Kiss the Stars (Devon Slaughter Book 1) by Alice Bell

Author:Alice Bell [Bell, Alice]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Published: 2015-04-16T05:00:00+00:00

On the evening of July 7, Devon Slaughter passed away at Hospital Metrapolitano in Managua, Nicaragua. He was 29 years old. He was the only child of Erin Morgan and Devon Ames Slaughter.

Devon was a doctor of philosophy and taught at Hawthorn College before leaving to travel and volunteer in Central America. A celebration of his life will be held at seven p.m. on Sunday at the Episcopal Parish of St. Barnabas. Donations in his name can be made to Doctors Without Borders.

18. Devon

MY HEAD throbbed like I had a hangover. I opened one eye. The dark swirled around like fog until my sight adjusted. I recognized the color of twilight coming through a crack in the curtains.

I was hugging a soft pillow.

I shot up out of bed. My gaze sought the corners of the room. Where were my boots? Damn. I felt disoriented, though I seemed to be back to normal, more or less, aside from the dull ache behind my eyes.

I sat on the edge of the bed and glanced down and buttoned my jeans. Oh, man. Zadie. What a fucked up night. Is that what it took to remember?

Did I want to remember? It was like being dealt another losing hand. Same shit, different day.

I pulled on my boots. I liked to be ready for a quick exit, no matter what. Under normal circumstances, my shoes stayed on. A sloe (slow) screw up against the wall wasn’t just a drink to me.

I ran my fingers through my hair and listened, hearing what at first I thought were mice scampering across the floor above. When I honed in, I realized it was the sound of crying.

So that’s where Ruby had gone. She did cry a lot.

Why was she crying? Her rampant emotions had excited me, at first. And now they stirred something deeper, what I’d been searching for when I watched those old movies—my humanity.

At the end of the hall, I saw a door cracked open. I went to it and found a narrow stairway. When I went up, my head brushed the ceiling.

Ruby heard me. I caught her sudden stillness, before her little footsteps scurried. When I reached the top of the stairs, my gaze fell on what looked to be discarded clothes. I followed the trail and found her hiding behind a red screen.

“Ruby?” I expected her to come out. I thought it must be some kind of game. Or maybe she had been doing something embarrassing and her first instinct was to hide.

She was crouched on the floor, wearing a white gown. The folds fanned out around her. She stared up at me with huge black-smeared eyes. Her long red hair was disheveled, as if she had been tearing at it. Her gown looked like something a little girl would put on for dress-up.

I wondered why her hands were behind her back. “What are you doing?” I said.

“Go away,” she hissed.

Had I hurt her feelings? Last night couldn’t have been much fun for her. But

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