Page 36 of Fragile Kiss (Fragile 2)
She slumped to the floor, resting her head. At this angle she could see down the hall, and she tried to see the ice machine from here.
But there was no ice machine in her line of vision.
A series of booms that sounded like thunder reached her ears. Storm, she thought, closing her eyes again. I love storms. Come on, rain. Put me to sleep. Bring me my emergency pill so I can feel better, and then put me to sleep. I can go home as soon as I feel better.
“Lil.” The voice was deep and full and familiar. Her eyelids weighed a thousand pounds, but she forced them open enough to see a strong, chiseled face close to hers.
What felt like a hand touched her cheek. “You’re burning up.”
“Cayden,” she said, and her eyes closed again.
“Yeah, I’m here. What happened?”
Her mouth was so dry from thirst that it felt sticky. “I just need my pill,” she slurred.
The floor disappeared beneath her; she felt herself being carried to the bed and gently laid down. He put his hand on her arm. “Where’s your pill?”
“I need some water.”
“Don’t move. I’ll be right back.” She heard the thunder again, but this time it faded away.
Rain, are you still coming?
Since she had arrived in Los Angeles, she’d barely had time to check out her room and the facilities at the hotel. What she did know at this point was that the ice bucket was fancy, the bathtub was massive, and the window was almost the size of the entire wall.
Everything was quiet, but not for long. Almost as soon as they had left, the rumbling footsteps came back. She knew Cayden walked loudly, but she swore the sound was signaling the incoming storm. She waited for the sound of rain to fill the room.
“Where are your pills?”
“I’ll find them,” she was barely able to mumble, but made no attempt to move. She felt herself sinking very quickly into a dark sleep.
Cayden said something else, but she knew he wasn’t trying to talk to her. His voice was different when he was talking to himself. Sometimes he hummed to himself. She could hear it in her head now. One time, he was cleaning his kitchen while he thought she was sleeping. But she wasn’t, and she tried to sneak up on him. Hearing such a huge, muscular guy humming to himself was the opposite of what she had expected to come upon, so she tiptoed back to the room and curled up in the bed again until he came to wake her up.
I was already awake, she thought, and the corners of her mouth twitched in a little smile.
One boom vibrated the floor. She felt it through the bed, but she didn’t know if it was her imagination or not. She didn’t really know if Cayden was actually there, but it didn’t matter too much. She just wanted to sleep, and now seemed like a good time.
“Lil.” Something slid under the back of her head, pulling her body up a little.
She grunted, but didn’t have the energy to fight back. “Lil, here’s your medicine. It says it will make you drowsy, so you’ll fall asleep. But it’s okay.”
“I’m okay.”
“You’re about to be even more okay. Can you open your mouth?”
Lillian obeyed, and felt the blessed shape of her emergency pill on her tongue. Cayden took her hand and put it around a small glass of water, then helped her raise it to her lips. She gulped it all down in one go. It made it easier for her to breathe. Her lips suddenly didn’t feel like desert sand anymore.
“I want to sleep.”
“Go to sleep. I’ll take care of you.”
“It’s okay, go take care of your yard.” She could smell the flowers.
“I’m going to spend some time with you.” He touched her forehead. His hand was so big, it seemed to touch the sides of her head at the same time. “You’re still really, really hot, Lil.”
“I feel hot.” The dark sleep was coming back, fast.
“I’m going to help you cool off, all right?”
