Page 35 of Too Far

Locke and Josephine are in her bed. He’s sitting up against the headboard with one arm around her shoulders and the other stroking her hair. She’s curled up against him, her head nestled against his chest.

Kendrick is perched on the end of the bed, surveying me over the top of his phone.

The only person missing is—

“Coming through.”

Kylian breezes past me without a glance my way.

He approaches the bed with total confidence. He’s undeterred by the sight before him, confirming the inkling in my gut.

Something’s wrong. And I’m the last to know.

“What’s going on?”

Kendrick’s still watching me, but his blank stoicism gives me nothing to go on.

Josephine’s eyes are closed, but she hums to acknowledge she heard me.

Kylian and Locke disregard me as if I haven’t spoken at all. Neither takes their attention off Josephine, even as I stomp toward the bed.

As I approach, I home in on the paper bag Kylian is holding up.

“These side effects are hellacious. When did she eat last?” he asks without looking up from the document stapled to the bag.

“She had toast around five this morning,” Kendrick replies.

Kylian scoffs and drops the hand holding the bag to his side. “That’s the last time she ate? How about her water intake? How much has she had to drink?”

Shifting from one foot to the other, I ask, “What’s wrong?”

Not only am I ignored once again, but Josephine isn’t inserting herself into the conversation. Something must bereallywrong if she isn’t getting after them for talking about her like she isn’t here.

“She’s had plenty to drink. She knows the drill. Just give her the meds, Kyl.”

“Absolutely not. The instructions say to take them with food. Toast that was consumed more than four hours ago does not meet the qualifications. I’ll go make her real food—”

“I’ll do it,” Locke insists. He shifts toward the side of the bed, making Josephine groan in protest.

“Josephine,” I snap with more force than I should. I snake around Kylian and take Locke’s position by her side before anyone can beat me to it.

“Hey,” I say, softer. I shift until I’m close enough to stroke her shoulder. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”

Locke bends over me to kiss her head, then takes off.

I brush the hair out of her face and tuck a section behind her ear. Finally, she peeks up at me with one eye.

“Why are you still in bed?”

The corner of her mouth turns up in a smirk, though it’s weak.

“Because I knew it would piss you off.”

Kendrick snorts and mutters a “behave, Mama” under his breath as he grabs her half-full water bottle.

“I’ll go fill this up. You want me to pop your heating pad back in the microwave? Should I bring the Tylenol up? We could start alternating pain meds.”

“Yes. Both.” With another groan, she shifts and pulls a rice pack from under the covers, then holds it out for him.