By Amelia Shaw
Book 3 in the Woodlands Pack series.
Chapter 1.
Celeste.
I was going to be sick, and the toilet was too far away.
I ran as fast as I could, knocking my knee painfully against the water closet door frame as I rushed into the tiny room. “Ow!”
The heat rushed up my throat and I grabbed for my hair, holding it out of the way as I launched my body forward.
“Bleh….”
The acidic bile rushed up my throat and into the toilet bowl, splashing against the sides and making me retch and choke. The smell burnt my nose and tears rolled down my cheeks, until finally, mercifully, it stopped.
I reached for the thin toilet paper beside me, pulling it from the roll, and dabbing at my mouth.
I swallowed hard, though my mouth was too dry.
Yuck.
“Oh… dear God.” That was terrible.
And it hadn’t stopped yet.
Every day I’d been sick.
Every morning, to be precise. Until about lunchtime.
For two weeks.
I couldn’t ignore the truth any longer.
“I’m in trouble here.”
The front door to the apartment banged open and I jumped onto the toilet seat, my head spinning with fatigue and low blood pressure.
“Celeste!”
I pushed the door quickly shut and pulled down my pants, so it looked like I was using the toilet for something more than vomiting.
In case he came in. Like he had in the past.
There was no such thing as privacy if you were a member of the Little Rock bear’s den.
I called out to him. “In the toilet. I’ll be out soon.”
The bile rose again. Oh, no. My gut churned and tightened.
But I closed my eyes and forced it down, swallowing hard against the automatic reflex to let it all out.
I couldn’t let them know my secret.
I couldn’t.
They’d never forgive me.