“I’ll stick closer to home for a while, I promise.”
“Is that supposed to mollify me?”
“Is it working?”
He grunted. “Maybe.”
I laughed. God, it was good to hear him give me a hard time. His affection seeped right through the phone and directly into my heart. “I love you, Joshua.”
He sniffed. “I suppose I can learn to love you again. Now that you’re back from the dead and all.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“You’ve got to do something about the online stuff, though, Gem. I kept what I could from Mom. I know you two aren’t exactly super close, but she misses you just as much as me. Luckily, she still doesn’t know how to work YouTube. Otherwise, I would’ve probably had to feed her sedatives all hours of the day to stop her from reading all the shitty comments. I even scrambled her TV reception so she wouldn’t see the news and all their ridiculous theories on what happened to our local online celebrity.”
“I left you in a tricky spot.”
“Yeah, you did.” His voice hardened for a second. “Don’t fucking do it again, okay? Just...come home. Where are you, anyway? Why aren’t you on my doorstep right now, on your knees, begging for my forgiveness?”
“Eh...well...” I looked around the hospital room just as the door opened and Kas walked in. His face was etched with stress, his lips thin, eyes haunted.
My immediate reaction was to go to him, to soothe the aches and wounds in his soul, but I had others that needed me just as much. Forcing myself to stay on the bed, I gave Kas a wave and replied to Josh, “I’m still in Kentucky, but I’m coming home tomorrow if they discharge us.”
“Discharge you? Wait, are you hurt? You’re at the hospital?” Rustling sounded on his end of the phone. “I’ll come get you. Right now. Tell me where you are, and I’ll—”
“It’s fine, Josh. Honest.” I swallowed and smiled softly at Kas. “It’s not me who was hurt.”
Kas threw me a look as if calling me a liar. I stuck my tongue out at him, which made his eyebrows fly into his long hair.
“What the hell happened to you?” Josh asked. “And the truth. No bullshit.”
No bullshit?
That didn’t exactly leave me with a lot of things I could share.
I frowned as Kas came toward me, kissing my forehead like any gentle lover. His hand ran down my arm and squeezed mine before he went to sit on the chair by the window. His touch had been cold, his body hiding the faint tremble of dealing with things he wasn’t mentally equipped to deal with yet.
Every part of me wanted to go to him, but I also couldn’t give my brother any more gray hairs. Keeping eye contact with Kas, I murmured, “It’s not really a phone conversation, unfortunately.”
“Is it more of a coffee and cake convo or a tequila shot, panic room type discussion?” Josh asked.
I laughed, loving how he could always smooth a strained topic. “It’s a...I have quite the story for you, and you need to keep an open mind, but if you do...then you get to meet my new friend kinda situation.”
“New friend?”
“His name is Kas. I found him in the national park.”
“You found him? Like you’d find a pet squirrel?”
I smiled. “Something like that.”
Kas cocked his head, his eyes narrowing on mine as if his curiosity was burning.
Josh paused for a moment before his voice switched back into that stern, serious tone. “Whoever this friend is...he didn’t hurt you, did he? That’s not why you’re in hospital?”
“No. Like I said, it’s him who’s been kept for observation.” I ran a hand through my hair, dislodging another whiff of smoke. “We were in a house fire. It’s just a precaution to monitor us.”
“A house fire? Jesus, Gem.” More rustling down the phone. “That’s it. I’m not waiting around. I’m gonna come get you.”
“No. Please, we’re fine. I’m going to rent a car and drive home tomorrow. Honestly, I’d rather wait to see you when I’m back at my place. You can come round. We’ll talk. I’ll introduce you to Kas, okay?”
“Wait, he’s staying with you?”
“Yes.”
“Seriously? First, you disappear, and now...now you’re living with a pet squirrel?”
“Be nice. You’ll understand why when you meet him.”
“Yeah, we’ll see.” Silence for a moment. “You spoke to Mom yet? Told her you’re alive?”
“No, not yet.”
“I’ll do it. Wait until you’re back so she can see for yourself you’re okay. I like hearing your voice and can’t tell you what a relief it is to know you’re alive, but it sucks not being able to touch you. Until I get to see you with my own eyes, I’m reserving the right to accept you’re not a ghost, and this isn’t an overly lucid weed high.”
I sighed. “Still smoking that stuff, huh?”
“I’ll have you know I eat more gummies these days. They satisfy my sugar craving and give me a good buzz. And you can’t talk. Your drugs are boulders that are one finger slip away from killing you. We all have our addictions, Gem.”