Page 89 of Illicit Desires (The Deepest Desires 3)

His body turns stiff as a board moments before it begins convulsing. I’m screaming at the lady on the phone, but don’t have any fucking idea what I’m saying. I hop onto the chair he’s sitting on, climb behind him, and try to hold him still. I don’t have a fucking clue what I’m supposed to be doing, but I have to do something.

“Kalen, wake up, wake up,please fucking wake up.” I’m yelling, slapping the side of his face, but it’s not helping. His breathing is extremely fucking faint and every time he exhales, there’s a gurgling sound coming from his chest. His body is shaking in my arms, like he’s having a seizure, and there’s foam coming out the side of his mouth.

“Kalen! Fuck, man. Wake the fuck up.” Hot tears cascade down my face as I hold him, my chin resting against his head. “Kal, come on. Please, knock it off and wake up.”

The phone dropped from between my ear and shoulder at some point. I’m not sure how much time passes, but it couldn’t be more than five minutes. Several medics eventually come through the back door. The front door must’ve been unlocked, allowing them to let themselves in.

One of them asks me questions, while the others start working on Kalen. Muted voices fill my ears, humming incessantly, but I can’t make out a single word. He stopped shaking in my arms a minute before they arrived. And now his limp body lies on the ground where they’re working on him now, lips and fingers are noticeably blue, foam still seeping from between his lips.

His closed eyes are forced open by the medics to shine light in them. In movies, you always hear how you can see the light dim from someone’s eyes. I never understood that until now. Watching him, focusing on his eyes… his lifeless, cold eyes. There’s no light in them.

I can’t fucking look away. Not even ten minutes ago, he was talking to me. We were arguing ten fucking minutes ago.

Forcing my mind to focus and my ears to listen, I hear one of the medics say in a hushed tone, “Narcan’s not working. We’re losing him fast.” Before I even know what’s happening, I’m curled over at the waist, rancid bile flying up my throat, spewing all over the concrete and the medic’s shoes. Dropping to my knees, placing my palms on the ground, I empty my stomach until there’s nothing left. Tears continue to fall as I hang my head. I can’t believe this is fucking happening.

What the fuck. How the fuck is this happening?! We were just talking.

Lifting my head, my gaze finds Kalen’s limp, ashen body again. The eerie, sickening sense of death is palpable, darkness occupying the air around us. Eventually, the medics take Kalen away, while another is telling me to come with him and get checked out at the hospital. Everything goes by in a blur, like I’m not even really here.

He’s dead. Kalen is fucking dead.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Anderson

“Knock, knock.” A feminine voice sounds from the other side of my door seconds before it’s pushed open.

“Katie, hey! When did you get in?” Katie is Knox’s best friend, and has inadvertently become Aston’s best friend, too. She goes to school with us but lives in Georgia, so she spends her summer breaks there.

“Hi, stranger!” She comes up, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug. “About an hour ago. Knox picked me up from the airport and we went to lunch before coming back here.”

“Right on. How was your flight?”

“Not too shabby. How are, uh, things with you?” She cocks her head to the side, furrowing her brows.Knox told her.

“I’m guessing you already know, thanks to King Blabbermouth?”

A smile tugs on her lips. “Hedidgive me the Cliffs Notes version, but I want to hear it from you.”

Katie is like a mother hen. It’s been this way for as long as I’ve known her. It’s the reason her and Knox hit it off so well. She is one of the most genuinely caring people I know, but hell, does she have a way of getting you to spill your guts.

“Crew’s doing drugs. He has been for… shit, I don’t even know how long, but I found out last week and he’s gone off the rails since.”

“And you guys are together?” Her eyes are caring, not a single ounce of judgment in them.

“Yes. No. Fuck…” I sigh, frustrated with this entire situation and not knowing what’s what. “I don’t know at this point.”

She offers a small, sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. I know it isn’t easy loving an addict. My mom’s brother—my uncle—was addicted to heroin when I was a kid. We were really close, and he died when I was fourteen. It rocked my world and was really hard for me to deal with. So, if you ever need anyone to talk with who gets it, I’m here.”

“Thanks. I just want to help him. Get him clean, reach his potential.”

Her features soften, and if this were anyone else, I’d assume the look was pity, but with her, I know better. “I know, you do, babe. But he has to want to help himself first. He isn’t there yet, but hopefully he’ll get there soon.”

“Thanks, Katie. Are you here for the rest of the break?”

“Yeah, I’ll head back to—”

Katie is cut off mid-sentence when the door is kicked open and Knox comes barreling through. His eyes are wide, and his face is beet red. “C’mon. We gotta go,” he says hoarsely, hands clenching into fists at his sides. He’s pacing the area in front of my bed, seemingly unable to sit still, and it’s so unlike him that I’m instantly nervous.

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