Kara. I willed myself to calm down, get a grip. My gaze was steady as I turned to look at her, but then she asked, “What’s wrong?”
I thought I had it under control, but just one look from my best friend—the look that told me she knew something bad had happened, knew I was hurting—and all the emotions I was desperately trying to keep inside spilled out. “Kar,” I sobbed.
“Oh, sweetie.” She wrapped her arms around me as the tears began to flow.
“Damon! What did you do to her, you bastard! You always make girls cry. What did you say?”
He raised his hands in surrender. “I’m innocent.”
Kara shook her head. “Come on, let’s get you inside.”
She led me to the kitchen. “Sit down, Ver.” She filled a glass with ice water and handed it to me. “What happened?”
The water was cold as it slid down my parched throat. I concentrated on that feeling, wishing my heart was as hard and cold as the ice that clinked against the glass.
My eyes darted to Damon, who was now lying on the floor, half of his body disappearing under the sink. His hand reached blindly for the toolbox sitting beside his hip. Kara kicked it closer to him.
“Don’t mind him. He’s here to fix a leak.” Then she pointed at her ears. “He’s always got his earphones in when he’s working so he won’t hear us. Now, Ver, you better tell me what happened before I explode and kill someone. Caleb will be the first on my list. How did he fuck up?”
I shook my head. I didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to rehash it. I just wanted to curl into a ball and forget about it. Maybe I should sleep, and when I wake up, it will all be a dream.
Kara shook my shoulders when she didn’t get a response.
“Kar, I just…want to sleep for now. Can I use your spare bedroom? I’ll tell you everything when I wake up.”
“No. You tell me now.”
I jumped in my seat when I heard the doorbell.
“Stay here,” she ordered. “I’m expecting a package. When I come back, you better fess up.”
When she was gone, I stretched my arms on the table and buried myself in them.
I hated the hope and fear that had sprung into my chest when I’d heard the doorbell ring. How pathetic was I to expect that it might be Caleb? Of course he wouldn’t follow me. Why would he? Did I even want him to?
No, I didn’t. In fact, I never wanted to see him again. If he had the power—the carelessness—to hurt me this much, I didn’t want him in my life. He never should have been in it in the first place.
When I heard a commotion in the living room, I smashed my hands against my ears. I just wanted to be left alone.
“Red.”
I froze.
No. No. No.
My heart was thundering against my chest, but I dared not move.
It was his voice. Caleb’s voice.
“Red,” he repeated, his voice soft.
It was really him. He’d followed me.
I felt mixed emotions—relief because he had come after me, anger at his betrayal.
I curled my hands into fists, wishing I was somewhere else. Wishing last night hadn’t happened. That Beatrice-Rose had never come… But she had. If it hadn’t been last night, it would have been another night. It still would have happened.
When I felt his hand on my shoulder, I flinched. I pushed away from the table, the scrape of the chair against the floor hurting my ears. “Don’t touch me!” I shouted. His touch burned.