Borrowed Time Part 2

Chapter 249

Sleeping finally felt easy again, or as easy as it had ever felt, which was a blessing that Juliette hadn't even realized that she'd been missing. Like, if she could exist in a sleeping state forever and not be dead or in a coma, that would be the best thing in the entire world. Just curled up and warm and-.

Esme's voice broke her from her slumber... Her slumber that for some fucking reason was self-actualized. She hated when that happened, it was the strangest thing in the world, and she'd never been able to properly explain it to anyone. How was she supposed to say my brain knows when I'm asleep and it lets me know without sounding fucking crazy?

There wasn't a way. Not from what she could tell at least.

"Baby.... Baby." Juliette raised an eyebrow, but didn't force her heavy eyelids open... Sometimes Esme talked in their sleep – it was rare, but it happened, and if it was happening right now, she didn't want to force herself all the way awake for something that wasn't really happening.

She needed to get more rest if she possibly could.

"Hm?"

"Someone's at the door." Esme's voice was soft and sleepy, a little scratchy as they wrapped an arm around her waist, dragging her slowly across the bed until they were flush together again, a content sigh leaving their lips.

Juliette smiled to herself, tucking into Esme more as she tried to force her eyes open against the urge to continue sleeping... Esme had woken her up for a reason, if they had just wanted to pull her closer, they knew how to do that and not disturb her rest.

What was their goal right now?

"What?"

"The door... Want me to get it?" Esme asked, and Juliette sighed, shaking her head.

She didn't want them getting up to do that, they'd been called in the night before, they needed their rest.

"Mmm... Nah, I'll get it." She murmured, eyes barely open as she stepped into her sweatpants, grateful that she'd fallen asleep in a shirt. That still slowed her down right now.

The bed rustled a bit as she walked by.

"Wait." She paused, squinting over at Esme in the thin light of the morning.

"What?" She asked, watching as Esme settled back down in the bed again, pulling a blanket over their shoulder.

You stopped me. Why?

"Grab a kitchen knife before answering, just in case." Esme reminded her, and she paused... That made sense, this could quite easily be a trap set for her. She was pretty sure even Ethan wasn't dumb enough to come to the house twice, but anything was possible.

"... Fair point." She walked out quietly, creeping past the kitchen and swiping a knife off the counter before she looked out the window... Not Ethan's car, that was a good sign. She opened the door cautiously, shocked to see Khloe Kelli standing on her doorstep, a bubbly exterior already rolling off her. "Khloe?" She asked, undoing the chain so that she could pull the door open more, hearing her let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank God, I was like, worried you weren't going to be home or something and that would've been a major bummer." She frowned... It would be normal for her to be asleep right now.

It was a bummer that she'd been woken up.

"Khloe, it is..." She looked at the clock on the wall and frowned... Earlier than she'd thought. Too early to be at someone's house unannounced, that was for sure. "7:30 in the morning on a Saturday. What are you doing here?" She asked, trying her best to sound as gentle as possible because she liked Khloe, but right now she wanted to chop her head off.