5. TIFFANY
Isquinted at my phone as it started to ring.
The light blared into the darkness, making my eyes ache until I grabbed it and pressed it to my ear after a quick glance at the time told me it was two in the morning.
Shit, I’d slept the whole day and night through.
I’d woken up at Sin’s in a daze, we’d talked about what happened, and then he’d dropped me off here.
That was pretty much all I remembered as I connected the call, wishing I was at his place and not my parents’ home.
“Are you okay?” was Sin’s greeting.
“No.”
Sin’s voice made me wish he was here.
Christ, what I wouldn’t give to be waking up in his arms like I had yesterday.
Misery filled me, misery and want and need as I whispered, “I still feel sick, and my head is killing me.” I blew out a breath, then, knowing I’d caused him some trouble last night by having to leave work early, I asked, “Everything all right?”
“Not exactly. I need to tell you something. It’s big.”
My eyes widened, which made my head pound. “What? Are you okay?”
“Everything comes at a cost, Tiff. My staying silent about what we discussed this morning means I have to listen to my Prez. It won’t be for long.”
“What won’t be for long?” I rasped, sitting up, then hiding a moan as the ache in my head transmogrified into a monster.
He grunted. “I should have explained this morning, but fuck, we had other things to talk about.
“I should have been on the road last night, I just couldn’t let you wake up alone this morning. I had to see you before I left.”
“Couldn’t let me wake up alone? Explained what this morning? Sin, what the hell are you talking about?” I whispered, dread had my eyes watering as tears started to burn along the line of my lashes.
“My going away.”
My heart nearly stopped. “Where are you going?”
“Our sister chapter in Ohio. I’m on the road already, halfway there.”
My mouth dropped open. “Are you kidding me?” I whispered rawly. “You didn’t think to come and say goodbye?”
“This isn’t goodbye. I told you, Tiff, and I’ll keep on telling you…”
I reached up and rubbed my eyes, blurting out, “I’m so confused.”
“Don’t be. I’m being punished. It’s okay. Everything will work out.”
Maybe I was being stupid, or maybe the drugs I’d been given were addling my brain, because I just wanted to cry some more.
“I don’t want you to go.”
It was all I was capable of saying, but it wasn’t enough. Didn’t encompass at all how his words were messing with my already aching head.
“And that’s why I didn’t come and say bye to you, angel.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll call when I get there.”
I frowned at the ceiling, which was impossible to see in the darkness.
I’d turned everything off, switched off everything but the AC, anything and everything to make the place as quiet as possible.
Hell, if I could have turned off the fridge, I would have.
But even though it was silent, I still felt hypersensitive, and I listened to his breathing, listened to every nuance in his tone as I rasped, “Are you breaking up with me?”
Was this just bullshit he was spouting? Had something else happened last night that I didn’t remember?
“No,” he stated sternly. “Listen to me, this is not over. It will never be over.”
Never was a long time.
And I knew what the club was like. In Ohio, a day’s drive from here? God only knew what would go down.
Maybe I was losing him. Only, I didn’t think I could bear it if I did.
Calmly, he stated, “Tiff, it will all work out.”
I didn’t miss the sternness to his tone, but that didn’t mean much when he was on the fucking road to Ohio and this was the first I was hearing about it.
“How can it?” I asked miserably, wriggling my shoulders as an ache in them made itself known to me. “What’s happening here?” I rasped. “Really, I mean.”
“I didn’t want to—” He grunted. “Fuck! Luke Lancaster used my absence at the bar to sneak in, Tiff. He attacked Giulia Fontaine, our Enforcer’s woman. He’s dead, Tiff. She killed him.”
“Oh my God! Lily! I have to call her?—”
“Yeah. Well, you can do that later. This has implications that I can’t talk about over the phone. Just remember, you’re mine, and I’ll speak to you later.”
He didn’t wait for me to reply, didn’t wait for me to say a damn word, just cut the call and left me blinking at my screen, squinting as the pain of the light felt like it was piercing my eyes with the strength of a laser.
Even as his words sank into me, horror did too, and when I couldn’t focus on my screen, I hit Siri and demanded, “Call Lily.”
I knew there was no love lost between the siblings, but he’d died and…
Shit, was I supposed to be sad about it? After how he’d treated me?
I cut the call, focusing on the blob of the red button long enough to hit it.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened.
I distinctly remembered Luke touching me last night, before Sin had arrived and helped get me home.
I knew he’d been the one to drug me, and now I knew this about Giulia, I was unsure what to say, how to empathize-slash-sympathize with Lily, when the fucker had drugged me for the nefarious reason of attacking an innocent woman.
So no, I wasn’t sure what to do or how to help. Wasn’t sure if I even could.
Lily and I were close, closer than close, but where her family was concerned, she was pretty tight-lipped.
I thought about calling Sin again, thought about asking him for more details, but even that felt beyond me.
I sank back against the pillow, my skull throbbing like it had been hit with a hammer, even as it settled into the down-stuffed layer.
Everything had just changed, my world had shifted on its axis, and I’d slept through it.
I reached up and rubbed my temples, but even as I started to cry again, I could feel my eyelids start to lower as sleep beckoned me into its embrace.
Tomorrow, I’d figure out what to do. Tomorrow, I’d learn if Sin really meant it, and I’d work out how to help Lily.
Tomorrow was another day, and hopefully, it was a better one.
I’d never know just how shittier my tomorrows were going to be.