The Wildelings by Harding Lisa

Author:Harding,Lisa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperVia
Published: 2025-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

An hour later I was lying on my bed—paralyzed, listening to the rain outside, dreading the moment when Jacques would arrive back, when someone knocked. The door opened and there was Linda, electrified, her hair standing on end. It was as if she was shot through by light.

“Mark just told me he loved me.”

I sat up. “When?”

“Just now. We had the best sex ever, then he told me he loved me.”

Something hard and cold settled in me, freezing me at my core, making movement impossible. Linda didn’t notice, tied up as she was in her wonder. She was breathless and a tear rolled down her cheek. I wanted to brush it away and hold her close. I wanted to rage, warn her, bring her into my confidence, tell her he was a dangerous, toxic, manipulative predator but really, who did I need to warn her about?

She went on, riffing in a voice that was not her own: “I also wanted to say sorry I’ve been a bit of a bitch recently. I’ve never been in love before. And it’s scary, right? That experience of falling through the cracks of known experience . . .” She looked at me with pure, unfiltered love. “But you are my best friend. Sisters, forever, right?”

I turned away, curled into the fetal position to stop my stomach from coming up through my mouth.

She sat gently on the edge of the bed. “You okay, sweet-cheeks? Cramps? Hope you’ll be okay for your performance later.”

She reached out and brushed my hair off my forehead, stroked me as if she were soothing a child. I wished she hadn’t used that expression of Sue’s. I remember thinking I might crack from the weight of guilt, or the force of it, a solid concrete juggernaut hurtling my way. I had already set the thing in motion.

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