and shook it loose.
“Yeah. If you can get it over my head, I should be able to get my arms in.”
I worked it over her head, staying to her back, and she dropped the towel from her chest. I helped her stick her arms into the holes and the worn fabric fell over her body.
Once she was all dressed, she sighed heavily, and I managed to pull a brush through her wet hair. “I’ve never been more exhausted than I am right now. Who knew taking a shower was hard work?” she laughed tiredly.
She shakily walked the short distance to her bedroom and I helped her crawl into bed. Her head hit the pillow and she was out before I even pulled the blanket over her body.
I put the bathroom back in some sort of order and turned off all the lights. I double-checked to make sure the front door was locked and stood in front of the couch. My eyes wandered to the open door of her bedroom.
There wasn’t any room in her bed for me to sleep, but I felt like I was too far away from her.
“Fuck it,” I muttered. I grabbed the two pillows from the couch and headed back into her bedroom. The couch was uncomfortable as fuck, so I figured the floor couldn’t be any worse.
I dropped the pillows next to the head of her bed, grabbed the extra blanket near her feet, and made do on the floor.
Uncomfortable as fuck, but I was right there if Queenie needed me.
That’s why I slept on the hard floor not because it eased my worry. It was all about Queenie.
That was the story I was sticking to.
*
Chapter Seven
That was exciting…
Queenie
“I never realized how little I knew about my sister.” I stared down at the piece of paper with only three things written on it.
NB Clinic - Lynn
Rain?
Lynn
“How many can you remember?” Sledge sat down next to me with a steaming cup of coffee.
My coffee was growing cold and my stomach was growling for food. I had told Sledge I wasn’t doing anything until I racked my brain for everyone Duchess had ever mentioned. “Two and one that I don’t think I’m remembering right.”
“You never met any of her friends?”
I dropped my elbows on the table and rested my head in my hands. “I did, but most of the time it was late at night and she never introduced them. Usually, I just told her to keep it down because I had work in the morning.” I should have asked more questions. I should have talked to her more, but most of the time before she got clean, I was just so mad that she was messing up her life. “I was not the good little sister I should have been.”
Sledge lifted his coffee cup but froze in midair. “Wait, she was your big sister?”
I nodded and sat back in my chair. “Yeah. She was only a year older than me, though. Mom had us one right after the other.”
“Sorry, I just assumed you were the older one because…well…”
“Because it’s normally the little sister messing up?” I laughed and shook my head. “Yeah, no. Not when it came to Duchess and me. I won’t ever say I was perfect, but I didn’t fight the same demons Duchess did.”
“Well, that list is at least some place to start. Hopefully, her rehab will be able to help.”
“Except I don’t think they’re going to talk to Zephyr, Sledge. All of that shit is confidential.” I was probably going to have to be the one who went there, and even then, I didn’t know if they were going to be able to tell me anything.
“You and I can go with him. Between the three of us, we should be able to get some information from her.”
I looked back down at the paper. “I feel like I’m asking for a miracle, Sledge, and I don’t think I’m worthy of a miracle.”
“Bullshit, sugar. We’re gonna find Gunner, and then everything is going to go back to normal.”
At least he seemed hopeful. I wasn’t too sure of anything anymore.
*
Sledge
“About fucking time you got here.”
Zephyr jogged across the street and slapped his hand into mine. “It was a bitch finding parking. You would think with a bike that shit would be easy.”
“Where did you end up?” I asked.
He nodded down the street. “Three blocks that way in a parking garage.”
“We need to go. We’re already five minutes late.” Queenie turned on her heel and up