The Perfect Getaway by Kiersten Modglin

Author:Kiersten Modglin [Modglin, Kiersten]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kiersten Modglin
Published: 2020-10-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

Andy

“Knock, knock,” Laura said, saying the words rather than actually doing the knocking. The sliding glass door was already cracked, but she pushed it the rest of the way open, and she and Megan stepped through.

“We brought you chicken noodle soup and iced tea,” Megan said. “Comfort food and something to keep you cool.”

“The world-renowned chef made chicken noodle soup?” Brad asked from where he sat by the window. He’d been with me all day, sitting quietly, waiting for me to talk, but I had nothing to say. I felt empty, hollow. This was my worst nightmare come true, and I had no one to understand it. None of them liked Emily, anyway. They didn’t care that she was gone. They didn’t understand how I was feeling or how much I was hurting.

“Special request,” Laura quipped, easing down on the bed. She rubbed my ankle carefully. “Andy, do you want to eat something?”

I grunted a response, not bothering to move.

“Come on, sweetie, you need to eat something,” Megan said, sitting beside Laura. They looked up at me as if I were a child. Someone to coddle.

“I’m not hungry…” I croaked, my voice hoarse from hours of screaming and crying. Exactly like a child. I squeezed my eyes shut. I just wanted it to all be over. I wanted to talk to Manu and tell him I wanted to go home early. To be alone. It was too hard being here.

“Well, how about a drink, then?” Laura asked. She leaned closer to me when I opened my eyes, setting the Styrofoam cup and bowl on my nightstand and moving to open a window—all the windows. “It’s so hot in here, and you haven’t had anything to drink. You’re going to dehydrate if you don’t get something in your system.”

“Newsflash, Laura, I already have a mother. I don’t need you to tell me what to do—”

“Easy,” Brad warned, giving me a cold glare. “She’s just trying to help.”

Laura didn’t miss a beat as she moved back toward the bed, a breeze now carrying across the room. I didn’t want to admit how good it felt. I wanted to be hot. Miserable. It was still a better end of the deal than what Emily got. At least I was alive. “We’re really sorry about Emily, Andy.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet you are,” I muttered, hardly moving my lips.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Brad asked, standing up then. If he wanted to fight, I could take him down. I was taller than him, stockier. But I didn’t care. I didn’t care what he did or what I did. I couldn’t feel anything except pain. A vast, empty pain that dulled everything else.

“You know damn well what it means—Laura and Natasha already admitted they didn’t like her. She just wanted to be accepted. She brought you here, to this island, to get to know you all, and instead you shut her out and made comments about her age and how badly she treated me. You didn’t even try to get to know her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.