Page 28 of Come to Head

“Hello?” I asked with hesitation.

“Izzy.” Yara’s familiar voice was coated in relief. “I was so worried, nobody would tell me anything. Oliver said you were safe but then he wouldn’t give specifics. What’s going on?”

The background noise wasoff. Machines beeping, chaotic voices calling out. “Who is Kazi?”

Yara didn’t speak for a few minutes. “How do you know Kazi?” The relief was replaced with paranoia. Suspicion.

I had never heard Yara sound so critical before. “Yara, where are you?”

Yara heaved out a sigh. “I’m okay, but I’m at the hospital. There’s something I really need to tell you. It’s important. But I need to say it in person, okay?”

“Aren’t you back in California?”

“Not anymore, I’m here. Izzy–” A sob wracked through Yara. I had never heard her so heartbroken before, and I became incredibly concerned. “I’m so sorry, about everything.”

“Hey girl! Hey! It’s okay you have nothing to be sorry for. I love you, mamacita,” I half joked, trying to calm her down.

It had the opposite effect, and she began to sob uncontrollably. “Please…please don’t call me mamacita anymore. I’ll see you soon, I promise.”

On the other side of the phone I heard the distinct wordDNA, before the line went silent.

“Yara? Yara!” Now my own concern was settling into place.

After a few nauseatingly worrisome moments, noise cut through her phone again. The machines beeping. “Izzy, I”—her voice broke—“I fucked up. Please believe me when I say I love you and nothing I do is to hurt you.”

My mind raced with the endless possibilities of what had happened. Why was she at the hospital? What was going on? But at the end of the day, it didn’t matter. I trusted Yara. “I love you Yara. No matter what it is, we can get through it together. And besides, I have a whole wild story to tell you as well.” And I meant every word, but I knew in my gut that eventhough nothing I was doing was normal, Yara would support me. Just as she always had.

“Thank you girl! I will call you soon, I promise.” That was the last she said to me before disconnecting the phone.

Chapter 15

Oliver

His Isobel

“You’re an idiot.” The voice cut through the darkness as Oliver stepped into the bedroom and watched his Isobel sleep for the umpteenth time.

It had been a week since he’d caught her between Emilio and Maddox.

Maddox he had accepted if only just barely, but Emilio?

The scoundrel was supposed to protect her when Oliver didn’t trust himself to anymore. Instead, he had stolen Isobel’s virginity.

It had only taken Oliver a few minutes to do the math, to figure out who it was. He knew someone had while he was away overseas, she had told him as much. But he thought it was anobodyclassmate.

Not hissupposedally.

And to top it all off. Emilio didn’t even keep her safe, she had almost fallen victim to one of the York scum.

It was that and the blatant disrespect that had caused him to spiral into his own mind. The darkness that typically lived there overcrowding the light that Isobel shined into it.

He was afraid he would hurt her, that he would say something he didn’t mean. He needed time to wrap his mind around the fact that it wouldn’t just be him and Maddox with his precious Isobel.

But Emilio would be joining the foray, too.

Maybe he should have taken her wings and locked her away years ago.

“Whatever you’re thinking, no, just no. You have that sinister look on your face,” Maddox whispered in a hushed tone.

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