Page 51 of I Would Die for You

She instinctively stiffens as she barricades herself behind invisible walls.

“You’ve got a real talent,” he says, tucking a stray piece of copper-colored hair behind her ear. “You’re going places…”

“And I supposeyouthink you’re going to ride my coattails?” she says, laughing sarcastically.

“There you goagain,” he says. “Using humor to deflect a compliment or ward off anything you don’t want to talk about.”

He’s standing so close that Nicole can feel the heat of his body against hers.

“I value your friendship and I wouldn’t want to do anything to jeopardize it, but I think we’re both fooling ourselves if we truly believe that’s all this is.”

A breath catches in Nicole’s throat as she watches Ben’s mouth move toward hers, as if in slow motion.

“No, no, no!”screams her head.“Yes, yes, yes!”cries every other part of her anatomy.

As his lips meet hers, she vaguely recalls thinking,“It’s just a kiss, a one-off—nothing more.”

So how come they end up in bed together, back at her flat?

24

“Where the hell have you been?” her dad roars as Cassie quietly lets herself into the house just after ten. She was hoping he would be in bed by now, but he’s sitting on the bottom of the stairs, waiting and aggrieved.

“I…” she starts, not quite prepared with a plausible excuse.

“Let me guess…” says her dad, his voice simultaneously loaded with rage and resignation. “You’re about to tell me that you went straight to work from school.”

Cassie’s head nods even though she knows it’s probably the wrong thing to do.

“Except you didn’t go to school today,did you?”

What? How did he know that?Amelia had sounded a dead ringer for her mum when she called the headmistress this morning, claiming her daughter had been up all night with a sickness bug.

“Or work. So wherewereyou?”

Cassie chews on the inside of her cheek as she deliberates howmany lies are going to get her out of this. Shecouldsay that the school had got it wrong; that of course she was there. Shecouldsay that Woolworths had begged her to cover a staff shortage. Shecouldsay that her mum had given her permission to go and study in the local library instead of the classroom. What she can’t tell him is that she spent the day at Amelia’s house—well, more of a caravan on blocks in the middle of a field. She’d discovered that the mother Amelia claimed worried about her if she went to the corner shop had actually been so high that she didn’t even know who her daughter was, opting to chase the dragon with two unsavory-looking men on the couch rather than question why Amelia wasn’t in school.

With every peach schnapps she’d drunk, Cassie had found herself marveling at how cool it must be to have parents who didn’t care what you did. But as day had turned to night, and Amelia’s mum had passed out in a drug-induced stupor, she had started to wonder if being loved was better than being ignored.

“I’m sorry,” Cassie says to her dad, knowing by the look on his face that it’s best to be conciliatory. “It was Sports Day today and I didn’t want to miss out on a whole day of studying, so I went to Amelia’s house with my books.” She picks up her heavy school bag, as if to prove her point, praying that she’d not left any rattling empties in there.

“Well, while you’ve been wherever you’ve been, your mum…” His shoulders convulse and his head falls into his hands.

“Mumwhat?” Her voice breaks, fear rendering her speechless. She races up the stairs, without waiting for an answer, tripping over herself in her efforts to get to her mother’s bedroom.

In the soft light of the shaded bedside lamp, Gigi looks like she always does when she’s asleep, serene and peaceful. But her skin is sallow, reflecting the light instead of absorbing it.

“Mum, can you hear me?” cries Cassie, begging her to answer, or to at least see the flicker of her eyelids—a sign of recognition when she doesn’t have the energy to open them. But there’s nothing.

She forces a trembling hand toward her mother’s face, willing her fingers to feel the warmth of her cheeks. But she stops herself just millimeters away, terrified that she’ll be met with stone-cold porcelain.

“What’swrongwith her?” she wails, as if the deterioration is unexpected.

Her father appears by her side, reaching a hand out to hold hers. “It’s time” is all he says.

“No!” sobs Cassie, falling into him.

“Now listen,” he says, peeling her away and holding her at arm’s length. “I need you to go over to your sister’s to see if she’s there. Her phone’s been off the hook for the past couple of hours, so I can only assume she is. I don’t know if she was intending to stay there tonight, but I need her to come here straightaway.” He looks at her as she nods numbly. “OK?”

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