Chapter 5
I smiled at her, lips curling with a hint of irony. “This bit of luck? I was giving it to you. You should be thanking me.”
Sierra’s cheeks flushed a soft pink; her shy gaze flicked toward Declan Price.
וד
The air in the hospital room had grown stifling, heavy with awkward tension.
Just then the door swung open and a tall figure w settled on me.
walked in. He scanned the room, his brow tightening for a moment before his eyes
“Evelyn Hart?”
1 froze. I knew that voice.
It belonged to Julian Blake -a classmate from high school who had once seemed to own every room he
room he walked
into.
He came from money, carried himself with a reckless edge, and had almost nothing in common with a rule–following good girl like me
So why was he here?
JJulian didn’t bother with anyone else. He walked straight up to me and handed me a file.
‘Here’s the info you asked for. Also heard you’re looking for a studio. My buddy’s renting one out in the southern suburbs. Nice place I can hook you up if you want.”
His arrival shattered the room’s oppressive vibe like a stone through glass.
Declan glanced at Julian, then back at me, suspicion narrowing his eyes. “You two… know each other?”
Before I could answer, Julian shot him a cold look. “What’s it to you?”
He turned back to me; his tone softened just a fraction “This place reeks. Come on I’ll drive you home.”
I nodded, grateful for the escape. He was right, the room smelled awful, and his timing couldn’t have been better. “Okay.”
I stood and followed Julian out of the hospital without looking back.
Inside his car, a faint uncase settled over me. The interior was quiet and carried a thin cedar scent that matched his cool, steady presence
“Thanks,” I said, breaking the silence. I knew he’d stepped in to bail me out. The “file” he’d handed me had been nothing but a blank sheet of paper.
Julian kept his eyes on the road. “No big deal. People like that aren’t worth your time.”
I blinked in surprise. “You heard everything?”
“Yeah,” he said simply “I was visiting my grandfather in the hospital. I passed your room on my way out carry like that.”
I gave an embarrassed laugh. Airing family business around strangers wasn’t my finest moment.
hard to miss when voices
“That kind of family is a quagmire,” Julian said suddenly, his voice calm but cutting. “Once you’ve fallen in, you should know better than to wade back into it.”
My head snapped toward him, heart pounding “What… what do you mean?
How did he know I’d been trapped before? Was he.
he… reborn too?
Julian must have seen the shock in my eyes. He pulled the car onto the curb and turned to look at me, streetlights threw shifting shadows across his face.
Chapter 5
DramaWave
50 00
“In your previous life,” he said quietly, “I was there when you were hit by that car.”
My mind went blank.
“I watched you get thrown. I saw Declan Price and that woman standing across the street, watching–stone–faced.”
His voice was soft, but every word landed like a knife.
“Afterward I called the police and took care of your final arrangements.
So that was it.
–
The classmate I had barely known the one who’d seemed to belong to a different world had been the one to pick up the pieces of my dignity after I was gone.
My eyes stung; a tear escaped before I could stop it.
“Don’t cry.” Julian handed me a tissue, his brow creased. “Not for people like that. They don’t deserve it.”
I accepted the tissue and wiped my face awkwardly, trying to steady myself. “Thank you, Julian. Really… thank you.
“No need,” he said, restarting the engine. “I just thought you deserved a better ending.”
He paused, then added, almost offhand, “You’ve got real talent. Your art.”
I blinked, surprised.
“I still remember that painting you showed at the senior art exhibit–Sunflowers Under Starlight. It was something else.” He glanced at me. “Never saw you paint after that.”
