Friends with Benefits - Nicole Blanchard Page 0,8

pathetic.

Chris was still blocked on my phone and social media. I’d held fast there. But there was a part of me, however small, that thought that he would still reach out. Use someone else’s phone and text me. Try messaging me from a dummy Facebook or Instagram account.

Total idiot.

If he’d wanted to be with me, he would have made an effort to reach me.

Hope springs eternal, I guess.

I started to doze off, my half-unconscious dreams plagued by images of Chris alternately apologizing and laughing in my face. When my phone began to ring, I had almost convinced myself it was him calling to apologize.

Except I didn’t recognize the number on my display. Rubbing at my eyes, I answered, thinking it was probably Mom calling for some emergency or another.

“Hello?” I winced at the sound of my sleep-rusty voice.

“Hi, is this Ember? Ember Stevens?”

I cleared my throat. “Yes, this is she.”

Well, at least it wasn’t my mother. Knowing that didn’t help the anxiety in my stomach.

“Hi, this is your neighbor from across the hall, Lennox Marquette.”

“Hey, Lennox. Is everything okay?”

I’d seen Lennox on occasion in passing. I knew she was working on her master’s at FSU and spent most of her time with her nose buried in books. If she was calling, it couldn’t be good. The only reason she’d get in touch was if there was some sort of emergency.

“Actually, I hate to call, but I heard crying coming from your apartment. When I went to knock on the door, your sisters answered.” I sat straight up, adrenaline pumping through my veins. My first overwhelming thought was that my Mom had had a heart attack and the twins were alone with her dead body. Then Lennox continued, “They told me your mother had left them all alone.”

“She what?” I whispered faintly. It should have been a relief that she wasn’t dead, but this was somehow worse.

“I’m sorry, Ember, that’s what they said. I was able to get your phone number from the contacts list taped to your fridge. I hope you don’t mind me going in your apartment.”

I pushed a hand through my sleep-matted hair. I could hear the girls chattering in the background. At least they sounded normal. “Of course not. My mother wasn’t there?”

Was I hearing her wrong? I knew my mother wasn’t the best in the world, but she’d never deliberately put the twins in danger.

“I checked everywhere. They said she told them to watch TV and she’d be back later, but that was hours ago. They got scared when it got dark.”

Lennox offered to watch the kids until I could schedule coverage for work. Thankfully, my captain was understanding and called in a favor. I’d have to work a double shift next week, but I couldn’t focus on anything but getting home to the girls.

I tried calling my dad, who was rarely home as it was, but he didn’t answer.

The first real threads of fear wove through my chest on the drive back to my apartment.

What if they’d left for good?

Chapter Four

Tripp

This was my last chance and I was going to kick ass.

Or at least that’s what I told myself after eight hours of practice and classes.

Muscles sore and protesting, I heaved myself from my car in the parking lot of my apartment complex. With the heavy weight of my gym bag thrown over my shoulder, the trek from my car to the elevator felt like an eternity. All I wanted was a big bottle of ice-cold water, a hot shower, and about a century of sleep.

I aimed to do just that—and I would have if I hadn’t heard the quiet sobs coming from behind the apartment door next to mine. It was so out of place that I froze with my key raised to my door. The last time I could remember hearing Ember like this was the day we met when she had the twins. Of course, the twins cried from time to time, but theirs was more of a high-pitched wail than the soft, heart-wrenching cries I heard now.

It had to be Ember.

The thought didn’t quite compute. She was a rock. She put up with more than I thought physically possible. I thought I had it hard with my constant practices, workouts, and training, but that was nothing compared to working, going to school, and taking care of two kids with deadbeat parents.

She was like Superwoman.

I knocked on her door after a pause. Maybe she wouldn’t want me butting my nose in. She