Page 65 of Healed
“Yes. Just really tired. I might wake up later and come get something to eat. I just need to lie down for a little while first.”
“Alright. Let me know if you need anything.”
Cristie lay down on her bed and opened her laptop. She opened the file on her hard drive called “Remi”, and started scrolling through all the pictures of them together as children. There were shots of them running around barefoot at barbecues, at seafood boils, and bonfires. More shots of them in the same sleeping bag in a tent. Curled up on a sofa sleeping on the same pillow as very, very young toddlers. There were even a couple of pictures of them at Christmastime sitting in front of Uncle Kaid’s tree with all the rest of the kids.
A tear ran from the corner of her eye and she swiped at it angrily. Frustrated that anybody could make her feel like she wasn’t good enough, she closed her laptop, and flopped over on her side determined to do exactly what she told her mother she was doing — get some sleep, and hopefully in the process manage to block him from her thoughts again.
~~~
Hours later after countless episodes of tossing and turning, flipping the pillow and fluffing it again and again, Cristie finally sat up in the darkness. She’d managed to grab a bit ofsnoozing during the hours since she’d told her mother she had a headache, but hadn’t really fallen deeply asleep. Irritated that the moment she’d managed to fall asleep, Remi’s face would pop into her mind while he reached for her, waking her, had her more irritated than she’d been when she’d first tried to sleep. Sighing in exasperation, she turned to her nightstand and snatched the scrap of receipt paper off its top. She looked down at the name and number scrawled there. “I am never going to get any sleep until I get this over with,” she grumbled, digging her phone out from beneath her pillow, where she always kept it when she slept. She swiped her finger across her cell phone screen to wake it up, and realized it was past midnight. She considered waiting until morning, then decided, to hell with it. Bailey had said any time, whatever was convenient for her, and this was as convenient as it was going to get. Cristie dialed the number and waited, while her heart nearly pounded out of her chest.
Three rings later, Bailey answered. “H’lo?” she mumbled sleepily into the phone.
“Bailey? This is Cristie.”
Bailey’s attention sharpened at once. “Cristie! Hi!” she rushed out as she cleared her throat and tried to force herself to wakefulness.
“Hi,” Cristie said, schooling herself silently to remember that this girl was at fault in no way. She was actually very, very nice. “Julia said you called and asked her to pass along your number.”
“I did, and now that you’re calling back, I’m second guessing myself.”
“Well, you must have had a reason to call in the first place,” Cristie said.
“I did, yeah, um…”
“Sorry it’s so late, but your message did say whenever it’s convenient,” Cristie said.
“Oh, no, it’s fine. I just have to figure out where to start.”
“How about Remi’s an ass?”
Bailey laughed. “Yeah, well, he’s actually a very kind male. Problem is, he’s lost, so he is behaving like an ass.”
“What do you mean lost? Literally? They can’t find him?”
“Oh, no. I mean, spiritually, intellectually.”
“I don’t understand,” Cristie finally said, sighing tiredly.
Bailey could hear the fatigue in Cristie’s voice and didn’t know for sure, but hoped that it was due to her and Remi being apart. “So, he’s spiraling. I’ve been watching from a distance when I happen to see him, or when someone mentions something about him, and I’m pretty sure that if someone doesn’t step in, he’s going to be gone for good.”
“I still don’t understand why you’re calling me,” Cristie said.
“Because no one else has, and I find it strange that in a family of shifters, two generations on site, no one thinks to call the mate that may be the only person that can talk some sense into him.”
Cristie sat quietly for a moment.
“You still there?” Bailey asked.
“Yes. Just not sure what you expect me to do.”
“Let me start at the beginning. I walked away from him, while you were still here, or had just left, I’m not exactly sure. But I did it because Tempest explained to me about mates and the uncontrollable pull. I was the odd man out, not you and not him. The only way to make him feel like he owed me nothing and was free to be with you, the one he’s actually destined to be with, was to take that choice away from him. So, I ended things. When I went over there to end it for good, he was drunk. I mean, seriously drunk, could barely hold his head up, surrounded by bottles both empty and half-drunk, and a partial case in thekitchen of bottles that had not yet been opened. He was mean, surly, and hateful. He was in a state that I’d never seen him in. I told him that I didn’t want to be a part of it, I was done, and he needed to make things right with you, and left. I found out later he threw a bottle through the front window of his house. Since then, I hear that he’s falling down drunk all the time. I mean All. The. Time. He’s fighting with his Alpha, doesn’t even bother going to work most days, and has even managed to get himself kicked out of the clan.”
“Oh, my God,” Cristie said. “And Brandt is patient! It’s hard to push him to that point.”
“Yeah, Brandt is very nice. He’s mated to my best friend.”
“Tempest,” Cristie said. “I liked her.”
