But her smiles… they were coveted. They were yearned for. And when granted, they were tucked away and remembered at night when I lay in bed and thought about her.
“Laine?” I knock again, louder, more insistent, because my gut hurts. “Hey… It’s Ang. Can you let me in?”
Laine Lenaghan has been my wildest dream for a long time. Longer than I should have let it go on. Brotherhood in our family means no touching, and we learned that the hard way recently when Luc and Kari’s relationship came out.
To touch a brother’s little sister is punishable by death, and thirty years of friendship doesn’t mean shit to guys like Marc Macchio when someone is messing with his little sister.
Luc might be kinder to me when he finds out, since he’ll have learned his lesson with Kari, but the fact remains, I shouldn’t even be looking.
I definitely shouldn’t be in love.
And I absolutely shouldn’t have been looking and loving for as long as I have.
I scrunch my eyes tighter, as though that’ll help me hear better, and press my ear to the door. “Laine?”The shower is running?“Laine?”
Drawing in a deep breath, I push away from the door and insert the key into the lock. I learned a long time ago not to ignore my gut. If she’s in the shower, I’ll sit on the couch and wait.
If she’s not home, I’llstillsit on the couch and wait.
I push the heavy door open and step straight into the living room. Her purse hangs on the back of the door, and the living room is spotless; not a speck of dust to be seen.
Without that door in the way, the running shower is loud, and steam billows down the hall.
She’s showering with the door open?
“Laine?” I drop my keys into my pocket and step toward the hall. My feet want me to turn around. Even my brain is calling me stupid. But my heart won’t let me go. My gut won’t let me go. “Laine?” I shake my head as the steam escapes the bathroom, following along the ceiling the way smoke did in Infernos club not so long ago.
When she still doesn’t answer, I shout, “Laine!”
No matter how high she’s turned the pressure in the shower, she should be able to hear me.
I stop ten feet from the bathroom door and contemplate what to do.
I’ve never in my life invaded her privacy. Even when we were at the lake every summer, when the girls wore itty bitty little bikinis and the guys sat on the grass and drank beer, I would turn my eyes away and try not to get shot by one of them for looking.
Except when I wore sunglasses.
Sometimes I looked when I had glasses on, because no one knew who I was looking at. But now she’s in her shower, and I’m in the hall like a creep.
“Laine? Can you hear me?” I step back down the hall and poke my head into Jess’ room. Empty. I go to Kari’s – empty again.
It’s Laine’s handbag hanging in the living room.
It’s Laine’s car parked in the driveway.
My stomach rolls the way it did every time my mom’s head would smack against cold, white, kitchen tile.
With narrowed eyes, I step toward the bathroom. “Laine! It’s just me, okay? If you’re naked, cover up. If you’re in there and don’t answer me this second, I’m coming in.”
I don’t give her that second, because a shot of adrenaline bolts through my heart and draws me forward at a sprint until I skid on the bathroom tile.
It’s like a horror movie. Blood. So much blood.
She sits with her back against the wall, her knees drawn up, and her long hair falling over a limp head.
Under boiling hot water and in a river of red, she sleeps.
“Oh my God. Laine!” I slide onto my knees and pull her close until her forehead smacks my chest and her legs fall limp. A silver knife falls from her lifeless hand and clatters on the tile. “Laine!” Her head lolls to the side as I pull her close. Her hands lay slack, and blood flows down the drain like an unrelenting river.