Sacrilege (Theo Raeken) [2]

invitation

I tear the drip out of my arm. "Where's my clothes?" I demand. "I want my clothes!"

"Look at me," Kai says. "Calm down."

"Shut. Up."

I rummage around the shelves stationed around the room. I grunt. "Fuck. Just give me your clothes."

"No!" he protests. "Calm down."

I feel tears threatening to spill over. "Give me your shirt, you fuckwit."

He holds out a palm to silence me. "Arden, listen," he says softly. "Don't take it out on me. I'll figure this out."

"Nobody will!" I yell. "Nobody can fix this!"

"Yes, they can," he murmurs. "Calm down."

"Give me your shirt. You have a jacket. Do you want me to walk down these halls in just my underwear?"

He laughs a little. "I'm sure all the patients will love it. Just take my jacket."

"I will," I confirm. "I need to get out of here."

I all but rip his jacket off of him and he yelps a little bit. "Calm down," he repeats. "Jesus, woman, I'm getting it off."

I wrap it around myself. It only goes up to my mid thighs, but I decide that I don't really care at this point. I zip it up and pull my hair out of the scruff. I slip on the slides positioned next to the hospital bed and make a beeline towards the door. I fling it open and start down the hall, dodging the elderly shuffling with their walking frames and the doctors storming down the corridors. I click the elevator button perhaps a few too many times until Kai tells me to stop. "It'll come when it does," he says.

I just shake my head and keep punching it with my index finger. The elevator comes eventually, just when I feel like crumpling in on myself for no good reason other than everything, fucking everything, going wrong. Without looking, I try to charge into the elevator, but Kai puts a hand on my shoulder and keeps me there. A hospital stretcher is wheeled out of the lift, manned by a doctor and a nurse.

"Sorry," I mumble. Once we're left to our own devices in the lift, I turn to Kai. "You've certainly had a change of heart."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Oh, come on. Drop the altruistic act, Kai. Stop being so polite."

He grins a little bit. "Polite? Really?" he snickers. "No. I'm just trying to keep your goddamn tantrum under control."

"I don't even know why you stay around here," I accuse. "Why don't you go back to your witchy problems and leave me the hell alone!"

He sighs, smiling. He's obviously getting a kick out of this. "Because this is too entertaining," he chuckles. "I mean, I haven't seen drama like this for a long, long time."

I shake my head, chuckling sourly. "Easy for you to say."

He rolls his eyes. "Okay, princess, I'm going to teach you something. If all goes to hell, all you do is laugh. Trust me, it makes me feel tons better when I do it."

I fold my arms over my chest as the doors of the elevator open. "Was that a pun, you dumbass?"

"I guess so," he says. I stomp through the ground floor and fling the door open to the outside. I suck in a big breath.

"Where's your car?" I demand.

"Didn't bring it," he says. He pouts. "Aw, no. I forgot Princess doesn't do exercise."

"Fuck. You." I cut through the carpark, not looking for cars, not looking for anything except my house, where I can finally crumple into a heap and cry.