Free Ravenous by Eden Summers

heartbreak. He needed to let it go, to do exactly what he said to Karen and move on. If only he knew how.

Chapter 10
    Erin awoke with a groan. Someone was banging on her front door. She glanced at her bedside clock. Bloody hell. Someone was banging on her door at five thirty on a Friday morning. And it was her day off!
    Rubbing her eyes, she rolled from the bed and shuffled from her bedroom. The jangle of keys echoed down the hall, followed by the sound of the door unlocking. Must be Karen. She was the only one with keys to Erin’s house.
    The front door opened as she entered the foyer and her sister stepped inside.
    “Morning, sunshine.” Karen beamed–far too chipper to be natural at this time of morning.
    “Are you on crack?” Erin ran her fingers through her tangled mess of hair and turned to walk toward the kitchen. Coffee was necessary. Large buckets of coffee. She hadn’t slept properly since Jesse left town. Every night she wrestled with the sheets and her pillow grew damp with tears. During the day she got by, occupying herself with work and household chores. Her floors now sparkled like a disco ball. “What are you doing here?” Her voice was rough from sleep.
    “We’re going on a road trip. Go get ready.”
    Erin peered over her shoulder and raised her eyebrows. “Why are we going on a road trip?”
    Karen mimicked her expression. “You’ve been moping forever and we have a three day weekend, so why not go for a drive?”
    Ohh, her sister was trying to be sweet. If it wasn’t five thirty in the morning maybe Erin would’ve appreciated it more. “I’m too tired to enjoy time away.”
    “Not taking no for an answer.” Karen walked up behind her, placing her palms on Erin’s shoulder blades and softly pushed her down the hall. “Now go get showered and dressed while I start packing your clothes.”
    A groan escaped Erin’s lips. “Oh goody. An impromptu road trip organised by the woman who gets lost driving into town and I get the added bonus of a lucky dip suitcase.”
    Karen chuckled and gave her shoulders a shove. “You know you’re actually quite funny when you’re grumpy.”
    “Yeah, well make sure you don’t pack clothes that make me look like a hooker.”
    Five hours later they were on the highway to Sydney, taking the turn off toward the city. “I thought we were going where the road takes us,” Erin drawled.
    “I’m tired. I thought here would be as good a place as any. We can get a nice hotel near Chinatown, have a few drinks at the casino and get some food along the harbour.” Her sister faked a yawn and Erin rolled her eyes. “I’ll just need your help getting to the Novotel.”
    She gave a defeated laugh as Karen handed over her mobile phone with the directions to the hotel already on the screen. “So in other words you had this planned.”
    Her sister shrugged and looked over her shoulder to merge into a new lane of traffic. “OK, so I lied. I wanted to come to Sydney to go shopping and I knew you’d throw a hissy fit because of Jess.” Karen shot her a glance and smirked. “It’s not like we’ll run into him. There’s like four and a half million people living here.”
    Erin stared out her window and tried to concentrate on the cars zooming past. The likelihood of running into him was slim to none, but it still felt like she was in hisneighbourhood, driving past his house. Her skin tingled with longing, her heart pounded with nervous anticipation. She wanted to see his face again, his glinting eyes and gorgeous smile. And yet the thought of being close to him tore her heart to pieces.
    Since he left she’d had time to reflect on the way she acted. Not only recently, but when Jesse first left Holbrook years ago. Back then she hadn’t bothered contemplating the situation from his perspective. What if she’d been the one who wanted the city life? Would she have changed her plans for Jesse and risked the future she yearned for on the teetering stability of a