Final Score (Madison Howlers #5) by Camellia Tate

Author:Camellia Tate [Tate, Camellia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-05T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

I felt absolutely awful about leaving Maria at the dance class. There was a turmoil of other emotions bouncing through me, too. I tried to ignore those. Now was not the time to think about how attractive Maria had looked, or how good she’d felt in my hands.

Leaving her there was such a shitty thing to do. But I didn’t think I had a choice.

Kira almost always claimed there was some emergency. I knew that. Honestly, my first instinct - maybe for the first time ever, I realized - was to say that I couldn’t come over. But she was crying, barely making sense at all and... I couldn’t risk that she’d done something to herself.

All of the guilt I felt about leaving Maria on her birthday had to be suppressed so I could concentrate on Kira and whatever it was that she needed right now.

I expected to find her on the couch, just like I had last time, but instead Kira’s apartment was quiet. There was no TV running in the background, there weren’t even any lights on. I called out Kira’s name when I got there, closing the door behind me. When there was no response, I felt dread pool coldly in the pit of my stomach.

“Kira!” I called out again, making my way to her bedroom. Like the rest of the apartment, the room was dark. But this time I could hear a small response.

It was almost a whimper, one a small animal might make in a trap.

“Oh, Kira,” I sighed, walking over so I could pull the blankets away enough to find her face. Even in the light coming from the street, Kira looked pale. Her cheeks were tear-stained, makeup running down them. I would have asked if she was okay, but I knew she wasn’t.

Reaching out, I brushed a hand through her hair. It seemed to startle her out from whatever state she was in. She finally noticed me there. “I’m sorry,” was the first thing out of her mouth. Her body shook as she burst into tears again.

I wanted to help her so much it almost physically hurt.

Sometimes, like when I had first met Kira, she was so full of energy. She brightened any room she went into. And then there were days like this. Days when all she could do was hide under a pile of blankets.

“It’s okay,” I said, stroking her face softly. “I’m going to make you some tea, yeah? Will you eat it if I bring you some food?” I knew Kira wouldn’t have eaten on her own account. In fact, I suspected she might not have eaten for days.

There wasn’t a response. She clung to my hand for a moment before moving back enough to let me get up.

I tried to focus on helping Kira, making food, even tidying up her apartment a bit. The alternative was to think about how disappointed Maria was in me, how much I’d let her down.

All I could do was hope that Kira wasn’t going to be the reason I lost the best thing that had happened to me in a long time.

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.