Read Online Spent (Wrecked #2) by Charity Parkerson - Free Book Online

date she’d first met Lucien. When nothing came to mind, she found Joe’s calendar and counted back ten months until she found the date. She entered the numbers into the computer and waited. Her image appeared on the screen and Bailey leaned closer. Fast-forwarding, she watched the timer in the corner tick down the hours. Nothing. She’d worked on sketches the entire night. Panic set in. Moving to the next night, when Lucien had closed the shop for a quick tryst, Bailey watched the footage on high-speed. As she looked on, her banter with Derringer played out across the screen. Just as she remembered, he backed out the door, laughing. From there, nothing. Instead of Lucien appearing, she’d settled onto the barstool behind the counter, put her head down, and slept.
    Bailey jumped to her feet. A cry tore from her throat. Attempting to hold it in, Bailey covered her mouth. It was happening all over again. She let the recording speed by, watching as night after night there was no sign of Lucien.
    “It was terrible. Poor thing. They say her screams could be heard across the lawn in ward two.”
    Bailey kept her eyes closed, pretending to sleep. She couldn’t deal with the pitying glances.
    “How long has she been out?”
    Janie, Bailey’s regular nurse, had been training a new girl for the past two days as Bailey feigned unconsciousness. Bailey had learned more about herself from listening to their gossip than she had from any doctor throughout her entire stay.
    Janie sighed. “Four days. Dr. Richardson worried this might happen when she finally had her breakthrough. Can you imagine, believing with all your heart you’d met the love of your life and the two of you are having a child, only to wake up one day to find none of it was real?”
    The sharp knife in Bailey’s heart twisted. She almost gave herself away by clasping her flat stomach. There was no stopping the tears streaming from her eyes. She hadn’t stopped crying since she’d awoken to just the reality Janie described four days earlier. Bailey wondered if her eyes would ever be dry again.
    “Poor thing,” Janie said again. “Even in her sleep, she still cries.”
    As Bailey stared at the shop’s surveillance video, every horrible minute of her time in Rockway Mental Institution played through her mind. No one could understand how real the pain was for her. In her mind and heart, her baby and his father were real. Every day, it was as if they’d died, leaving her behind. Now, it was happening again. She couldn’t take it. Not twice in the same lifetime. How long did she have before she snapped completely? Would it be the same as last time? She couldn’t do it. The imaginary loss she’d suffered already sat so heavily on Bailey’s heart, she’d been rendered useless for life.
    An image of Lucien’s gorgeous face floated across her mind. Her stomach clenched. Coming to her feet, Bailey headed for the front on autopilot. There was no alternative. Rockway hadn’t protected her from her mind last time. They couldn’t help her now. She knew herself too well. Without thought, she snagged the sharpest pair of scissors she could find. In the back of her mind, Bailey had always known it would come to this. She didn’t need to think it over. Her mind was too evil for her body to withstand.
    Bailey had been alone almost her entire life. No one would miss her. Clinging to the only true happiness she’d known, Bailey closed her eyes and brought an image of her mother to the forefront of her mind. She barely felt the blade tearing through her flesh. It was odd how little she remembered about her mother’s appearance, but she could recall exactly how her hugs felt. The floor rocked beneath Bailey’s feet. Instead of falling, Bailey eased to the ground. Her eyes fluttered open, catching sight of Lucien above her. He was covered in her blood.
    “I never liked being crazy,” she admitted, hoping to explain her actions. Unfortunately, the words came out slurred