When Daddy didn’t say anything for a while, I felt worse and worse for every second that ticked by. An invisible force pushed me lower than I’d been before, and the emotions flooding me made it impossible to ignore that I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t happy anymore. I was riddled with uncertainties, constantly doubting myself, and I couldn’t cope with the weight of the guilt.
It made me weep harder, and it became fruitless to try to wipe my cheeks.
“It doesn’t matter what I do, does it?” Daddy asked quietly. “I can never please you. Everything I do is wrong.”
“No!” I cried, panic gripping the edges of my being. “That’s not—”
“I can’t do this right now.” He cut me off. “We’ll have to talk tomorrow. Do what you want about the membership. I just thought we were in this together—that we both wanted a fresh start for our relationship.” With that said, he muttered that he loved me and ended the call.
A low sob escaped me, and I stared at the screen through blurry vision.
Unread message from Greer.
Not now, please.
It was too much.
I didn’t know what to do. How could I fix this? Was I really wrong? Was I being selfish again?
Everything had just happened so fast. I’d known about his job interview in Denver for three weeks, and two weeks ago, we’d flown out there. Not once had he expressed his desire to move there, along with a question on whether or not we could. Not once had I heard, “What’re your thoughts about this, Corey?” But he’d been quick to point out that he’d stayed in DC when we’d started dating, despite having wanted to move west.
I sniffled and pocketed my phone, then wiped my face on the sleeve of my hoodie.
Exhaustion kicked in, and I couldn’t say I felt like playing tag with the Sadists and my friends.
I wanted to throw myself on the bed, under the covers, and stay there until all the problems had gone away.
Just my luck—I was getting a headache too.
Maybe it was a good thing he’d ended the call abruptly, because honestly, I didn’t want to talk to him. Normally when this happened, when he had to cut things short—usually because of work—it left me feeling anxious until we had time to talk things out properly. But not now. I needed a break from all of it. From him.
I welcomed a blanket of numbness and crawled off the floor.
Then I remembered the unread text, so I brought out my phone again to see what Greer had sent me—though, I could guess. I was taking forever to change socks.
Everything okay, pet? I hope you come down ASAP. We’re about to start.
Yeah, go ahead without me, Sir.
I sat down on the edge of my bed and chewed on my lip, trying to come up with a good response. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings—that would kill me, figuratively speaking—but I was really, really, really tired. Too tired to horse around and act like nothing was wrong.
“Gah!” I shouted and jumped off the bed as an ear-shatteringly loud ringing blared from just outside my room. “Stop it!” I covered my ears, and panic shot straight through me, causing me to go rigid. Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop! “Oh sh—” My eyes flashed open. Terror tore through me. Was that smoke I smelled? And not the kind of smoke that the smoke machine in the nightclub released.
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Was the house on fire?
Tears welled up in my eyes all over again, and I scrambled to pick up my phone that I’d dropped, and then I darted for the door. Something was definitely wrong. I opened the door carefully, making sure the handle wasn’t hot, and as soon as I poked my head out, the smell became stronger.
I whimpered and instantly shut the door again, and then I yanked off my hoodie and pressed it against the bottom of the door. How was I getting out of here?! Wait, did I hear anything a second ago? Any voices? Dammit, I didn’t know. The fire alarm was so fucking loud that it hurt, and I was on the third floor. The measures they’d taken here to make sure the music and nightclub activity didn’t disturb those in the playrooms on the second floor and those spending the night on the third were no joke.
I ran over to the window instead and pushed it open. Three stories down, people were flooding the lawn past the patio and past the pool area. Thick black smoke billowed out from the patio doors, and the screams from people reached my ears at the same time as I accidentally inhaled some smoke. I coughed and slammed the window shut, then rubbed my nose vigorously. It stung so much!