Page 125 of Loving Wild

“Nothing was going on between us at first. He just offered me a safe place to stay when I left Jason.” I pause as I think about the insane roller coaster ride my life has been on since July. “Things changed,” I say with a shrug. “And I’ve never really left.”

My eyes slice between my mum and sister, concern written all over their faces, and instinct drives me to ease that for them.

“I love him. My life now is with him. It’s new, but it’s kind ofnotbecause of the time we’ve spent together. It’s really complicated and at the same time, so very easy.”

The room’s quiet for a long moment, the only sound coming from the machine measuring my vitals, the rhythmic bleeping slows my heartbeat, and I’m hit with a wave of tiredness.

“I’m glad you’ve found that,” my sister whispers.

“Thank you, me too,” I tell her.

“Sounds too good to be true if you ask me,” my mum states.

“We didn’t,” Vix and I say in unison.

“And what sort of name is Gabriel for a bloke? Sounds poncey if you ask me.”

“Again, we didn’t.” Vicki leans forward and we high five after our once again perfectly timed delivery.

“Sorry, I tried to convince her not to come, but you know how every now and then she likes to pretend to love us and make a fuss?”

I smile but don’t add a nod in case it pushes my need to vomit over the edge.

“Yeah,” my sister continues. “She had one of those moments and insisted on coming.”

“It’s okay, I’ll just ask for more drugs while you’re here.”

“I’m not bloody deaf, I can hear you pair of bitches,” my mum states as she folds her arms across her chest.

“You got any pics?” my sister asks as we pretend to ignore our mum.

“Yeah, pass my phone out that drawer for me please, and I’ll show you.”

Vix does as I ask, but when she hands me my phone, it’s dead, and for some reason, that makes me want to cry.

“Shit, it’s dead. Either of you got an iPhone charger?”

“Back at the hotel, but not with me,” Vicki says.

I stare at my useless phone for a few seconds while fighting back my irrational tears. When I look up, my mum and sister are looking at each other.

“You look really tired. The nurse said you’re gonna feel a bit off for a little while,” Vicki turns back to me and states. “Why don’t you go back to sleep for a bit? We’ll go to the hotel and get a charger and bring you back something nice for lunch.”

“That’d be good,” I reply.

“Anything in particular you fancy?” my mum asks as she stands from the chair.

“Surprise me,” I tell her as she moves in for a kiss. “And put those bloody gloves back in the box, you donotneed them.”

“You’re no fun,” she turns away from me and says, dumping a pile of latex gloves by the sink as she heads for the door.

My sister stares at me wide-eyed and shakes her head.

“Love you, back soon,” she says and blows me a kiss before leaving.

The instant they’re gone, I use the remote to lower the back of my bed and cry myself to sleep.

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