Love in the Dark (LarssonSiblingsSeries#1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - DELILAH

DELILAH

"Poppy!"

I back away from my bedroom door as the chubby cat stretches its leg up in the air to clean itself on my newly laid bedsheets. My best friend runs out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head, toothbrush in hand, looking annoyed at me for interrupting her nightly beauty routine.

I narrow my eyes. "Since when did we get a cat?"

The grin she pulls is way past cheeky as she motions towards the ginger tabby cat, proud as punch. "I see you met Winston."

"Winston?" I bark, wondering if the cat is lifting his eyebrow at me when he casually glances over in my direction. "And you never thought to ask me about getting a cat?"

She strolls over to take space on my bed, her hand stroking up and down Winston's shiny coat, finding it funny when he rolled onto his back. "He's Liam's cat. I said I would look after him while he's away at a business convention. I thought it would be cool seeing as though it's only for a few days."

Liam is her latest squeeze and by the sounds of it, it's going pretty well considering she's already on pet babysitting duties.

I walk up to the bed, pull my sleeves over my hands, and pick up the cat to place him into Poppy's arms. "Right, well, it's your job to keep him away from me. I'm highly allergic and will have to boil these bedsheets now."

She blinks. "Oh, shit, you're kidding!"

I tug the duvet off the bed to make ripping the sheets off easier, already feeling an itch at the back of my throat. It tickled until I coughed into my hand and it started burning. "No, it's pretty serious. It can look like I'm chewing on a wasp if I'm not careful."

Her face falls as she rushes out of the room, shouting to me from wherever she went. "I can see if Liam has a friend to look after him. I'll put him in the laundry room for now." When she appears back in here a few moments later, she lets out a tight squeak. "Jesus! Delilah, your eyes are red. Are you okay?"

I rub my fingers over my eyelashes, feeling the water starting to accumulate at the edges. "If I take some antihistamine now it should settle down. Just keep him away from my stuff for now."

Her gaze settles on my face. "Okay. Where's your antihistamine? I'll go get it for you."

I cover my mouth when the need to cough hits me, tickling up my throat until I hack into my hand, getting down onto the floor to search through my bag for the antihistamine I keep handy. It's tucked away in my emergency kit where I pop one into my mouth and gulp down a full bottle of water.

Poppy has disappeared again, noises from the kitchen telling me that she escaped there. I open my windows, letting some fresh air in here when I carry on stripping my bed, wishing I didn't have to do this after a hard day at work. My skin is burning, my chest and neck on fire as I try and fail to resist the urge to scratch it.

I have so much to do tonight. I have a list of businesses to call with a pitch I spent all morning crafting and the flyers to post through letter boxes. Being ill does not come into those plans.

There's a scuffle at the door as Poppy balances two bottles of water and a bag of frozen peas in her hands. I grab the frozen peas and put them directly onto my sore skin, feeling the ice-cold temperature soothe it a bit. I sit back on the bed while Poppy works at picking up the bedsheets from the floor, telling me she is going to put them on a sixty-degree wash.

By the time I rub at my watering nose for the fifth time, it becomes alarmingly clear that the allergic reaction is in full swing. The tingling in my lips sends me to my feet to catch a glimpse of myself in the small shell-shaped mirror hanging on my wall near my many houseplants.