Infinite Ties (All That Remains #3) Read Online Free Page B

talk right now, but I need
you to answer me. Show me you’re okay.”
    “I’m fine. Just let me alone.” Her voice
is monotone, void of emotion, but I still feel a surge of relief. She’d looked
damn near catatonic.
    “Listen to me, sweetheart. I’m going to
get changed for bed and check on Walker. I’ll be back in ten minutes.” She
doesn’t reply.
    Airen looks up hopefully when I return to
the living room. “How pissed is she?”
    “Airen…she’s not…I don’t know how she
feels. She’s lying in bed, curled up fetal, staring at the wall. I’ve never
seen such a visceral reaction. I thought we might have to get Julie, but I did
get her to answer me. I think she’s just overwhelmed, and trying to block it
out.”
    Airen’s eyes fill with tears which makes
mine do the same. If Abby dislikes crying in front of us, Airen loathes it. The
only time I’ve ever seen him cry is when he was half out of his mind with pain
and fear. “Oh God.” He starts toward the bedroom, but I grab his arm, and tug
him back to the couch.
    “No. She can’t handle it right now.”
    “You have to stay with her, Joey,” he
exclaims, his voice manic. “Don’t leave her alone.”
    “Calm down. Of course I’m going to stay
with her.”
    “Don’t even let her go to the bathroom by
herself.”
    “Airen, what aren’t you telling me?”
     He scrubs his face with his hands. “She’s
going to hate me for this, but she hates me anyway,” he mumbles to himself.
“She told me she used to be suicidal.”
    My heart drops into my feet. Our Abby? I
know she’s been through hell, but she’s such a fighter. “How long ago?” I
whisper.
    “When she was with Jon, and before, when
she was a kid. She swore to me that she never considered it after Carson was
born.” I want to slap him. I want to scream at him and demand to know how he
could’ve kept something so important from me, but I can’t. My arms wrap around
him. No wonder he’s so afraid. This is why he wanted Abby and I together if
something happened to him. He’s afraid she’ll hurt herself. “What if I put her
back in that frame of mind? Back when she had no one.”
    “She knows we love her, beautiful. She’s
just really upset. Let’s not overreact. I’ll stick to her like glue until we’re
sure she won’t hurt herself. Are you going to be okay?”
    He nods.
    “Just tap on the wall if you get worried,
and I’ll tap back if everything is fine. That way we won’t wake her. Don’t look
so terrified. We’ll get rid of Jon, and Abby will be fine. Things will look
better in the morning.”
    “Take care of our girl, Joey. Tell her I’m
so sorry.”
    “I will. Get some sleep. I mean it.”
    Abby hasn’t budged an inch when I return.
She allows me to undress her down to her T-shirt and panties, quickly turning
her back and curling up again. I wish I knew what was going on in her head. Her
fear of him was palpable, but that isn’t what has put her in such a state of
despair.
    She stiffens when I slip my arm around her
middle and pull her back against my chest. “Relax, sweetheart. Please, don’t be
afraid. Don’t you know I’d never let him hurt you?” Her chest hitches, but she
doesn’t cry. I’d rather see tears than this cold, detached response. This
silence. “Please, talk to me, ladybug. You’re scaring me.”
    “I’m just tired. I need to sleep,” she
replies in that same disinterested voice.
    “Okay,” I acquiesce, though I want to
shake the answers from her. Instead, I hold her close, giving her all the
security I can. “I’m right here when you need me, my girl. I love you.” Another
dry sob shakes her small frame, but she remains silent. After a few minutes,
her body goes slack and her chest rises and falls with shallow even breaths as
she falls into an exhausted sleep.
    I’ve never been more awake in my life.
Abby…suicidal. My sweet girl was desperate and miserable enough to want to die.
The pain that revelation has triggered is