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“She was there for me,” he finally says. “I care for her, but I let her go for you.”
“Fuck you. You’re making my choices for me now?” But his voice… that same blankness that’s on his face is also in his voice, and I finally take a good look at him. “West. Hey.”
Empty. His gaze is empty, his face deathly pale. It fucking scares me so much, I grab him by the shoulders and turn him toward me. He has a small cut on his cheek, his lips are cracked and his eyes lined with red. He looks like death warmed over.
“West. What happened, man? Why are you sitting out here?” I glance back at the building door. It’s ajar. “What the fuck happened to you? Are you sick? Did Kash pass you the bug?”
He lets out a shaky breath, and emotion flashes through his eyes—a streak of pain and sorrow so deep it looks like a bloody sunset—and then it’s gone once more.
It scares the shit out of me.
“West, you’d better say something. I’m freaking out, man.” I shake him a little, and his breath catches in his throat. “Are things okay at home? West, goddammit.”
He looks like a ghost. He’s staring back at me, but I’m not sure he’s seeing me. His eyes track, but it’s not me he’s seeing. Is it shock? Is he sleepwalking? What the fuck is this?
I need someone who’ll know what to do. Kash. Or Syd.
“Come on, let’s go inside.” I tug on his arm, getting to my feet, but he doesn’t move. So I grab him under the armpits and heave him up.
The scariest part? He lets me. Lets me
manhandle him up the steps, into the building, up the stairs and to the door of his apartment.
But right there he stops and makes that sound again—like a soft moan full of pain. He stops and won’t let me move him another step. His face blanches more and he sways on his feet.
Holy fuck, something’s seriously fucking wrong here.
Before I manage to grab him, he slides down to the floor, to his knees, and bends over, groaning.
I drop to my knees beside him. “West. Talk to me, man. Your granddad. Your sister. Where are they? Is anyone inside?”
“They’re… they’re gone,” he breathes, voice choked up. “They’re gone, they’re gone…”
Jesus fuck.
“What do you mean? What do you… Oh man. This ain’t looking good.” I whip out my phone and call Kash. I glance at the open door and a cold shiver runs down my back. “Hang in there, West. We’ll figure this out together.”
We’re sitting on the stairs, and I have my arm around West while Kash talks quietly with the lady living on the same floor. Sydney is on the phone with someone. The hospital, I think.
His grandfather is in intensive care. Massive heart attack when he found Della, West’s sister, dead.
But it seems to be more complicated than that.
“They can’t give me more info,” Sydney says, sitting down on the other side of West. “Just that he’s still critical.” She shoots me a wary glance. “Very critical.”
Meaning he probably won’t pull through?
Why isn’t West by his side? I know his granddad is a jerk, but still… I asked West if he wanted to go, but he’s said nothing.
His sister is gone. Ruled an accident or suicide by the police. Overdose of sleeping pills, which caused uncontrollable vomiting that she choked on.
West found her like that. And then his grandfather came in and had a heart attack. That’s all I’ve been able to find out.
Fucking hell.
Their neighbor, the old lady, found them passed out in one of the bedrooms and called the police and ambulance.
West called me. He called me five times today, and I didn’t hear the phone, and then I ran up here to chew him out over Sydney. I wonder why he lets me hold him when I’m the shittiest best friend on earth.
