“What’s going on with you?”
“Has your friend always been this difficult?” He blurts.
“My friend?”
“Aurora.”
The blood drains from my face, my heart rate plummeting and I have to grip the table to stop myself from falling from the chair.
“Where is she?”
“I’ll take this,” Lex’s deep baritone fills the room like a blast from a speaker.
Gruff’s eyes dart from me to Lex before he nods once, plucks his coffee from the table and exits.
“Where is she, Alexander?”
I stand, still using the table for support.
My best friend was here, under the same roof.
“Safe.”
“Where!?”
“Come, little bird,” he beckons me with a curl of his finger, and blindly I follow, crossing the space and watching his body before me, slowly take the stairs and turn at the end of the hall. I forgot how damn big this place was and it feels like several minutes pass before we stop at a door.
“Is she in there?”
“Yes.”
“Let me in.”
“Wren, she isn’t the same girl you remember.”
“Alexander. Let me in.”
He closes his eyes and unlocks the door, pushing it open and stands back, allowing me room to enter.
The room is darkened by the curtains drawn though not so dark I can’t see inside. A bed, some drawers and a couple of doors leading to an en suite and walk in wardrobe. There’s a shape on the bed, a curved womanly shape that lifts the white sheets from the mattress, moving steadily with a person breathing deeply.
“Rory?”
The person on the bed goes completely still, any and all movement ceases to the point I worry they have stopped breathing but then a voice cracks the silence, so small, fragile, cracked and hoarse, “Wren?”
“Yeah, Rory, it’s me.”
“Where have you been?”
I stop at the end of the bed, feeling Alexander’s presence behind me but not too close, allowing me some space to speak with my friend.
“I’ve been sick.” I wouldn’t tell her exactly, but I’m sure she knew it wasn’t an illness.
“Me too,” she sighs heavily.
“Are you okay?”
A long silence draws between us, and what I thought would be a happy reunion between two best friends is turning worse with every second that passes between us.