Page 41 of Bound By Thorns
I locked my gaze with hers, her expression open and sincere. For a moment, the words stuck in my throat, but then, in a rare burst of spontaneity, I croaked, “Do you want to come in?”
She smiled softly, her eyes crinkling at the edges, and nodded.
As we settled into the armchairs next to my bed, I noticed her watching me closely—too closely. Her gaze tracked every small movement I made, every fidget, every twitch of my fingers.
“Stop psychoanalyzing me, Leo,” I muttered, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of my mouth.
She chuckled, leaning back in her chair. “Force of habit, Lo. Occupational hazard.”
I shook my head, letting out a dry laugh. “Of course it is.”
Her humor faded, replaced by something quieter, more serious. “But I’m not here as a psychologist. I’m here as your sister. Remember that.”
The word hit me harder than I expected.
Sister.
I let it linger, trying to remember the last time I’d felt like I had a family.
“Ravenrock,” I began hesitantly, the name alone making my chest tighten. “It wasn’t just the physical stuff, Leo. Garret… he had this way of making you doubt yourself. Of making you question everything you thought you knew.”
Her face softened, her eyes reflecting the weight of my words. She didn’t interrupt, just let me speak.
“I kept thinking I could outsmart them, you know? Come up with a plan, some way to get ahead. And then there was Tyka. I told you about my adoptive brother, right?”
She nodded, so I continued, “His torture was abstract. Random. He just liked…loved…seeing me in pain. He wanted to break me, and sometimes… I think he did.”
Leora leaned forward slightly, her elbows resting on her knees. “Logan, he didn’t break you. If he had, you wouldn’t be here. You wouldn’t be you.”
I huffed a bitter laugh. “I amnotme, Leo.”
Her gaze softened, and she reached out, resting a hand lightly on my knee. “You’re the same guy. The one who gave me hell for calling my gun a baby. The one who flicks me on my forehead. The one who keeps a notorious count of Zarek-saves.”
A faint smile tugged at my lips.
But her smile faded slightly, her tone shifting back to something more serious. “You’re also the one who called me his family—your sister. And now, I’m telling you the same thing.”
I swallowed hard, staring down at my hands. “Your brother is broken, Leo.” And fuck me because my voice cracked.
“He’s the guy who can’t sleep because the bed feels like too much. The one who finally gets sleep and wakes up sweating from nightmares. The one who can’t even look at red heels without feeling sick.” My hands clenched into fists. “And the one who can’t stop blaming Kaylan for fucking Garret Tyson.”
The words left my mouth like venom. I squeezed my eyes shut against the onslaught of memories, my rant pounding in my skull like a migraine.
“Kaylan,” I said after a pause, her name heavy and dragging in my throat. “The Kaylan I knew seven years ago isn’t the same woman I saw at Ravenrock. Back then, she was fierce, confident, loyal. But there? She seemed like she was with Garret. Like she washelpinghim.”
Leora tilted her head, studying me. “But was she really? You know her initial interrogation cleared her of any malicious ties to Garret’s organization.”
I nodded slowly, the conflicting memories flashing in my mind. “I know. I mean, Iknowshe’s not allied with him. Hell, she saved my life—kept me from freezing to death, left bandages, said things that made me think she was trying to help me. And when we escaped… she was there.”
I recalled the devastating cost of our escape for her—the bullet she took, the one I could’ve have prevented from hitting her. A fresh wave of guilt crashed over me.
I shook my head, dispelling the self-loathing. “Why do I keep feeling this… this anger?”
When I looked up, Leora was studying me, her voice soft but steady. “You don’t have all the answers, Lo. And that’s okay. That’s why therapy matters—not just for the things that happened to you, but for the things you can’t make sense of.”
I sighed, leaning back in my chair. “What if it doesn’t work? What if it’s just… talking in circles?”
“Then you’ll have tried,” she said simply. “And maybe, just maybe, you’ll find something—an answer, a little peace, whatever you need to take the next step.”
