Growing older with Steven? That was never going to happen. And, family . . . That entire concept was foreign to Sky. Her parents divorced when she was a young child. Still, hearing those words coming from the one relationship she valued more than any other was painful.
Sky knew that people thought she was cold and calculating, but she’d had to be. Otherwise, the world would have swallowed her up and she would never have reached this level of success, especially if she had to depend on feelings.
Nia leaned over and placed her head on Sky’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I’m devastated, and it’s the wine talking.”
They sat silently for a while both pondering each other’s words until Nia’s breathing started to even out. Now she passes out. Murphy’s Law.
Sky glanced down at her friend. She loved Nia like a sister, and she didn’t deserve Steven’s asshattery. Her heart was just too soft and too forgiving when it came to him. Sky readily admitted her heart was mostly made of stone—too many disappointments. Sky continued to compare herself to Nia, she was much better off. Silly emotions are what had Nia tied up in knots, and Steven had her mind so twisted, the woman didn’t know if she were coming or going.
In her sleep, Nia clutched her wine glass in one hand and her cell phone in the other. Sky removed the glass and sat it on the table next to the now empty bottle of Merlot. Just like clockwork, as it had all night, her cell phone vibrated. It had been a symphony of buzzing noises and was still vibrating at almost three o’clock in the morning. Sky half expected Nia to jump up out of her sleep to answer it, but she hadn’t. Nia had evidently fallen into a wine-induced sleep-like coma. After a second, or two, when she still didn’t move, Sky gently removed the phone from her hands and looked at the screen. Just as she had suspected, the number on the display was Steven’s.
Sky shut off her phone, and as she stood with it in hand, the room tilted. Sky stood stock still. Once she felt as if her feet were on solid ground, Sky reached to grab the afghan that was draped over the back of her sofa and placed it on to Nia’s sleeping form.
“Ugh. We made a mess.” Sky didn’t want to wake up to that in the morning. So, she decided to clean up a little. “Whoa.” She must have moved too fast because the room started to spin again. Sky stilled and extended her arms out to steady herself. After a couple of moments, it did. Carefully, she bent down to pick up their wine glasses. Sky stumbled into the kitchen, and placed Nia’s phone on the island, then tossed the wine bottles in the recycle bin and put the glasses in the sink.
Sky didn’t understand how her alcohol-soaked mind could still function. Thank God I’m not on call this weekend. She swayed from side to side praying she didn’t fall over. On her way to her bedroom, Sky had to focus hard. She placed one barefoot in front of the other while holding onto the wall.
Tomorrow’s headache was going to be a bitch. Men. This is what they did to women. Causing them to act out of character and Steven wasn’t even her man, yet there she was drunk as a skunk. Sky couldn’t imagine how she would react if she ever truly gave her heart away, and it was being toyed with. Well, she could, and it would probably make an episode of Snapped.
In an effort to be more compassionate, Sky continued to ponder how she would have reacted to Nia’s situation if she had been in her shoes. I would never be in that situation because I wouldn’t allow anyone to exert that much power, and certainly not a man. They just weren’t worth it.
Miraculously, Sky made it to her bedroom without falling over herself. She didn’t bother taking off her clothes as she face-planted into the center of her bed and fell into a deep sleep.
Chapter 2
Remington Kneeland was in a meeting when he received a phone call that no parent ever wanted to receive. “Wait. What? Say that again. Bella, I can’t understand you.” His ex-wife’s words were garbled as they tumbled over themselves.
Without saying anything to the men at the table, Remington got up and left the conference room. He thought Bella said that Charlie was hurt.
“This isn’t my fault!” She screamed hysterically into the phone.
“What’s not your fault? I can barely understand you.” Remington covered his ear and plugged it with one finger hoping it would help him hear more clearly. “Calm down and tell me what happened.”
“She fell off of her h-h-horse and was hurt. She was unconscious when they brought her to the hospital. She is being examined now. She was so pale, REMI.”
His heart stopped. Forming coherent thoughts was difficult. “It’s almost three a.m. there?” He yelled into the phone. “What the hell was she doing out this late and on a horse in the first place?” Then, Remington took a deep breath to calm down. “How bad is she?”
Bella hesitated. “They don’t know if she’s going to . . . make it. They have to remove part of her skull to release the pressure on her brain. She has some internal injuries and might have to have an operation on her spine depending on what
