Page 100 of Sugarlips
No. I knew that wasn’t the case.
There was no fucking way I was calling Tanja. Even on her best day, there was no way she’d answer and help me at four in the morning.
My sister couldn’t help me from across the ocean.
I dialed my Dad’s number. Still standing halfway down the stairs, I held the phone up to my ear. Straight to voicemail. Dammit. Both he and my mom turn their phoneson Do Not Disturbat night.
You could text Liam.He’d be awake.
Shit. He truly was the only person who made sense, other than the police.
I typed,I’m so sorry to bother you… I think someone broke into my house last night.
My trembling thumb hovered over thesendbutton.
What am I doing?This was exactly what he’d been talking about. Ihadto stop depending on him.
As I was about to delete the text, a cabinet door slammed shut in my kitchen. Loudly. And a muttered fuck echoed through my otherwise silent house, even though it was whispered.
Ice skittered down my spine and I flinched, jumping at the noise. My hand slid across the screen of my phone and it slipped out of my hand falling down the stairs with a deafening crash.
Shit! Shit, shit, shit!
Looking around me, I grabbed the nearest thing that could possibly be used as a weapon—a wooden sculpture Tanja had bought for me on some trip to Europe.
Yep, this was going in the garbage anyway after last night. Might was well use it to bludgeon an intruder first.
“Chloe?” A feminine voice called from the kitchen. “Is that you?”
I exhaled a relieved breath and rushed down the rest of the stairs into the kitchen. “Elaina?”
There, standing over the coffee maker in my dark kitchen, was my big sister.
And I’d never been happier to see her in my life.
Her luggage was propped beside her and she held a bag of coffee in one hand and filters in the other.
Tears streamed down my face. I lost control of every emotion I’d been tamping down for two days and I fell into her arms.
“Oh, Chloe,” she whispered and held me as I cried. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
We fell to the floor together, sitting on my scrubbed hardwood planks and leaning against the cabinets while I sobbed. A mix of the faint lemon-scented cleaner and Elaina’s cucumber shampoo surrounded us.
After a few minutes of uncontrollable crying, I managed to get it together. Using a dish towel that I yanked from where it hung on my oven, I wiped at my raw eyes. “Wh-what are you doing here?” I managed to ask in between hiccupped breaths. “You’re not scheduled to come home until next week.”
Elaina sighed and held me closer to her in a hug. “I saw the story that went viral… and as someone who knowsexactlyhow that feels, I came home to be with you.”
I sniffed. “I don’t deserve a big sister as good as you, you know that?”
“Yeah. I’m pretty damn awesome.” Her cheek fell to my head. “So, you and Liam are…” her voice trailed off, and the only response I could manage through my clenched throat and glossy tears was to shake my head.
Elaina sighed. “I’m sorry.”
Though neither of us could see the front door from where we were sitting, we heard it swing open. “Chloe! Chloe, are you okay? Where are you?”
“Liam?”What the hell?
I pushed to my feet and peeked around the wall to the foyer. I didn’t have to peek far, he was already rushing into the house, panic-stricken.
