Page 55 of What the Heart Wants (Desires of the Heart 1)

“No,” I whisper hoarsely.

It had been so long since I had talked to them. I was so caught up in my own life. Now I will never get the chance to talk to Terri.

“Yeah honey, we need to catch a flight out tomorrow. I already booked it for the two of us. It’s in the afternoon, but I think we should go get something strong to drink tonight,” Holly says sniffling.

“Let’s meet up. What about the kids?” I ask.

“They are in care of Terri-ann’s uncle since Logan is in pretty bad shape, but I’m not sure how they are doing,” she says. Tears fall from my eyes when I think of three beautiful kids who will grow up without their mom.

We pick a place to meet, and I hang up the phone.

I don’t notice the guys standing there.

“Oh, sorry. I need to go meet Holly,” I sob out.

“Kyla? What’s going on, baby?” Levi asks wrapping his arms around me.

“My friend Terri-ann died in an accident last night. Her husband Logan is not doing well either. I’m going to go have some drinks with Holly. We were both pretty close with them,” I say crying.

“Do you want us to come with you?” Ethan asks wiping the tears from my eyes.

I shake my head. “No, we need to be alone together. I’ll call you when we need to be picked up.”

I know that Holly wouldn’t want them seeing her like that. She doesn’t do well with showing her emotions to people, and doesn’t let anyone but me see her cry.

She doesn’t like being vulnerable.

“Alright, make sure you call us if you need anything. We will be waiting,” Asher says kissing me on the forehead.

I nod my head and kiss each of them lightly before I head out to see my best friend.

When I get to the local bar, Holly has the back booth for us. Thankfully, no one bothers us as we have drink after drink.

We laugh and cry over the memories of our friends and talk about what we are going to do.

I can barely walk when I call my men that we are ready to go home.

True to their word, they pick us up and drop Holly off at home first before taking me to their house where I immediately head to bed.

Tears fall from my eyes for my friends as I fall asleep. My men’s arms are wrapped around me keeping me safe.

Levi

My heart breaks seeing Kyla so miserable. It gutted me when she didn’t want us with her, but I knew she and her friend needed to grieve on their own.

I am wide awake when she starts to stir. I barely slept since I spent the whole night watching her. She looked so broken last night.

“Morning baby,” I say softly kissing her head.

“What time is it?” she asks in a weak voice.

“Almost eleven,” I say.

“What?” she shouts sitting up immediately, but then grabs her head and groans. No doubt she’s feeling the affects of the alcohol.

“I need my phone,” she says painfully.

“I’ll get it for you, baby,” I say walking to where she dropped her purse on the floor last night. I dig my hand into her purse and it falls over.

---