Page 42 of Shallow

“I’m not. But I’m legally responsible for her while she’s here and she looks unstable. I have minors to protect,Mom.”

It’s total bullshit. The boys are twice as big as Shiloh and three times as strong. They could take her down in two seconds flat, and my mother knows it too. Which is why I don’t give her the opportunity to respond, shrugging off her hand and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek as I barrel through thedoor.

“I’ll come by the motel later to talk more about this. Love youboth.”

I have no idea if either of them respond because I’m already across the center, searching every corner for a mass of blonde hair and long legs. Not finding her anywhere, I start to get frustrated when I hear soft sobbing coming from the darkened hallway on my right. The only thing back there is a locked supply closet and a smallbathroom.

“Shiloh, are you okay inthere?”

Silence.

“Shiloh? I need you to come out of the bathroom and talk to me, or I’m going to break this doordown.”

Moresilence.

“Shiloh?” Pressing my ear against the door, I hear nothing but light shuffling, so I back up. “Fine, have it your way.” I let out a grunt as my foot makes contact with the cheap wood, sending it crashing inward and hanging off its hinges. As I step inside, it takes my eyes a minute to register what they’reseeing.

Fuckinghell.

Shiloh is on her knees with an open prescription bottle in one hand and about a dozen tiny blue pills in the other. My limbs feel frozen, but as her cupped hand inches toward her open lips, I snap out of it and lose myshit.

I mean, Ilose myshit.

Throwing my arm out, I grab her hand and jerk it away from her mouth, sending the pills scattering across the bathroom. She doesn’t time to react before I grab her by the shoulders, hauling her to her knees and against my chest. I can’t speak, reacting on instinct as my heavy breathing fans across her face, revealing the jagged scar she tries so hard to keep hidden. I wait for a reaction, but her usual gray eyes are almost charcoal, reflecting nothing but emptydarkness.

I give her body a shake, trying to reach her. “What the hell was that, huh? What were you trying todo?”

She just stares at me, her body going limp in my arms. The lack of response ignites a wave of anger in me I don’t see coming, and my hold tightens, lifting her slightly off the floor until her toesdangle.

“Answer me, Shiloh! You brought pills here? Were you doing drugs in mycenter?”

Blinking twice, she shakes her head, a single tear rolling from the corner of hereye.

“Then what were you trying todo?”

“Sleep,” she saysflatly.

I’m not sure I hear her right. “What?”

“Sleep. For once I want tosleep.”

I roll my head to the side. “Shy…”

“All the screaming had stopped, but it’s back.” Her words are monotone, like she’s stuck in a nightmare. “I can’t close my eyes. I haven’t slept in over a week, because every time I do, all I hear are thescreams.”

“Whosescreams?”

“Kirkland’s. Mine.” She lets out a shuddering breath as her head lolls on her neck. “Yours.”

“And you thought nobody would care if you downed a bottle of pills to doit?”

Shiloh lifts her chin, meeting my averted gaze. “Wouldthey?”

I have no idea if it’s the fragile look in her eyes or the way her body clings to me, but time reverses back to when I looked into that same face with the same desire. What I felt then was pure andunstoppable.

My mouth is on her before I can stop it, cradling her face between my palms and mumbling between frantic kisses, “Goddamn it. You’re so stupid, Shy. You’re so fuckingstupid.”

Her lips are so damn sweet, and even shaking with fear she tastes like rain and sunshine—just like I remember. Weaving a hand through her hair, I trail the other down her spine and settle it on her ass, squeezing so hard she moans into mymouth.