Tempted | Kai Parker

forty eight: shivers

Usually, every time I felt the mattress shift through the night it was swiftly followed by Kai pulling me closer to him. I knew that with every little shuffle that disturbed my sleep, I was being embraced into warmth. His fingertips would gently graze my skin, and I'd be reminded that I wasn't alone.

That was why I didn't seem to mind so much that Kai moved around for most of the night. Because with every little twitch he made, his sleeping body seemed to subconsciously seek me out.

However, tonight when I felt the mattress wriggle beneath my body, I instead noticed Kai's grip on me release. The spots on my skin where he had been instantly felt cold, and empty. Still half asleep, I extended my fingertips in front of me, searching for him through the empty sheets. But as my touch slipped through layers of soft cotton, I quickly realised the bed was empty.

His spot still carried the warmth of his body, but he wasn't there. And just as my lips released a small groan, which was as close to 'where are you?' as my tired brain could manage, I heard the door creak open, and the sound of feet rapidly scampering down the hallway.

Must've really needed to use the bathroom, I thought, as I felt my head sink deeper back into the pillow, and drowsiness started to creep back through my body. It must have only been a few minutes later that I felt my body jolt back out of sleep, startled by a noise which didn't quite belong in the silent night.

A chorus of chesty coughs were the first thing that echoed into Kai's bedroom. The kind which you could tell were painful just by the brutish hacking noise. Then came the nauseating wrenching. And if I focused hard enough, I could hear desperate breaths rasping through the air, sounding as though each one was a battle.

Officially awake, curious, and concerned, I slipped out of bed and started slowly creeping down the hallway, rubbing my hazy eyes in an attempt for some clarity.

"Kai?" I hushed, as loud as I could manage whilst still whispering.

There was no answer, but my whisper-shout was almost completely overshadowed by another bout of gagging and wrenching, clearly emanating from the bathroom.

"Kai?" I called again, a little louder this time, and accompanied by a small knock on the door.

There was a small incoherent mumble first, and some more deep breaths. "You can come in." He finally replied. "But don't be overdramatic."

Taking a deep breath to brace myself, I turned the handle on the door and pushed it open, its brassy hinges giving a small squeak. My toes curled as they creeped onto the cold tiles, but that wasn't the only thing that was causing a shiver to prickle up my spine.

Kai was hunched on the floor, his usually athletic body looking limp and weak. His face was so pale that it had almost gone grey, and his pallid complexion was beaded with small pearls of sweat. His hair was damp with perspiration too, but his body showed no signs of warmth. He shivered against the tiles, even though he was fully covered in the sweatpants and hoodie he had gone to bed in.

But what was even more worrying was the large droplets of cherry red blood splashed across the floor, making the place look like a crime scene. And when I craned my neck to get a better look, I saw that a sea of red liquid was also filling the bowl of the toilet.

"Oh my god." I breathed. "Are you throwing up blood?"

"I appear to be." He answered far too casually. "Unless it's ketchup."

Not bothering to entertain his snarky comments, I carefully tiptoed around the blotches of blood on the floor and crouched down by his side. I softly placed my hand on his back, gently stroking down his spine, whilst he pulled a few breaths past his lips.