rised when I called

Ava, honey, what's brought this on so suddenl

A fresh start," I said, keep

truth. Not yet. It was

Your apartment?

t out. I just.

ng to reassure them without reve

nt, the one Ethan didn't h

I th

as t

oking impossibly handsome a

le playing on his lips. "Y

nst my ribs, a frantic

ng well," I mumbled,

the door, stepping clo

ed, his hand reachin

o lean in

y head slightly so hi

n, do

so full of playf

, Ava? You're

was act

to rage, to claw a

took a de

ing well. I think I'm com

s hand droppin

last night at

I said, pushing past

phone buzzed. H

p his face. The kind of smile I hadn't s

ention completely gone from m

ter his words, leaving me standing in my hall

. Of

t couldn't com

gestures. Surprise trips, expensive gifts,

tice. Al

made me sick

, and I barely made it

robbed. The emotional tur

bed, a fever cr

disoriented, my throa

via, but my hands w

y turned i

ha

spare key at some po

delirious a

it, he look

hat the

shed me to the nearest

haotic. Flu sea

a cubicle, his face

e paperwork," he sai

of me felt a flicker of

accharine voice cut

my god, i

Looking like a porcelain do

pped up. His eye

e that, I ce

his concern for me v

ou?" He rushed to her side

id, pouting prettily. "And my poor Fifi is sick too, the fl

g over her, his voice dripping with a

h my chest, as he guided Chloe to a mor

ely forgot

eft me to tend to his high school crush'

e clear he wasn't coming bac

voice raspy. "I ne

for me went wrong. My arm

supervising

here's the person who brought you in?

es. That

n reappeared, l

needed... she was

en notice my

too tired, too heart

weak smile.

ded,

e was th