Page 107 of One Killer Night
“I’m not sleeping,” she murmurs next to me.
“Sorry,” I whisper back.
Her eyes open as the blanket rustles. “Hi.”
“Hi,” I say back, trying to smile but only managing a momentary uptick of my lips.
Her brows lift as she eyes my water. “How about something stronger?”
I take a swig to revitalize my throat before I nod. “Yes, please.”
We both slip off the bed with her arm over my shoulders as we walk side by side, making our way through the bedroom and into the kitchen.
“Mom and Dad?” I ask. She leaves me to turn on the lights.
“Back at the hotel. You’ve been knocked out since we came back Monday.”
I pull a stool out from under her island. “What do you mean Monday? Isn’t that today ... Or is it Tuesday now?” I almost start to look at my phone, but I left it back in the bedroom.
“Go-Go, we’re two a.m. on a Wednesday.” I stare back as the bottle of vodka clanks as she pulls it from her freezer.
“Fuck,” I breathe out as I realize the self-induced coma I put myself in.
She nods. “Yeah. I told them I’d take the night shifts because I figured when you came back to life, it might get a little messy.”
She pulls two short glasses out of her cabinet and pours two large shots. I reach out, slide my drink across the granite, and wrap both my hands around it. Exactly what I’m thinking tumbles out of my mouth because there’s no point in hiding anything from my sister. She’s the one person who can see me for exactly who I am.
“How did I get here?”
She picks up her glass and takes a sip before saying, “Not because of anything you did.”
I’m staring at the dark swirls in the counter, feeling the ache in my chest that may never leave.
“Do you think he ever really loved me?”
“Yes,” she says without hesitation.
I look up at her instantly, staring into her eyes to see if she’s lying. She isn’t.
“I do,” she presses. “I also think he lied because he felt he had to ... But that doesn’t change the fact that he lied. And that makes him dangerous, Golds.”
I already know where she’s going with this, so I stop the hard sell.
“I heard the conversation earlier ... between all of you. What happened at the apartment?”
She sips her drink again, looking away from me for a split second as if she doesn’t want to tell me.
“Evie . . .”
She lets out a harsh breath. “It was destroyed, like completely demolished. He broke all the furniture, ruined all your books. Just fucking wrecked it and left.”
I inhale a shaky breath before I bring the drink to my lips, instantly feeling the burn bleed over my chest.
“I’m sorry ... Are you okay?” she pivots.
I nod and take another drink, clearing my throat. “So that’s why Mom and Dad were so adamant about looking into him ... Because he lost it.”
“Yeah,” she breathes out. “And I think it’s a good idea ... I mean, what do we really know about him? All we’re operating on is your revelation from the police, and the apartment ... I don’t know, I think Mom’s right, he could be—”
