Page 310 of Night's Fall
We knocked again.
No answer.
“Gayle!It’sus!”Icalled.
No answer.
Cat andIlooked at each other.
Farg it.
I turned the knob and walked in.
The curtains were closed, so it was pitch black.
“Lights, ten percent,”Icalled to the lightbulbs in the old-fashioned lamps.
“No,” we heard said weakly from our left.
Gayle didn’t have a suite, but her room was large, with a sitting area and a massive bed.
And she was huddled in said bed, knees to chest, resting her side against the headboard.
“Lights, thirty percent,”Catordered.
“No!”Gaylecried.
But the lights geared up…and dang.
Gayle’s eyes were bloodshot and swollen, her face splotchy, her hair was not a gorgeous mess, it was a tangled one.
She was a disaster.
We darted to the bed and climbed into it with her.
But it was me who pulled her into my arms, cooing, “What’sgoing on?Areyou reacting to last night?Dowe need to call a doctor?”
She let out a harsh laugh the likeI’dnever heard from her.
Cat andIlocked eyes over her head.
“Last night.Yeah,”Gaylestated bitterly. “Butno doctor can help me.”
Cat laid a hand on her back and stroked. “Honey, what’s going on?”
“Nothing,” she bit out. “Preciselynothing.Andit never will.”
What?
“Maybe start at the beginning?”Isuggested.
The instantIdid, she tore out of my arms, scrambled off the bed and whirled on us with such quick energy,CatandIwere so surprised, we didn’t move.
“Guess who knocked on my door last night,” she urged acidly.
“Um…”Iwas too scared by her demeanor to guess.
“Sirk?”Cat, who was never too scared of anything, queried.
