Hope For Answers: (Laila Hope Book 1) by Michael Wellington

Author:Michael Wellington [Wellington, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lone Crow Publishing
Published: 2023-08-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 35

Hope

MY HEAD FELT LIKE IT HAD BEEN split in two when I awoke the next morning. The alcohol was partly to blame, but the biggest culprit was the hardwood floor of the treehouse. Eric had rolled out a thin mattress that had helped initially, but after a few hours it sagged and felt as though it was never there to begin with.

I pressed a hand to my forehead as I sat up, my heartbeat thumping in my temples and down the back of my neck. The comforter I had been covered up with slid down to my waist, leaving my naked breasts exposed to the cool morning air. I folded my arms across them instinctively, as if I was afraid Eric might see them. I glanced down at where he still slept next to me and laughed. After last night, there wasn’t an inch of me that he hadn’t seen, kissed, or touched.

I pulled the comforter the rest of the way off and got dressed. When I was finished, I took one last look at Eric, then snuck out through the door and down the rope ladder. It wasn’t until I walked around the side of the house that I remembered that my car was still parked behind the bar.

I glanced back at the treehouse and thought about waking Eric up and asking for a ride. It would mean we would have to do the whole awkward morning after thing, but it would also save me a five mile walk back to the bar.

I shook my head, turned around, and started walking.

With every step I felt a pleasurable soreness between my legs that left me craving more. But I knew the chances of Eric and I repeating the previous night’s adventures were slim to none. He had a life in Arlington and mine was waiting for me in Detroit. I didn’t have the time or the energy to make a long distance relationship work.

After I retrieved my car, I drove back to the motel and took a hot shower. Then I ate a stale PopTart from one of the vending machines out front and got dressed in the all black pencil skirt suit and matching heels I had packed for Jessica’s funeral. I took a few practice laps around the room to get used to walking in heels again, then got in my car and headed for the funeral home.

It wasn’t until I pulled into the parking lot that the realization of what I was about to do hit me.

I had been so focused on solving Jordyn and Jessica’s cases that I hadn’t given myself the chance to grieve the loss of my best friend. All of the emotions that I had been bottling up came out in one giant wave that left me shaking and breathless as hot tears rolled off of my chin and dripped onto my skirt.

I sat in my car and cried until I felt like I had no more tears left. Then I squeezed eye drops into my red rimmed and puffy eyes and forced myself to go inside.

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