Immediately, hejerked away from her, inadvertently hurting her feelings.
“Kelley…”
“Stop calling me that! Damn you and your naivety,” he snapped,leaning forward, grasping the steering wheel with a vengeance. Thishad to stop! He was not her pet. He was not her hero or whoeverelse she dreamt him to be. “My name is Kell.” He growled it out,pronouncing it to sound like Kill, for that is how he liked to bereferred. Everyone seemed to understand that except forher.
Startled andhurt, she gasped and grappled frantically for the door handle. Shehad to get away. Far away from him. He was obviously not who she’dbelieved him to be.
“Let me out!” she shouted, realizing that the door was lockedfrom his side.
Without anotherword, he unlocked her door, and she shot out the car, racing forthe house. Kell hated himself for being so hurtful, but it had tobe done. This had to stop. Whatever it was, that had started totake root between them, had to be ripped out of the ground andstomped on before it could get any worse.
Out of herwits, Becky ran blindly into the house so fast that she crashedright into Crispin. The loathsome Goth had been making himself asandwich in the kitchen.
“Hey, what the fuck?” he said, catching her before she bouncedoff him, and cracked her skull on the wall. “Becky, you allright?”
“What do you care?” she blurted, pushing away from him andmaking a break for the stairs.
Standing theredumbfounded, Crispin raised an eyebrow as Kell entered the backdoor, carrying Becky’s paint box, looking equally miserable.
“Don’t ask,” Kell said, setting the box down on the table. “Anddon’t you dare say it.”
Sensing theseriousness in his housemate’s mood, the words I told you so… thatwere literally dangling from the tip of his tongue were effectivelyswallowed. Yet Crispin couldn’t restrain his cat-like smile.
“Fuck off,” Kell said, stalking away.
Chapter 9
Usually,Saturday mornings around the house were Becky’s favourite times ofthe week. Today, though, things weren’t quite so pleasant for her.Instead of hopping out of bed and happily making her way into thekitchen to sip coffee and sift through flyers with her housemates,Becky waited until she was sure they had vacated the house beforeemerging from her bedroom.
In fact, shespent the entire long weekend, hiding out in her room, reading herbooks, concentrating on her studies rather than be anywhere nearher inhospitable housemates.
No turkeydinner for her, she thought with a despondent sigh as she stared upat the ceiling. The saddest part was, hoping to make herself feelbetter, she had called her grandmother, only to be informed thatthe dear old lady’s health had taken a nasty turn. The nurse oncall also warned Becky to prepare herself for the worst.
Suddenlyrealizing that Granny might not make it, Becky was on the verge ofan emotional meltdown. If Granny died, not only would she miss herterribly, Becky also realized that she would be all alone in theworld.
***
“What exactly did you do to upset Becky?” Crispin asked fromhis horizontal position on the couch.
“Only what had to be done,” Kell said with a sigh ofresignation.
“Not that I care, but perhaps you shouldn’t have led her on inthe first place,” Crispin said with a disapprovingscowl.
“Why do you care?” Kell growled back.
“Like I said, I don’t care. You see, at least, I’ve neverpretended to like the girl. You, on the other hand, led her tobelieve that she meant something to you. Only to stomp on herlittle heart. Cruel bastard…”
“Shut the fuck up, Crisp. What’s done is done. She’ll get overit. If not, she can leave. Isn’t that what you reallywant?”
“Well, not anymore,” Crispin said, sitting up indignantly. “Thecheeky little dormouse has grown on me.”
“Oh, I get it. You were only pretending not to like her,” Kellchallenged.
“I don’t like her,” Crispin said, his voice climbing an entireoctave. “I just don’t need to be rid of her quite somuch.”
***
Halfway throughthe following week, Becky still hadn’t received any good newsregarding Gran’s health. In fact, the attending nurse had informedBecky that she should plan to visit her grandmother very soon justin case.
That could onlymean one thing. Granny was dying and there was nothing Becky coulddo about it. She was getting desperate. She hadn’t spoken about hersituation to anyone. She’d been tempted to approach Dorian, but shejust didn’t think she could. The last thing she wanted was to bebothersome.
Deciding totake matters into her own hands, she spoke to her professors andwarned them that she would be leaving for a few days. Given thecircumstances, they were all quite accommodating. At least, shewouldn’t have to worry about missing classes.
Thursdayafternoon, she purchased her train tickets with every intention ofleaving for Toronto on the weekend.
Friday night,while the Goths were out, performing in a local college bar, Beckyquietly packed her suitcase. She then dragged it down the steps andplaced it by the front door. In the morning, she would simply callfor a taxi and leave.
She then gotready for bed. She hoped to fall asleep quickly so that she wouldwake up feeling refreshed and ready for the long journey.
Unfortunately,her frazzled nerves got the best of her. Becky spent the earlyhours of the evening, tossing and turning, getting herself evenmore upset. Soul destroying feelings of loneliness overtook her.Could she do this on her own? Would she even make it to the trainstation without losing her mind?
She would haveto no matter what. She didn’t have a choice, she realized with astifled sob.
She dideventually doze off, only to wake hours later. It was still onlythree o’clock in the morning, she realized miserably. What now?Shivering uncontrollably, she began to panic. Desperate and beyondconsolation, Becky did the only thing she could think of.
Resolved to thetask, she quietly got up and crept into Kelley’s room. It was theclosest bedroom to hers, thankfully. She sighed with gratitude atfinding him there in his big old bed. Seeing his sleeping formunderneath the covers, she was both relieved and scared to death.Would he think she was crazy? She wouldn’t blame him if he did.
Very quietly,she padded across the floor until she was right beside his bed. Shehesitated at first,
