"Keegan," Daisy's mom startled me and I whipped my eyes her way. "The guest room is all made up for you whenever you're ready." I nodded in response, following her up the stairs. The small room was plain and filled with trinkets like the rest of the house. I swear, I had already noticed five different things that said the words "home sweet home" on them. An older, wooden sleigh bed stood in the middle of the room with a large quilt spread over the top.
As soon as her mom left the room, I grabbed the top of my shirt, pulling it over my head, and grabbed my phone from my pocket before sliding off my jeans. I had a shit ton of missed calls and texts because I had been ignoring everyone while we were on our way to the hospital. Tossing my clothes on the dresser, I climbed into the cold bed to answer everyone. A soft knock drew my attention away from my phone towards the closed door. "It's me," Daisy called through the door.
"Come in," I answered, in a low tone so I wouldn't wake her parents. The door creaked open and she sauntered into the room, wearing only a tiny pair of pajama shorts and a tank top, clearly showing she wasn't wearing a bra underneath. I could see the hard outline of her nipples through the thin fabric, making me harden between my legs. Fuck, the girl must have been trying to torture me.
"Hey," I said, moving around to adjust myself. I scooted over and patted the blanket with the palm of my hand.
"I just wanted to say thanks for bringing me here and really for everything," she said, fidgeting.
"It was no problem," I responded, trying to tear my eyes away from her breasts and calm my dick back down.
"You're really not as bad as everyone tries to make you out," she settled down on the bed beside me, sitting Indian style. My eyes dashed from her chest to her bare legs and I fought the urge to bring my hand up and run it along her smooth, olive skin.
"People say I'm a bad person?" I replied, feigning hurt by putting my hand across my heart. "You tired?" I asked, dragging one of the pillows crammed behind my head and tossing it next to me.
"Yeah," she answered, her fingers tracing the patterns on the quilt. "I just can't sleep. It's so weird being here."
"Why?"
Her shoulders shrugged then slumped down. "It just is."
"Did everything go okay with your friend?"
"I guess but I'm pretty sure she's still pissed at me."
"Why would she be pissed at you?"
Her fingers froze on the blanket. "Because it's my fault," she whispered, shaking her head.
"Bullshit. Did you slit her fucking wrist or hand her the blade?"
"Well no," she answered, shutting her eyes. "But I wasn't there for her when she needed me."
"She's not a little girl and from the looks of it, you have your own set of fucking issues you're trying to figure out."
"You don't understand," she stressed. "You wouldn't understand but I left her at a time when she really needed me." Her full lips started to quiver and I wrapped my arms around her waist. I kept my hold on her, dragging her across the bed until her back was against the headboard and she was sitting next to me. My mouth became moist at the feel of her bare arm hitting my chest as she moved around to get comfortable.
"People do fucked up shit all the time, but you can't blame yourself for all the bullshit that happens to them. You have to worry about fixing yourself before you can fix anyone else, babe. You've obviously been having a rough time dealing with whatever you've got going on but you're not trying to off yourself because of it. So what, you left her. People get left behind all the time, trust me, I could write a damn book of how times people have left me." I paused, watching her eyes widen at my revelation. Shoot, I was surprised I even said that. I never told anyone about my problems. "Some people run away to get a fresh start. Your friend needs to find a way to be as strong as you are."
She scoffed. "I am far from strong."
My arms tightened around her, bringing her closer into my body. "You are strong. I mean, you resisted my perfect charm even when we share a bed," I snickered, remembering how it felt when her warm hands ran over my chest.
She rolled her eyes, elbowing me in the side gently. "Just when your nice side comes out, you have to go mess up everything with your stupid ego."
"You love it," I boasted, pinching her side, causing her to squirm. "Why was that guy being a complete asshat to you earlier? Damn, he really has his boy's back."
She averted her gaze back to the blanket. "He's not mad about me about that. I said some horrible words to him before I left and obviously he's still mad at me," she replied, obviously refusing to share anything else. The girl was packed with secrets, a puzzle I just couldn't seem to figure out. I wanted to climb into her brain and unlock everything she was hiding.
"So you and Tessa were pretty close, huh? I noticed you had a ton of pictures of you two all over the house," I asked, trying to mask my attempt at prying.
"Yeah, we've known each other since I came out of the womb. Our parents were all best friends and I guess they passed that torch down to us."
"So she tried to kill herself because you moved away to Atlanta? Sure seems a bit overdramatic, if you ask me."