hand. A knife.

“I’m going to enjoy this.” She says before she raises the knife up and charges at me.

My foster father steps away the second his wife slams into me.

I sit up with a scream. I’m disoriented and can’t figure out where I am. All I know is I have to run or they’ll find me. Strong hands grab my arms and I scream again and try to pull myself free. They let me go and I scramble back until my back hits something hard. My eyes can’t seem to focus. Everything is so blurry!

“Blue? Can you hear me? It’s me.” I hear a man’s voice say.

“Artemis?” I ask.

My eyes are clearing but my heart is racing so fast that it feels like my heart is right next to my ear.

“Yes. Are you okay?” He asks moving closer so that he is in my line of vision.

He becomes so clear that I know he’s real and this isn’t a dream. I let out a sob of relief and wrap my arms around his neck. His arms wrap around my waist and tighten so hard that it almost hurts but I’m holding him just as tight.

“Fuck baby you scared the shit out of me.” He whispers against my neck.

I can’t help but smile at him calling me baby. It’s strange but I like it more than any other nickname I have ever had because it’s coming from him.

“I’m sorry.” I say before tightening my hold on him.

He gently pulls me back so that we’re eye to eye. “Why did you leave? I mean I know you gave some bullshit excuse in your note, but I need something better than that.”

I let him go completely and try to move away from him but he moves to sit against the headboard next to me before reaching over and pulling me onto his lap. Once I’m straddling him he rests his hands on my hips and looks at me expectantly.

“I don’t know. I was scared. So much is going on and when I saw that interview I knew people will figure out everything about me and that would only make things worse. My foster father was able to find me thanks to us being constantly in the media, I’m not sure if more attention on me is a good thing right now.” I try to explain, but I’m not sure he’ll ever understand.

“Your stepfather found you? When?” He asks.

Shit. I didn’t want to tell him this but keeping anything from him now seems wrong.

“The man who attacked me at the boat house. He was my stepfather. He also sent that package to the hotel. I assume once he saw me everywhere he thought he would come looking for me. When I saw what he did on TV I figured he and his wife would just disappear, but they didn’t. He came for me, and I don’t know if she will too. I don’t want to bring all this baggage into this relationship when you have your own family drama to deal with. I figured it was best for me to leave.”

He drops his head back. “Fuck. Why didn’t you tell me before?”

My heart aches at the genuine hurt I see in his face. I don’t like that look on his handsome face.

I shrug. “I wanted to forget about that part of my life. Not talking about it gives me a chance to forget it ever happened. I’m such a mess.”

He stops me from trying to climb off his lap by wrapping his arms fully around me and bringing us chest to chest. “I don’t ever want to hear that come from your mouth again. Do you hear me? You’re not a fucking mess. You’ve had a shitty life up until now, and you can’t change that but that’s not you. I know you and I don’t give a shit about any of that unless it hurts you. You’re my wife, and we promised through good times and bad that we would fight together. So that means you can’t run off like that. Whatever happens we face it together. Got it?”

“I don’t think the vows went exactly like that.” I mumble.

“Blue…” He growls in annoyance making me laugh.

“Okay. I won’t run away again.” I promise and seal it with an ‘X’ over my heart. “I swear.”

“Good. Now the doctor said you need to eat and get some rest. Our dinner is going to be brought soon but you should have a shower first. The doctor said you may be anemic, so he left some iron pills that you need to take.” He points to the pill bottle on my side table.

I see there is some Gatorade and a water bottle there already. There is also a pile of chocolates in a fancy bowl calling my name.

“We are going to relax tonight and then tomorrow we have a ton of shit to deal with. You’re going to see my genius at work. Alan are going to rebuild our company from scratch again and you’re going to be part of it.” He smiles proudly.

“Me? How? I’m a musician not a tech genius.”

“You’re more capable than you realize. The coding I taught you was more advanced than most people know. You were able to spot the mistake I made in a single line of code. There is a lot more I can teach you.” He almost sounds excited which I am a little shocked by.

Don’t men prefer their work life to be separate from their personal life? Now he’s asking me to work with him when I didn’t even graduate high school. Is he freaking crazy?

“I don’t know. Even if I learned a bit about coding it’s not at the level that I can do anything to help you.” I point out.

“You have potential and I’ll prove it to you. Now, go shower.” He pulls me off the bed and playfully pushes me toward the bathroom.

“You sure are bossy.” I tease and receive a swat to the butt.

“Just go.” He says with an exasperated sigh.

It still surprises me how well he handles my oddities. I also wonder how long he’ll put up with me before he hates the little odd parts of me.

Why do I always have to think the worst? I wish I could just enjoy the few moments with Artemis that make me truly happy, but here I am doubting us again. Not that he’ll discard me if things go south between us. We signed a contract and part of it says we will always sleep together. Hating each other would be hard in such proximity.

No. I need to worry about right now…today. Artemis has a plan for tonight and it’s special since he planned it and I’m not going to ruin it. Although I’ll be real…I wish TOM would get fucking lost. Laying in bed with Artemis without some fun times is going to be torture. Although…

Now I have a plan of my own…