Page 31 of Darling Venom
She looked at the mirror again, brushing her hair absentmindedly. I wanted to wrap my arms around her shoulders, nuzzle my face into her neck, right where her scar was, and tell her it would be okay, even though I had no idea if it would.
Leah and I had been best friends before The Night Of. She’d literally walked through fire.
For me.
I didn’t move from my spot.
“Leah…” I started.
She shook her head.
“It’s fine. Forget what I said. Obviously, I’m happy you were born. I don’t know what you do every Valentine’s Day, but I hope it’s better than sitting here watching Grey’s Anatomy reruns. Because that’s what I’ve been doing since Mom and Dad died.”
I rocked my right leg back and forth, struggling to breathe.
“Let’s do a marathon. After I return. I promise. Raincheck?” I sounded exactly like her the night things went down.
She snorted, twisting her hair into a topknot. “Know what? Before you go to your mystery date, make yourself useful and get me a pack of menthols.”
She threw some money my way and disappeared into the kitchen.
Of course, she still smoked. That was the great irony.
I picked up the bills from the floor. Checked the clock on my phone. I was already late, but I didn’t want to refuse her.
More than that—I couldn’t refuse her.
I made a run to the 7-Eleven at the corner, waited in line, then came home, gave her the cigarettes, and hopped on the train. By the time I got to Manhattan, drops of cold sweat flew from my brow as I zipped down the street toward St. Paul.
I was forty minutes late to a meeting I hadn’t been invited to. But if I knew Kellan at all, I knew he expected me. He wanted someone to fight for him.
And that person needed to be me.
I ran so fast my feet burned. My lungs bounced in my chest. I took a sharp right and reached campus.
I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the lights. Red, white, and blue, swirling together like a carousel in the darkness.
There were two police cars and an ambulance.
No.
No, no, no, no, no.
Kellan…
Did he think I wouldn’t show up—that I gave up on him—and jump?
I launched forward.
An officer blocked my way, raising a hand.
A colleague behind her walked around, stretching yellow tape across the scene. “Sorry, honey, but you gotta stay clear.”
“What happened?”
My teeth chattered. I’d forgotten to put a jacket on when I’d left the house. I’d been in such a hurry.
The only reason I didn’t cry was that I wasn’t certain what I was seeing was even real.
