I ease up to the door, hesitating before knocking.
When she doesn’t answer, I hold my ear to the door. It sounds empty, but I haven’t seen her leave, and she didn’t have any plans that I knew of. I wrap my fingers around the gold knob and twist. To my relief, it was unlocked.
“Jess?”
A sleepy grunt was my response. When I edged around the corner, I found Jessie sprawled across the bed, her arm hanging off the bed, and her blankets lying haphazardly around her and the floor.
“Just doing a life check on ya,” I say, huffing a laugh, but it was more from relief than comedy.
“What time is it?” She mumbles groggily.
“Uhh, good question.” I haven’t kept track of time in days. Ryder gave me a new phone, but I haven’t turned it on since he set it up. It would be too overwhelming to answer my social media or explain everything to my parents. “Shit!”
“What?” Jessie snapped up onto her knees. Had I said that out loud?
“It’s nothing.” I lie, but when Jessie gives methatlook, “It’s my parents. I need to call them soon, I imagine they’re worried shitless about me.”
“Bitch, you scared me! You can’t yell things like that after what happened.” Had I yelled that? Oops.
“Sorry,” I grimace. “Anyway, do you know what Ryder has planned for today? He said he’d tell me after I got cleaned up.”
“Yeah, the race tonight.” Yawning, she stretches her arms above her head, then moves the blankets off her legs to stand. “You gonna go?”
“I don’t think Ryder is giving me a choice,” I say, propping my hip against her dresser. I grab a picture Jessie had stuck on her mirror. It’s of us from about a year ago at the state fair. We had taken it in one of those photo booths and had been high as a kite that night. You can see it in our eyes as they were blazing red. I smile faintly at the memory. I never would have imagined this to be Jessie’s life, and well, now mine.
“I think you’d have a lot of fun. But you’ll need to stick with me and security.”
“I plan on it,” giving her tight-lipped smile, I place the picture back where she had it and take a seat on the bed while she finishes getting dressed. Ryder hasn’t talked about Graves and Rocky, but I haven’t really asked about them either.
“Would you take me to visit Graves and Rocky before we leave?”
Jessie turns to face me, her head whipping to her door. Her voice is barely above a whisper when she says, “Ryder would be pissed if he found out I took you, and I’d be lying if I said I was comfortable taking you there alone anyway.”
“Jess, we’d be fine, I won’t do anything stupid, I just want to see them, that’s it.”
She seems to think it over for a moment, chewing her inner lip. “You know there are cameras there that he has access to, right?”
Shit, I hadn’t been thinking about that. “Can you temporarily disable them? Just for a few minutes, that’s all.”
She breathes a sigh, “Yeah. Yeah, I can. But only for a few minutes, otherwise Ry’s gonna throw a conniption fit.”
“Thank you!! Thank you!!” I squeal, clasping my hands in front of my chest. “Okay, get dressed,” I wrinkle my nose, “And maybe a shower.”
“Hey!” Her face pinches as she picks a shoe up off the floor and chucks it at me. I quickly block the hit by scrunching up with my knee to my chest and armscovering my head. “I don’t stink…” She sniffs her pit, “that bad.” She bites back a smile, “Fine.”
I laugh so hard, it feels like my insides are on fire. “I haven’t laughed this hard in… Well, I can’t remember when.”
“Glad my hermit ass was able to appease you,” She replies sarcastically, but even she can’t fight the urge to laugh anymore. “I’ll meet you downstairs when I’m done.”
“Okay, make sure you scrub extra good in there,” I say, laughing even harder.
“Are you trying to get hit by the other shoe?” She holds up the shoe for extra dramatics, dangling it by one finger with her elbow propped on her cocked hip.
“Okay, okay, I’m leaving!” I snicker as I shut the door behind me. Being able to laugh with Jessie after days of darkness was healing in a way I can’t begin to describe. Who needs a therapist when all I need is for life to go back to the way it was?Life will never be the way it was, Kelsey.A pang of sorrow jabs me right in the heart, shattering the lighthearted moment of fun I just had.
When I came back downstairs, Ryder was no longer in the kitchen. Now that I know what the plans are, I didn’t find it necessary to go looking for him. So, I dig around in the kitchen drawer for my stash of weed and roll up a joint. Sitting outside, smoking a fat one on the porch, listening to complete silence, except for the birds chirping, is the exact kind of peace I need right now.
I prop my feet up on the railing and lie back in the cushioned patio chair. My lighter flicks to life, and I drawin my first puff as the flames scorch the end of my joint. I almost moan at the much-needed burn in my lungs. I hold my phone in my hand, flipping it over and over, deciding whether now is a good time to call my parents or not. Can I even sound happy right now to make them believe everything’s been fine? Should I tell them about Lilith, or would that cause unnecessary worry to them?
