Spiked (Blocked Book 3) by Jennifer Lane

Author:Jennifer Lane [Lane, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Psyched Publishing
Published: 2016-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

DR. VALENTINE SMILED AT DANE AND ME. “Hello, Monroes.” Her voice was low, presumably to avoid others in the waiting room overhearing her.

When I didn’t get to my feet, Dane nudged me. “Your turn, ganja girl.”

“You’re hilarious.” I glared at him as I followed the psychologist to her office.

“Does Dane tease you a lot?” she asked after we sat.

“Yes.” I looked at the ceiling. “Stoner Sally’s another of his favorites.”

But she didn’t crack a smile. “If he only knew the whole story.”

My lips pressed together. “Which he won’t.”

“You don’t want him to know?”

I shook my head. I didn’t want anyone to know what Blake had done to me. It was disgusting.

“How have you been feeling?”

“So much better.”

Her head tilted like she was surprised. “You have?”

“Um, I’ve had fewer nightmares, I guess. Or maybe I don’t remember them as much.”

“You don’t have to tell me you’re all better just to please me, you know. You’ve been through a lot. How are you really feeling?”

I pondered her question. “I’m still jumpy, and my sleep isn’t great. I…don’t want to think about that night. But when I hang out with Mateo, it’s not as bad. He relaxes me or something.”

“You’ve been spending more time with him?”

A light feeling entered my chest as I recalled that ridiculous game we’d played almost a week ago. Mateo had texted that he wanted to play again, calling it Game of Things: The Squeakquel.

“Occasionally.”

I wished he’d been with me last Saturday night after the football game. My smile faded. Maybe I would’ve acted more responsibly then. He wasn’t as stupid as I was.

“You saw Dr. Cabela?” asked the psychologist.

My face flamed. The gynecological exam with my team physician hadn’t been fun, but I’d gotten through it. I wouldn’t know about HIV for another couple of months, but the other tests had come back negative, thank God. “Yes.”

“Good job. You didn’t avoid it.”

Yay for me.

“So is there anything in particular you want to discuss today?”

I swallowed. I wasn’t sure what to say. She would probably want to hear about Saturday night, but I didn’t want to admit how I’d behaved. “Uh, I didn’t do so hot on my psychology test yesterday.”

“That sounds disappointing. What happened?”

“I tried to study, but I couldn’t focus. I kept thinking about…” I snuck a glance at her. “You know.”

She nodded. “Flashbacks to the trauma.”

Fucking flashbacks.

“Let’s talk about trauma some more, okay?” She waited for my nod. “It can feel like you’re going crazy when you’re here in the present, but your mind’s back in the past, reliving the trauma through flashbacks or nightmares. So why does that happen? I use a metaphor to explain it.

“Imagine a screen door in your brain.” She held up her hand and spread her fingers. “When we feel threatened, hormones like adrenaline and cortisol flow through the screen to mobilize our response to the threat.” She mimed the hormones flowing through her fingers. “The fight or flight response is important for our survival. But when something traumatic happens—say, sexual assault, severe car accident, physical abuse—the body can become overwhelmed.

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