I couldn’t summon my arms to lift or do more than speak a few words into the dark, stuck in a hell of my own making.
I’d hit a new low.
For another couple of hours, I lay there in the same state. Nothing changing but the depth of the shadows. It had to be the early hours, and still I could do nothing but curse myself for being so stupid.
An engine roared down the street, then a car door cranked. Boots drummed my path.
A new pulse of panic infected me.
Someone beat at the door. “Lovelyn?”
Kane? How?
Emotion choked me.
The thumping came again, urgency in his need to wake me. If only I could. Desperation broke in waves. I wanted him with me. On me. Inside me and here to stay.
Another voice pierced the night. “Who’s there?”
“Kane Ryan. Sorry if I disturbed ye, Mrs Hampton. I got off work late, and Lovelyn isn’t awake.” Tension and strain laced his voice.
A pause followed, then my neighbour said, “You’re bleeding.”
“Occupational hazard.”
He was bleeding? Why? I fought harder to stay conscious.
“She shouldn’t be alone. Not today.”
“Agreed, but I can’t get to her,” Kane replied.
Mrs Hampton rattled something, and I pictured her stick out the window. “The key is under the second plant pot. Treat her well, and mop up that blood.”
“I will.” He thanked her, then came the grate of terracotta on concrete, followed by the key sliding into the lock.
A tear of happiness and relief eased down my cheek.
Kane’s footsteps pounded the stairs, then he was there, in my room and kneeling on my bed. Urgent fingers touched my face. “Lovelyn, wake up.”
At last, and with the worst possible timing, the drug stole my consciousness, a dip into sleep I no longer wanted but couldn’t avoid.
I couldn’t force my mouth to reply.
Only my heart to feel all I’d tried to hold back.
Chapter 31
Kane
Panic had my hand shaking where I cupped Lovelyn’s cheek. “Wake up. It’s me. Wake up, please.”
Her head lolled. I snapped on the light, and my stomach dropped. On her bedside table was a small brown pill bottle and a water tumbler.
No, no, no.
Running my arms underneath her, I lifted her higher on the pillows, leaving a smear of my blood on her sheets. “What did ye take? How many?”
She was breathing, her skin flushed. At my repeat of the question, her eyelids fluttered.
