Page 57 of The Plan

I turn to the idiot paramedic. “Didn’t I just fucking say that?” He looks at his buddy, but neither of them speaks up again. Vidia wipes her cheek on her shoulder and is still doing CPR but a bit slower since she’s been at it for fifteen minutes straight.

“Vidia—”

“No, Sire!” I briefly close my eyes and let out a sigh for what I’m about to do. When I open them back up, I stand and wrap my arms around Vid’s waist, lifting her up.

She kicks and fights for me to put her down, but I ignore her demands and pick up her purse. “Put me down now, Sire!” Her voice breaks, and I would do anything she wants right now, but not that. She’s just going to rush back to save someone who can’t be saved.

“Sire!” She fights me until I put her down outside the alley where we left August and Hazel. As soon as her feet touch the ground, she turns for the alley again.

I step in her way, and she looks up at me. “Move.” She takes another step to the left, but I block her again. She pushes me, but I don’t move an inch, so she pushes me again.

“I could’ve saved her!” She shoves me another time. “You should have let me save her!” When she lifts her arms to push me again, I grab them.

She’s looking at me with teary eyes, but I can still see the anger in them. “Him, Vidia. He was a guy. Why do you keep saying her?” She looks at me confused, like she didn’t even notice, and that’s when I realize she’s making this about her friend who passed. God, of course this shit triggered her.

“This isn’t about her, Vidia.”

“Shut up.”

I bend down so we’re at eye level with one another. “You couldn’t have saved either of them. It wasn’t your fault.” I thought I got this through her head years ago. She pulls her arms from my grasp and wipes her tears. August and Hazel are staring at us but don’t say anything.

“Let’s go. You need to go to a hospital and get checked for any—”

“I know what I need to get checked for.” She snatches her purse from me and storms off. I let out a frustrated breath and turn to Hazel.

“Make sure she goes to a hospital. She gave a homeless guy mouth-to-mouth.”

“Of course she did.” She rolls her eyes, not surprised to hear Vidia would even think of doing something dumb like that. She just can’t help herself when it comes to saving someone.

“Make sure she goes, Hazel.” She puts her hand up, surrendering at my tone, and she says she will. I turn to walk away but then turn back. “And make sure she talks to someone about Serenity.” She gives me a confused look, most likely because she didn’t know I knew about her.

“About Serenity? Why?”

“Stop asking questions and just make sure she talks to someone, Hazel.” She makes another confused face but with a mix of disgust.

“Alright, damn, I will.” As I’m walking away, I hear her say, “You care so damn much, you go talk to her.” Yeah, I fucking want to.

When I walk back into my apartment, Lis is cooking. Scratch that, she’s burning something.

“Hmm.” I pretend my burnt apartment smells amazing. “Is that turtle I smell?” She turns around so damn fast I won’t be surprised if she just gave herself whiplash.

“What do you have against Piglet?” I’m confused for a second before I realize that’s her emotional support pet's name.

“You named your turtle Piglet?”

“Yes.” She turns back around, and I freeze when I walk into the kitchen. It wouldn’t be fucked up if I slapped her, right? I know she’s a girl, but she’s my sister, so it doesn’t count. I take in a deep breath and turn to her.

“I know you didn’t put that shit in the bowl I eat out of, Lisette.” She waves me off with my spatula. I glance at her fucking turtle swimming in my favorite bowl.

“You can clean it, Sire.”

“Youcan clean it, the fuck. I—” I decide I’m done with her. “Just keep it.” She chuckles, and I shake my head at her. She serves two plates of something I’m not even going to try, then sits next to me at the counter.

“Why do you look like that?” She circles her forks around my face, and I run a hand down my face, telling her not to worry about it. I just want to fucking talk to Vidia, but I’m going to let everything that just happened settle.

“What’s going on withyou, Lis?” She lets out a sigh and moves her burnt food around her plate.

“I got fired.” She steals a glance at me like she’s waiting for some huge angry reaction, but she should know she isn’t going to get that out of me.

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