A Warrior's Second Chance (Faye and Alexander) novel Chapter 382

Chapter 382

FAYE

I didn’t stop until the trees swallowed me.

I wasn’t even sure how I got there–one moment I was leaving the room, the next I was already dee enough into the woods that the house felt like something distant.

My steps slowed on their own.

Then stopped.

Just like that.

I stood there, breathing unevenly, my chest rising a little too fast, the air cool against my skin but do nothing to settle the heat that had been tearing through me minutes ago.

It was gone now.

That was the first thing I noticed.

The feeling was gone, like it had never been there at all.

I swallowed, my fingers twitching slightly at my side.

And then-

I closed my eyes briefly, my jaw tightening as my memory replayed, whether I wanted it to or not.

I slapped Alexander.

“Oh no.”

The image came fresh… the way his head turned when it landed.

The way he didn’t move after.

Didn’t react.

Didn’t say anything.

My eyes opened again slowly, my gaze unfocused as I stared ahead at nothing.

I lifted my hand without thinking, staring at it like I didn’t quite recognize it.

Like it belonged to someone else.

Because that-

That didn’t feel like me.

“I would never do that. Why did I do that?” I said out loud.

Chapter 382

My fingers curled slowly into my palm.

I tried to trace it back.

The moment before it happened.

The second before my hand moved.

But it was… blank.

There had been no pause.

No thought.

Just… action.

My chest tightened.

A quiet breath left me.

“I…” I started, but the word didn’t go anywhere.

What was I even supposed to say?

I dropped my hand back to my side, dragging in a deeper breath this time, trying to steady myself.

It didn’t work.

Because the more I thought about it, the worse it felt.

Not just what I did-

But how easily it happened.

I had been angry, yes.

Frustrated,

Overwhelmed,

But that-

That wasn’t normal.

I knew my limits.

I knew how far I could go before I crossed a line.

And I crossed it without even realizing I was there.

That was the part that didn’t sit right.

That was the part that made it so terrifying.

I pressed my lips together, my jaw tightening again as I forced the image away, but it lingered anyway.

Chapter 382

The look on his face.

A slow breath left me, heavier this time, my shoulders dropping slightly under the weight of it.

“I didn’t mean to,” I muttered under my breath.

But even as I said it, it didn’t feel like enough.

Because meaning to or not didn’t change the fact that it happened.

I had the urge to hurt him earlier at the office… and now I finally did it.

ALEXANDER

I stayed seated, my elbows resting on my knees, my fingers pressing briefly against my temple before dropping again.

I was thinking.

Not about what just happened.

About what I was supposed to do next.

Because sitting there or reacting wasn’t going to fix anything.

I needed direction. A decision.

Someone to talk to.

Dr. Adams came to mind first.

Of course she did.

She was already involved, already aware something wasn’t right–even if she wasn’t seeing the full pictur She knew Faye almost drowned herself.

I could go back, explain it differently this time. Push harder. Maybe she would look at it from another angle, consider something she hadn’t before.

Maybe.

But even as I considered it, I knew what that conversation would look like.

Questions.

Observations.

Careful conclusions that wouldn’t actually give me anything solid.

And worse-

It would mean saving it out loud.

Chapter 382

Putting it into words.

The way Faye was acting.

The loss of control.

The unpredictability… the aggression.

I exhaled slowly, my jaw tightening.

No.

Not like that.

Not yet.

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Because if I did that without knowing what I was dealing with, all I’d be doing was putting a label on he

couldn’t take back.

And I wasn’t about to do that.

Not to her.

My fingers tapped against my knee for some minutes.

That left…

Helen.

The name came without effort… no matter how unwanted it was.

Because if this was anything beyond the ordinary–anything deeper than what it looked like on the surfac -then she would know something.

She always did.

This was the kind of thing she understood without needing it explained to her piece by piece.

Which should have made it simple.

It didn’t.

Because going to her meant more than just asking for answers.

It meant letting her see it.

Letting her in. Letting her know more than she should.

And that wasn’t something I could take lightly.

Not when it involved Faye.

Not when it involved something this unstable.

I leaned back slightly in the chair, my hand dragging once more through my hair as I exhaled under my

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breath

Dr. Adams wouldn’t be enough.

Helen was too much.

And sitting, doing nothing, still wasn’t an option.

I stared ahead for a moment, my thoughts scattered.

There had to be another way.

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