Page 26 of Shelter
“Oh, God, I wanna die…” Ava slurred before groaning.
“Do you want me to get my mom?”
“No,” I barked, stepping forward and taking her by the elbow. Her arm was small, thinner and lighter than Ava’s. “We’re fine. Just… just go back to bed. We’re sorry for waking you.”
Elise turned to face me, a slight frown pressing between her brows. “You didn’t. I was already awake, but you’re making noise, so if I could hear you, so can anyone else,” she said meaningfully.
I nodded to appease her and send her away. “We’ll keep quiet now. You can go.”
Her frown became a scowl. “I’m just trying to help.” She looked back at Ava. “It’s pretty obvious she’s drunk.”
“Yeah, and I can handle it,” I argued, my shoulders drawing back.
“Why don’t you bring her to my room?” She rubbed her bare arms, which I could now see were dotted with gooseflesh. “It’s getting chilly out here, and I have fresh towels and blankets.”
I shook my head. “Thanks, but we’re good.”
Ava coughed and gagged, the sound echoing through the yard. Elise raised a brow at me. “That’s louder than you think.”
She didn’t have to tell me that. Ava’s heaves split the night’s silence, bouncing off the surface of the pool and the walls of our house. And just as I listened to the silence crowd back in again, the whir of the garage door broke it.
Elise’s wide eyes locked with mine. My heart went off in my chest. “If he goes through the kitchen,” she said, her voice tense, “he’ll see us.”
I looked back at my house. The garage was off the utility room. My father would come in and either go through the kitchen or through the short hall that led past a bathroom and then the living room to the stairs.
So that meant we had a fifty-fifty chance of getting caught.
The garage door started to close. Elise grabbed my arm and tugged hard. “C’mon,” she ordered. “Get Ava. I’ll get the door.”
Fear and instinct had me rushing to Ava, and I swept her up again. Elise flicked off the light, quietly pulled the door closed behind us, and then darted ahead of me to the guesthouse door.
“Come inside,” she whispered, pulling us in behind her. Once we were in, Elise shut the door, and I found myself in the darkened living room of the guesthouse with my drunken sister clutched to me. I hadn’t set foot in the Cormier’s quarters since the night Elise had cleaned my shirt.
I felt a flush of shame at the memory. How many times would I need this girl to rescue me?
I set Ava down on her feet, her weight propped against me. Elise motioned for us to follow her, and we did so quietly, Ava veering into me with each step. But when the door to Elise’s bedroom shut, I spoke up.
“We would have been fine out there, you know.” I didn’t know if I was saying it for her benefit or mine, but saying it felt necessary.
Ignoring me, Elise turned to my sister. “Ava, do you want to take a shower?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think she can stand up on her own,” I said, but Elise still didn’t look at me.
“Bath…” Ava moaned.
“I’ll draw you a bath,” Elise said, and without giving me a glance, she strode to her bathroom.
“Not too hot,” I hoarse-whispered, remembering how Elliot Mason had slipped into a coma last year after drinking in a hot tub at a senior homecoming party. They’d had to call the ambulance, take him to the ER, stick a tube down his throat, and pump him full of activated charcoal. “Hot water and alcohol are dangerous.”
“Ava,”Elise stressed from the bathroom. “I’m going to draw you awarmbath.”
She was making a point of ignoring me.Well, two can play that game.
Keeping my mouth shut, I shuffle-dragged Ava to the edge of the tub. She was going to need help getting undressed and into the water, but I wasn’t going to offer. This was Elise’s idea. If she wanted my help, she’d have to ask for it. After making sure my sister was supported against the bathroom wall, I walked back into Elise’s bedroom and leaned against her closet door, certain that Elise would call me back as soon as she realized what she was up against. I knew that it had taken both Bree and Honey to get Ava out of her puke-soaked top and into a clean shirt, and both of them were older and bigger than little Elise Cormier. I bit down on a smug grin of satisfaction when I heard her crank off the taps. Silence filled the bathroom.
But then, to my surprise, the bathroom door shut, and the lock turned.
I spun around to stare at the door. Then I pressed my ear to it and heard murmuring. Nothing more.
