Page 75 of His Heart

“Holy fuck, Seb,” Charlie said. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“Because I’m an idiot?” I said, shaking my head. “Because I wanted to help her, and I wanted to believe her when she said she didn’t get high all the time.”

“Do you think that’s what she’s doing now?” he asked. “If she’s using hard drugs, that’s serious, man.”

“She might be,” I said. “Yesterday I would have said not a chance. But after last night? I don’t know.”

“What are you going to do?” he asked.

“I don’t know that either,” I said.

He patted me on the shoulder. “Let me know.”

“Yeah, I will,” I said. “Thanks, man.”

I went upstairs and lay down on my bed. Turning into the pillow she’d used, I took a deep breath. It smelled like her. Not the scent of alcohol coming off her pores. Just her. That warm, soft scent that made my eyes roll back and tension build in my groin.

God, I was stupid. I should walk away. Let her run her life into the ground. But I knew I couldn’t. I was pissed at her, but I wasn’t ready to give up on her yet.

I sat up and grabbed my phone. I should have done this months ago, regardless of what Brooke had said. What she wanted and what she needed were two different things, and I was done letting her dictate either of them. At least when it came to this.

“Hello?” Mrs. Harper said when she answered.

“Hi, it’s Sebastian,” I said. “Sebastian McKinney.”

“Sebastian, hello,” she said, obviously surprised to hear from me.

I took a deep breath. “Okay, here’s the thing…”

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