Tempted | Kai Parker

sixty five: stay

Kai's POV

It was well into the night before everyone left the hospital, and we all began to go home. And even once we'd gotten back to the apartment, Andie didn't say a single word to me. She couldn't bring herself to. It was like she'd lost her voice.

She slipped right inside, and within seconds she was changed into her pyjamas and curling up into bed. I followed suit, turning off the lamps before I crept in beside her, not daring to make a sound myself.

I held her close to my chest, as we lay there in the pitch black, letting her know that I was beside her. I hoped she could feel the sensation of my skin against hers and know that even if she couldn't talk about it right now, I was there for her.

Honestly, I had expected her to cry. I had thought that in the safety of our room, wrapped in my arms, and shrouded by darkness, she would've allowed a few tears to slip out. But she didn't. She didn't even let out so much as a whimper.

And after a while of listening out for a little sniffle, or a slight twitch in her body, I realised nothing was coming. Her breathing had slowed, and she was perfectly still. She was asleep. And at first, I thought I'd be up all night, just waiting vigilantly in case she woke up and got upset. Torturing myself by thinking the night through again and again. But before I knew it, I had drifted off into a deep sleep as well.

Letting my body shut down felt so gratifying after everything that had happened today, that I couldn't even attempt to fight the tiredness that washed over me. It felt selfish to say, given what the girls had gone through, but I hadn't exactly liked watching Liz die. She was a kind woman, who'd shown me nothing but warmth since the second I met her. And there were very few people that I could say that about.

But when my mind finally let go of Liz, Caroline, and Andie for the night, and I felt everything starting to go blank, I welcomed the nothingness. I welcomed the release that sleep brought. Some rest was exactly what I needed. It was what we both needed, if we wanted to come out the other end of this shit show in one piece.

So, I let go. And the sleep was probably one of the best I'd had in a long time. It was dreamless, or should I say, nightmare-less, which for me was a rarity. I wished it would've lasted the whole night, but unfortunately for me, I started to feel myself twitching awake to the spluttering sound of an old engine coughing into life outside.

Time always seemed escaped me when I had been asleep. If I woke up in the middle of the night, I could never tell if I'd been asleep for thirty minutes, seven hours, or anything in between. And tonight was no different. All I knew was that I was still exhausted. I just wanted to get back to sleep.

Pushing out a small groan, I stretched out searching for Andie's warmth to cuddle back into, but no matter how far my fingertips reached, they found nothing but empty sheets. Startled by the vacancy, I pulled my eyelids apart, slightly propping myself up and quickly finding that she was nowhere to be seen.

"Andie?" I whispered.

No response.

Wondering where she was, I quickly rolled out of bed, creeping towards the door, and pulling it open. Before I'd even fully stepped out of the room, I saw her. But the sight of her brought me no comfort or relief.

She was sat on the floor in the hallway, head resting on her knees as she shook with heavy sobs, covering her mouth and nose with her hand to try and stifle the sound of her grief. She hadn't even seen me yet, but just looking at her like that broke my heart. Seeing her in so much pain, and suffering through it alone was more agonising than anything.

Before she'd even managed to lift her head, I slipped over to her, crouching at her side, and pulling her into my arms. She jumped ever so slightly to my touch, completely detached from her surroundings, but as soon as she realised it was me, she grabbed onto my back letting her tears fall into my chest.