Free Seeing Red by Sidney Halston

helped her out
of the car. She was practically catatonic. He gave the valet his
car keys and the bellhop the number of their rooms. He put his arm
around her waist, and she put her head on his shoulder and walked
to the room, feeling overwhelmed by the emotions of the last few
days.
    “I got two rooms. There were vacancies this time.”
He opened the door. “My room is right next door.” The bellhop came
in and dropped both bags and her purse in the room. Oliver gave him
a tip and closed the door. He helped Jill to the bed and sat next
to her. “Jillian, I need you to talk. I need to know you hear what
I’m saying. You haven’t said a single word.”
    She nodded.
    “Jillian, please say something. You’re scaring me.”
He grabbed her and hugged her.
    “Son of a bitch!”
    “Huh?” He flinched. Obviously not what he expected
her to say.
    “He kicked us out of the room. He kicked us out
after we drove seven hours. And Helen? Helen’s gone! Helen’s gone,
and Alexander is in a hospital room, coping with his emotions by
drinking and shooting up. I can’t believe what a shitty week this
has become.” Her sadness was actually transforming into anger as
she spoke.
    “Why don’t you go take a nice, long, soothing bath?
I’ll be right next door. Will you be okay by yourself for a little
while? If not, I’ll stay. I was just going to go take a shower and
a nap.”
    “You’re a good brother, Oly. I’ll be fine. I’m just
furious. Thank you. Go. Take a nap. Come get me when you wake up,
and we can go grab a bite to eat. Let me know if he calls.” She
gave him a kiss on the cheek, closed the door behind him, and
headed straight to the bathroom to take a long hot bath.
    Four hours later, Jillian stood on the other side of
Oliver’s door, knocking.
    “Hey, come in.” He wore only his boxer shorts again.
He looked groggy as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.
Her head felt dizzy, and she got flustered when she saw him
shirtless. It seemed to be a recurring reaction to his bare
chest.
    “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. It’s 9 p.m. I
thought I’d take a little catnap, but when I woke up, it was dark
out, and I’m starving.”
    “Give me a minute.” He yawned and stretched his arms
and legs, causing all the muscles in his body to contract; she got
a good view of the movie again. It was as if she had 3-D glasses
and the movie had suddenly been upgraded. If only she had a chair
and a bowl of popcorn, she could sit and watch this movie all day.
He went to his bag, grabbed the jeans and the shirt he wore before,
and got dressed. “Okay, let’s go feed you,” he said with a big
drowsy smile.
    They ate at a nearby all-night diner and sat and
talked for over two hours. Mostly, they talked about Helen: how
great she had been to them and how she took such good care of them
on the island. They reminisced about Onion Island, mostly laughing
and remembering the crazy things that they did that would have been
outlawed in the States, like allowing kids to climb ten-foot trees
at five years old or go swimming in shark-infested waters or
wandering the jungles of an island for hours . . .
    “So I have a question. You said so yourself you saw an argument, which you witnessed live about five hours
ago. Why are you always surprised when your visions come true? You
knew that we would argue.”
    She thought about it for a moment, trying to figure
out how to best explain it. “I don’t know. I think it’s because I
don’t always know what it is that I see. Sometimes I see things
clear as day, but not this time. This time, I only sensed an
argument. I didn’t really know whether it was an argument between
you and Xander or between us and Xander. In fact, I’m still not
really even sure if we had an argument with Xander or if he just
was feeling unwell.”
    “So you know something is going to happen, but you
don’t always know what it is?”
    “For the most part.”
    He changed the subject again and continued