Road To Recovery (A "Living With The Choices We Make" Sequel) ✔️

29 - Heart to Hearts

This chapter is dedicated gabbyxnicole - thanks for your support :)

29 – Heart to Hearts

Rena's POV

I don't know how long I sit alone in the dark, but at some point, the door opens and a familiar face pokes his head in.

"Hey."

I squint, making sure it's really him before leaning back against the wall with a sigh. "What are you doing here, Doc?" Secretly, I'm thrilled to see him.

"Sam called." His thumb hits the light switch and I pull the blanket over my head when the sudden brightness of the florescent light stings my eyes. "He said you had a panic attack and I should come over as soon as possible."

"Total meltdown is more like it." I keep my face covered, too embarrassed to look at him. "I made a total fool out of myself."

"I don't think that's true." He lowers himself on the floor next to me. "You wanna talk about it?"

Not really, but I know him well enough to realize he won't go away until I at least made an effort. "Ryan scared me and I lost it. End of story."

"Hmm." There's a moment of silence. "I think there was more to it."

I hear him rummaging through his pockets and pull out something, the crunching of a candy wrapper making me grin in my hiding place.

"Want some chocolate?"

The offer is tempting—he knows that bribing me with sweets usually draws me out of my defensive.

I peek at him from underneath the blanket. "What kind is it?"

"Snickers."

Of course he got me my favorite. "What do I have to do to get it?"

"What makes you think you have to do anything? I could have bought the candy out of the goodness of my heart."

This almost makes me laugh. "You don't do anything out of the goodness of your heart." I fully pull the blanket off my head to get a good look at him. "You're mean that way."

"It's scary how well you know me." He searches my face with raised eyebrows. "What happened to you? You got a big bruise on your cheek."

"I got into a fight."

His eyebrows arch higher. "With Ryan?"

"No, with this girl. Marcus set me up."

He breaks eye contact, a muscle twitching in his cheek. He usually is not one to judge and takes accusations like this with a grain of salt.

"Why don't you tell me what happened with Ryan?"

I stretch out my hand. "Candy bar first."

He surrenders my treat with a small smile. "I want details."

"I get that." I tear the wrapper open and take a small bite. The chocolate melts on my tongue and I suckle on one of the peanuts, temporarily fading out my surrounding. This candy bar is good. Before I give him what he wants, I take another bite, purposely taking my time to roll the chocolate in my mouth. When I swallow, I actually feel better.

"So Ryan showed me these baby pictures of Brent and claimed that Brent made all the abuse stuff up. Ryan claimed he was a model father and the abuse was a figment of Brent's imagination." I swallow down the lump in my throat when I remember Ryan's eyes. "Total bullshit, if you ask me."