Page 8 of Protect Me
Even if barely.
Her big eyes peered at me, unreadable. Katelyn had always been carefully distant. Amma, Appa, Vinita, they could touch her. They were openly affectionate, like Amma and Appa would be with me and Vini. But there had always been a firm wall between us. After Vinita and Katelyn graduated high school together, Katelyn had disappeared into thin air. She popped up only at family functions.
Or was that me?
“Just need to go to the bathroom.” I licked my lips, suddenly out of words. “And take a shower.”
“Are you allowed to?” She eyed my bandage. “That seems pretty fresh.”
“I’ll be careful.”
Regardless, I had to get clean. With a detachable showerhead and a lot of towels, I could make this happen.
“Sure,” she drawled.
“It’s down the hall.”
“I know.” The color on her face deepened, but she met my gaze this time. “I cleaned it.”
My nose wrinkled. “You survived?”
She laughed, a quiet trill. The sound seemed to take both of us by surprise. “Yes, and lived to tell the tale.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. How long have you been . . . ah . . .”
“A troll?”
She pursed her lips together to stop a smile. “I was going to sayrecovering.”
We moved forward as a unit, down the hallway. My head stopped slipping out from beneath me, and the movement became less concerning. Once we made it to the hall, I reached a hand out to stabilize and take some of my weight back. She eyed it, said nothing.
“Did Vini send you?” I asked in a blatant misdirection of her question.
“Yes.”
I scowled. “Kingslayer.”
She laughed, and the delight that echoed in it slipped all the way through me like a bolt of lightning. The fog that caused everything to haze over cleared, and I realized just how terrible and lonely all of this must appear.
She paused outside the bathroom.
“Do you need—“
I held up a hand. “I got this.”
“Right. I’ll just . . .” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder, blush intensifying. “I’ll just be out . . . there.”
Katelyn spun on her heel and scuttled away before I could say another word.
ChapterThree
KATELYN
My heart hammered like a wild thing.
The sound of the running shower reassured me that he couldn’t hear my erratic pulse, but I wasn’t totally convinced. Blood rushed through my ears and my breath fluttered with every inhale and exhale. I paced across the kitchen floor, body racing.
