The Sun Sister (The Seven Sisters #6) - Lucinda Riley Page 0,130

still stroking Vanessa’s hair. ‘She said her mom used to do this. She told me she was dead.’

‘Yeah, she is.’

‘What happened?’

‘I don’t know,’ Miles said. ‘Vanessa is HIV positive, so it might have been AIDS.’

Vanessa stirred and I hushed Miles. ‘You’d better go. We’ll talk later.’

‘Hey, I can do quiet. I’ll just sit right here and keep you company.’

And so he did, and I had the oddest sensation that we were parents watching over our kid. Despite the circumstances, it felt comforting. As the clock on the wall ticked by the hours until dawn, my head became heavy and I began to doze. I felt an arm come around my shoulders and pull me closer so I could rest my head against his warm chest.

‘I’m thirsty,’ said a voice somewhere in the distance.

I jolted awake as my pillow was taken from behind my head and I opened my eyes. Miles was pouring some water into a cup and pressing the button that made the bed rise so that Vanessa could take a drink.

‘Just sips now, honey, take it slowly,’ he said, holding the straw for her.

When Vanessa had finished, he sat back down in the chair and she turned to look at us.

‘What are you two doin’ here? You my mom and dad or something?’

I smiled as Vanessa voiced just how I’d felt last night.

‘I can see you’re feeling better, missy,’ Miles smiled. ‘You scared us.’

Vanessa shrugged. ‘I was hopin’ I’d never have to wake to see another morning, but hey, here I am.’

Maybe it was me, but I thought Vanessa seemed perkier.

‘Electra here has refused to leave you all night in case you woke up,’ said Miles, who then turned to me. ‘How about you go freshen up and find someone who can bring us some coffee?’

As it happened, I was bursting to go to the bathroom, so I agreed.

‘Black or white?’ I asked.

‘You talking about the coffee, ma’am?’ he said, smirking at me.

‘Ha! You’ll get what you’re given.’

‘Hey, you two got a thing going on or what?’ Vanessa chirped from the bed as I left the room. Heat rose up my neck as I went to the washroom and looked at myself in the mirror. My hair had untied itself from its plait and hung greasily in curtains on either side of my face, and my eyes had great pouches beneath them. I did my best to tidy myself up, but with no equipment to hand, it was impossible, so I walked down the corridor in search of coffee.

‘Room service will be here shortly,’ I said as I re-entered the room.

Vanessa eyed me. ‘You sure have some strange accent going on there, don’t she, Miles?’

‘I was brought up in Switzerland, that’s why. My mother tongue is French,’ I added as I went to sit down and Miles stood up.

‘Excuse me while I leave you girls together and go and wash up too.’

‘I ain’t never been outside Manhattan, apart from coming here, and this ain’t like no emergency room I ever visited.’ Vanessa rolled her eyes as Miles left. ‘Do I have to screw someone to pay for it?’

‘No, it’s all paid for, Vanessa,’ I reassured her as I watched her nod and her eyes began to droop like a puppy who had woken up to play and had suddenly run out of energy. It was difficult to believe that the sullen young woman I’d slept next to in rehab had tried to take her own life last night, and woken up this morning seemingly so happy . . .

Maybe it was the fact that both Miles and I were there for her. Or – my heart sank at the thought – was it more to do with the fact that she was probably on some kind of opiate for the pain and her brain was simply reacting to the stimulant?

‘She’s sleeping again,’ I said as Miles reappeared at the same time as a nurse came with the coffee. I gulped back the hot liquid after lacing it with sugar to replace my morning carbs. ‘What happens next, do you think?’

‘When I talked to the doctor last night, he said that the psych team will come to assess her. We both know that what happened last night was no practice run.’

‘And after that?’

‘I’m not sure, but as I said the other night, she needs more than a serenity prayer and petting some horses to steer her back. Maybe once she’s recovered and out of here the doc said that