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I shrugged a shoulder, feeling numb to the bone.
Shifting onto her side in the tiny single bed we were sharing, Claire wrapped her arm around me. “They were taking him in around midnight. Wasn’t that what Gerard said?”
Again, I shrugged helplessly. I had no idea.
“He’s going to be okay, Shan,” she whispered, squeezing me tightly. “I’m sure of it.”
“I feel like can’t breathe,” I confessed as teardrop after teardrop fell from my eyelashes. “Claire, I’m so scared for him, and my body is frozen.”
“That’s understandable,” she replied, rubbing my arm soothingly.
“Is it?” I strangled out, fighting back the urge to scream. “Because I have no idea why I feel like I’m dying right now.” Sniffling, I inhaled several shaky breaths, desperate to get my emotions under control. “I have never been so scared in my whole life.”
“Shan,” Claire sighed softly. “You’re feeling like this because you care about Johnny.”
Nodding, I clenched my eyes shut and tensed my body to stop the tremors from racking through me.
“And maybe because you love him?”
Exhaling a ragged breath, I rolled onto my back and turned my face to look at my best friend.
“I’m so in love with him, Claire,” I confessed, and then I burst into tears. “I love him so much that the thought of him not being okay is killing me.”
“Does Johnny know how you feel?”
I shook my head and cried harder.
“I shouldn’t have left him,” I sobbed. “I should have stayed with him.”
“You couldn’t,” she said in a gentle tone. “Mr. Mulcahy would’ve never allowed you.”
“He looked so scared, Claire,” I strangled out as my body racked with sobs. “You didn’t see him, but he was so scared. And then they took him away in that ambulance. I watched him go. I watched them take him away. And now? Now I don’t know where he is or if he’s alone—”
“It’s okay,” she coaxed, wrapping me up in her arms. “Shh, it’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”
“What if something happens to him?” I sobbed, clutching her for dear life. “What if something goes wrong in theater—”
“No,” she interrupted, her voice a stern whisper. “He’s going to be fine—”
A soft knock on the door startled me and caused both of us to spring up on the bed.
My eyes darted to the three sleeping girls and then back to Claire.
She stared back at me, wide-eyed.
“Girls,” a familiar muffled voice came from the other side of the hotel room door. “Let me in.”
Claire held a hand up, motioning for me to stay where I was, before sliding off the bed and tiptoeing across the room.
“Gerard?” she whispered, pressing her ear to the door.
“Yeah, it’s me, babe,” Gibsie’s voice came from the other side.
Thank god.
Scrambling off the bed, I hurried to the door just as Claire pulled it open.
We both winced when the hallway light almost blinded us both.
