Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 101662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
She wiped away her falling tears and nodded slowly as she tugged on the sleeves of her shirt. “Okay. I promise.”
***
Kierra
When I showed up to school on Monday, Brett had two black eyes. Gabriel had swollen knuckles. We never talked about what happened. We never talked about that party again. Yet, I figured that was when it began to happen for me. That was the moment I’d begun to fall in love with my best friend.
11
Gabriel
Present Day
After a day that did not go as planned, I lay on my couch around ten at night, sipping a beer as I watched a movie and Bentley lay on top of my feet, snoring. My eye still stung from that damn punch.
My phone, set beside me, dinged. I lifted it up, surprised to see a text message from an unknown number.
Unknown: Are you still alive? Do you have a concussion?
I sat up slightly.
Gabriel: Kierra?
Kierra: Yeah. Sorry. I had your business card with your number on it. I just wanted to make sure you were alive.
I saved her number instantly.
Gabriel: Alive and somewhat well.
Kierra: Good. No concussion?
Gabriel: How would I know if I had a concussion?
Kierra: Symptoms include confusion, headaches, memory loss, nausea, vomiting, sleepiness, confusion, ringing in the ears, and dizziness.
Gabriel: Did you just WebMD that and copy and paste?
Kierra: I might have copied and pasted from WebMD.
Gabriel: Well, don’t worry. I think I’m okay. Just a bruised eye and a bruised ego.
Kierra: Okay. Good.
Kierra: I mean, not good that your eye and ego are bruised, but you know what I mean.
I chuckled a little.
Gabriel: I know what you mean.
Kierra: Good.
Gabriel: I’m also sorry for getting a little too personal earlier. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.
A few minutes passed with no reply, and I felt like an idiot for even bringing that up. That was until my phone started ringing, and her name popped up on the screen. I hesitated for a moment before answering, thinking it was an accidental call.
“Hello?”
“Hi,” she murmured, her voice carrying the weight of exhaustion. “Sorry, I don’t mean to bother you.”
“Not a bother. I just wasn’t sure if the call was accidental.”
“Yeah, no. It’s not. I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes… I mean, no… I mean…” She seemed disoriented as her words stumbled from her tongue, but I waited patiently for her to collect her thoughts. “Ava’s at her grandmother’s house, Henry is out drinking with a few colleagues, and my pillowcase smells like her.”
“Like who?”
“Lena.”
“Who’s Lena?”
“Our private chef.”
Oh.
Fuck.
“I also found one of her earrings,” she said. “She wears a certain type. It was under my blanket and poked me in the leg when I crawled beneath my blankets to sleep.”
“Kierra—”
“Can you ask me again?” she cut in.
“Ask you what?”
“If I’m happy.”
I felt nervous to ask for some reason. Maybe because I knew she’d answer, and I wasn’t certain she was ready to answer. I wasn’t certain she was ready to express her truth out loud.
“Are you happy, Kierra?”
“No,” she quickly replied. “But maybe some people aren’t meant to be happy. Maybe some people are just meant to be heartbroken.”
“Maybe that’s true. But I don’t think those people are you.”
“How can you be so sure? You hardly know me.”
“I know,” I agreed. “It makes no sense, but I feel you, Kierra. I don’t know how to explain it, but I can tell the type of person you are, and you aren’t a person that’s meant to be unhappy.”
“You feel me?” she asked, slightly perplexed.
“Yes,” I told her. “I feel you sometimes even when you aren’t around.”
“Gabriel?”
“Yes?”
“I feel you, too,” she whispered.
Fuck my heart…
It just did a million somersaults in my chest.
“Why are you staying with him?” I asked. “If you’re so unhappy. If he’s cheating. If he’s a complete shit in all ways.”
“Because of Ava.”
“You could be without him and still have Ava. She’s still your daughter.”
“Yes, she is. But not on paper, and he’s told me repeatedly that he’ll take her away from me if I leave him.”
“He can’t really mean that.”
“You must not know my husband.”
“Why would he make Ava suffer, though? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Because it would hurt me…and that would please him.”
“There must be a way out, Kierra. We can figure out—”
“We don’t have to figure this out now. It’s not even your responsibility,” she cut in with a weighted sigh. “I just wanted to hear someone else’s voice to drown out the heaviness of my own thoughts.”
“Okay.” I paused for a moment, considering what else I could say to keep the conversation moving away from Henry. To lighten her spirits. To give her some kind of peace when her world seemed to be nothing but storms.
“What’s your favorite thing to do when you feel overwhelmed?” I asked her. “Something that’s just yours.”
“Sit by the ocean and draw. I haven’t done it in so long. I used to drive out to the coast and stay for hours, just listening to the water crashing against the shore. It stilled everything else for a while. It calmed down all the commotion in my head.”