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I try to shake the fog of sleep from my brain to process what she said. Kai is in a pub. Cal can’t get him to leave. Does he need to leave?
“Why do I need to get him?”
“Whiskey, Belle. Kai went to rehab for alcohol abuse. He’s been sober for three years, and he’s about to blow it,” Willa says, pulling me out of bed.
“What? No one told me that! Fuck!” I sprint to the door, looking around for my shoes. I find them near the couch and quickly put them on.
“Coat!” Mav yells, throwing it at me. I scramble to pull it on as I push the door open and run outside. Cal booked a house for the last show, so luckily, I’m not running through a hotel looking like a crazy person. Which I’m not telling him. He was supposed to book me a fancy hotel room for going on that stupid show this morning. He knew the whole time he had a house planned.
“I don’t know where to go!” I yell.
“I know. Let’s go!” Willa says, grabbing my arm and pulling me into a cab. She must have called one already.
My leg bounces anxiously, and I’m tempted to ask the driver to move faster. I had no idea Kai ever had any trouble with alcohol. But as I sit here thinking about it, we’ve been in pubs and bars almost every night, and he’s never had a drink in his hand.
“This is all my fault,” I cry into my hands.
“It is not.”
“He thinks I’ve abandoned him for good, Willa. Left him to his pain just like everyone else he loves.”
“Save it for your song writing. That will probably be a hit.”
“This isn’t funny!”
“And I’m not laughing! Kai is hurting, yes. I told you this before we even left home. The fact that his communication skills are on infant levels is not your fault.” She pulls my hands away from my face and forces me to look at her. “No matter what we walk in on, you didn’t put him in that pub, you didn’t order him that drink, and you sure as fuck didn’t force him to drink it. Do you understand?”
I nod, pulling myself together just in time for the cab to drop us off.
I start to walk and notice Willa isn’t following. “Aren’t you coming?”
She shakes her head. “He needs you or no one. Me going in there won’t help. Trust me.”
I pull the door open and immediately spot my bother hovering around a very depressed looking Kai. The moment Cal sees me, his shoulders relax slightly, and he walks over.
“He hasn’t had anything to drink. All he does is stare at it. He won’t even talk to me,” Cal explains, running a frustrated hand through his hair.
“Willa’s outside. I’ll stay with Kai.”
“I’m sorry to do this to you, Belle.”
“Don’t. Kai is my friend too, even when I hate him.”
“You hate him?” Cal asks.
“Not even a little.”
twenty-two
KAI
Someone takesthe seat next to me, and I’m about to ask them to kindly fuck off, but then I smell her. She’s always smelled sweet, like sugar and jasmine.
“Kai,” she says softly.
“Why are you here, Belle?” I ask, my voice breaking.
“Why are you staring into a glass of whiskey like it’s going to tell you the meaning of life?” she asks with more snark than anyone would dare around a recovering alcoholic that’s about to end that recovery.
