I flinch when I hear a laugh and realize it’s mine.
Therapy. I need so much goddamn therapy.
I wince as I walk over to the bed, desperate to climb between those bodies and just forget about everything until I’m ready to deal with?—
Ring, ring.
Ring, ring.
I pause with my knee on the edge of the mattress, glaring at the doorway leading out of Bastian’s bedroom.
Stop it right now.
But the power of my mind does nothing. The phone just keeps ringing, and ringing.
Gritting my teeth, I stomp over to the wall phone near the kitchen and glare at it. How do you disable the damn thing? Does it have an off button or something?
I intend to lift the receiver and slam it down without answering, but as I’m about to set it down, I hear a voice I recognize, but in my muddled state, I can’t place it.
“Hello?” I croak into the handset.
“Who’s this, please?” the woman asks.
Fuck, even the rain’s too loud right now. And this woman’s voice is screeching right through my brain.
What are those Egyptian beetles? Scarab. Scarab beetle.
That’s what her voice sounds like.
I stifle a yawn, take my collar’s chain and thread it through my fingers. “Who’re you looking for?” I wipe my eyes with the heel of my hand.
There’s a startled pause.
“Is that you, Haven?” As she says my name, I recognize the voice.
Nora from the college help desk.
I clench my hand, the chain biting into my fingers. I’m seconds away from slamming down the phone, but I know how bad that would be.
“Uh…yeah. Hi.”
“What are you doing at Professor Rooke’s house?” I hear papers shuffle on the line as Nora mutters, “Wait, did I call the wrong number?—?”
“Study group!” I blurt out.
Congratulations, Brain.
The papers stop rustling. “On a Saturday morning?”
“Yeah, well, rather now than Sunday afternoon, right?”
Nora laughs, and the knot my stomach tied itself into stars to unravel. “Oh, yes, well, I suppose that’s true. Anyway, I’m glad I caught you. You were next on my list to call.”
My stomach clenches.
Fuck.
“Mm?”
