Chapter Seven

Less than thirty minutes later, there was a knock on his office door.

“Hello, come in and sit. How’d it go with Emily?” he asked Susan.

Susan sat, and he watched as she looked around the room like she was cataloging artwork or the sculptures.

Most people would see her as attractive with her sleek blonde hair in a bun, trim figure, and pretty blue eyes, but Grey could see the layer underneath the polish, and it wasn’t good.

“She’s a very troubled young girl.”

Grey narrowed his eyes. “She’s been through a rough time. Wouldn’t you say?”

“Why, yes, all the times she got raped…”

“She told you about that?” he asked. He knew she’d never opened up about that, especially after meeting the woman.

“Well, not exactly. I’ve just met women and girls like her who have gone through it before.”

“Like her? What does that mean?” He was gritting his teeth, trying to hold back his anger.

“Young woman who can’t live like normal women.”

“Emily’s normal.”

“Yes, of course.” Susan thinned her lips.

“What did you two talk about?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, but that’s between the two of us,” Susan said. “I have an appointment right now, but I’ll be back in a few days.”

“All right. I’ll show you out.”

Susan stood and smiled. “If you ever need help dealing with her, you can call me any time. I wrote my private number on the back of my card.”

“Thank you.” Grey moved out of the way when the woman tried to brush against him. “We’ll see you on Wednesday.”

After he closed the door behind the counselor, he had the sick fucking feeling he’d screwed up.

He searched for Emily and couldn’t find her at first. No one had seen her. He was starting to panic when he found her in his bedroom, sitting on the window seat, hiding behind the curtains and looking out the window.”

“Hey.”

She spun around.

Fuck. He could tell instantly she was upset even when she tried to hide it. When he got to her, he sat down next to her, grasped her shoulders, and then frowned when she flinched. “What went on?”

“We talked.”

“You did? Really?”

Emily looked away. “Um, not really.”

“She said you wanted her to come back.”

If he hadn’t been holding her, he wouldn’t have felt or seen the twitch she fought to hide.

“Baby, if you don’t want her back, please tell me. You don’t have to do this.”