Blazes of Temptation- Book 2

Chapter Sixteen

The sudden change of weather in California is unusual and yet somehow expected with rain showering in the middle of the night. I sit on the floor, next to the vast window and watch at the drops of water run down. The sky is dark, the streets are drained of people and the apartment is oddly quiet. I rock on my bottom back and force with my hands wrapped around my knees. Alice should be here any moment. I just need to hang in there a little bit.

A ping echoes through the silent apartment. The sound comes from the intercom installed in the kitchen.

"Yes?" I answer with a shaky voice.

"Sorry Miss. Brown to bother you, but it seems like you are expecting someone?" a man's voice comes through the phone. "Shall I send Miss. Wilson in?"

"Yes, please, thank you." I manage to say through my dry throat.

It takes almost a minute until Alice arrives. She must have seen the look on my face as I hold the door open for her since she runs the little distance between us and launches her arms around me in a tight hug.

"Oh my god, Laura, are you ok, honey?" she takes a glance at me again before putting her hand on my shoulders and guiding me inside and closing the door behind us.

She helps me sit on the couch and then asks me to lie down before she disappears into the master bedroom to provide me a blanket. Then she kneels next to the couch and starts brushing my hair with her hand.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asks softly.

As a response, I just shake my head. She nods her head in understanding. A flash of reminding comes through my mind and I start shaking and crying like a howling wolf. Alice realizes my breakdown again and she hugs me and rocks me slowly in an uncomfortable way, all the while whispering soothing words so I would calm down. The tension goes away when I feel like sleeping again. Alice looks at me in sorrow. She is one of the three people who know exactly what I went through and how much pain I should endure. She was there all the while, same as Ella, Matt, and somehow Jessica in between, give or take.

"Honey, I'm right here. I have you. Don't worry about anything, ok? Just try to get some sleep," Alice continues brushing my hair.

The sudden warmth of the blazes of the sun piercing through my skin first thing in the morning wakes me up. Spending a restless night having nightmares that shouldn't have happened in the first place, I couldn't bring it to myself to wake up, though. Stirring in my place, I struggle to go back to sleep, however, consciousness has hit me a long time ago and refuses to leave me alone.

The next time I open my eyes, I find myself peacefully taking the rest of my nap on the couch where I drifted to sleep dreadfully, last night. The first thing I realize, however, is the needling pain of a headache. I breathe in, sit up, and take a good look around myself. In the haze of sleep is still in my head, when I stand up to find Alice.

Standing before the stove, I find Alice cooking something with her back to me.

"Good morning," I say,

"Holy F*cking Sh*t." she jumps, literally as she turns around and puts her hand on her heart. "You scared me to death. I didn't hear you wake up," she says as she turns around to turn off the stove and take whatever she's been working on to the readily placed plates on the breakfast bar.

"That's because no one makes a sound when they wake up," I find my voice of humor. Walking toward the familiar walk-in storage where last time Andrew brought painkillers out.

"I made you some bacon and eggs just the way you like them," she places them on my plate as I pour coffee for us in our cups and proceed to take care of my headache. "So... How are you feeling now?" she asks me, trying not to emphasize on my panic attack last night, but the obvious is still there.