Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 62923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
“That doesn’t make sense.” Doctor Hastings turned to the nurse. “Are you sure these are his reports?”
“Yes, sir; of course,” she answered.
“What? What’s wrong with him?” Ryder demanded. “What did they roofie him with?”
The doctor looked at Ryder and then Remi. Finally, he answered, “Nothing. No drugs in his system and not enough alcohol to even be considered legally drunk, much less passed out dead on a sidewalk and then screaming like a wounded animal for the first hour he was here.” He tucked the paperwork into Remi’s file. “I’m going to send you for a psychiatric evaluation, Mr. Newsome. We need some answers.”
“No!” Remi yelped. “I…I don’t need an evaluation,” he assured the doctor. “I told you; I was having really bad dreams. Sorry for screaming.”
Ryder felt Remi’s hand start to shake even worse. Nothing made sense. No drugs. Remi screaming like a wounded animal? The only thing Ryder was certain of was that Remi appeared terrified of receiving psychiatric help.
“I believe that’s for me to decide,” the doctor answered.
“No, I believe that’s for Remi to decide,” Ryder cut in automatically. “He hasn’t broken any laws and hasn’t been a danger to himself or anyone else. Legally, you can’t hold him for observation against his will.” Hell, maybe they could, but Ryder was intent on bluffing Remi out of the hospital.
The doctor stared him at him for several uncomfortable minutes before finally muttering, “Whatever Remi wants, I suppose. If he thinks he’s able to leave the hospital then, by all means, he should go.”
And, just like that, Remi was dismissed. Ryder feared he may have just fucked up Remi’s mental health, but he couldn’t stand the thoughts of the trembling man going through some sort of evaluation—at least not without Ryder there to hold his hand. He waited with Remi while they gathered the paperwork for his release. Neither man said anything, but each of their minds were remembering the past. Remi kept trembling and Ryder kept holding his hand. In all the years Remi had lived with Ryder’s niece, they’d never touched…at least not after their first encounter. Now, it seemed that neither of them wanted to let go.
Ryder swore he’d worry about why he felt the need to hold and protect Remi, but he’d worry about it tomorrow. Tonight, he would just hold his hand and offer comfort where he could. At no time whatsoever would he allow himself to admit how his heart skipped a beat every time Remi looked at him with those haunted pale blue eyes.
Remi stared at the computer screen, a sensation of coldness creeping through his veins with every word he read. The details haunted him. It had been seven days since the incident that landed him in the hospital. Seven days that he’d spent reading every online news article he could find, looking at every picture, reliving every horrific detail. Out of the nineteen articles he’d read, much of the information had been inaccurate. They’d said the victim, a young man the same age as Remi, had died from blunt force trauma. His body had been found in an open field by two hunters. One of the hunters had been the young man’s own father…he just hadn’t known it when he’d stumbled upon the gruesome scene. Only Remi knew that part during the first days of the investigation. Their guesses were sketchy on how long the body had lain there before it had been found, but Remi knew Gary had only been there for around an hour before he’d been found. Oh, he’d been in that field for three days, but he hadn’t been dead. Not yet, at least. The man, the one who abducted him, would come back every six hours, unload a forklift from his truck, and place another heavy boulder on Gary’s body. Little by little, broken bone by broken bone, the load was increased until Gary had been unable to catch a breath without violently struggling. He’d begged with his captor…pleaded with him to let him go, swore he wouldn’t tell anyone…but the man ignored his pleadings. Finally, during that last visit, just a couple hours before they’d found his broken body, and as Gary had struggled to breathe, the man had dropped the final boulder on Gary’s skull, crushing him instantly.
Remi had screamed because Gary couldn’t any more. He’d screamed and screamed and screamed. Along with Gary, he’d begged the man to not drop that final boulder. Along with Gary, he’d watched as they’d both been ignored. And then, when it was all over, he’d sat next to Gary and another young woman who he didn’t know, and watched as the man carefully removed each boulder, loaded them onto his truck, drove the forklift back onto the extended bed, and calmly driven away…like nothing of importance had happened. Drove away like he hadn’t just tortured and killed someone.