Free Eluding Nirvana (The Dark Evoke Series Book 2) by V.L. Brock

You have nothing to be sorry for, silly.” I rubbed the tops of her denim clad arms. “I love you, too, Britt.”
    Turning her back to me gingerly, she began to walk away when I called out to her. Head craned over her shoulder, her weight being passed through her hip, she gazed under hooded, puffy eyes. “Doesn’t Liam get a hug?” I asked bemused. She’s always so tactile, especially with Liam. She always has been, those two bounced off each other.
    Before giving her a chance to respond, the husky voice called her flight again. Liam was already at my side, his warm arm around my waist. “Don’t worry about it, Britt,” he said, saving her the time to either reply or make her way back to us. “I don’t want to risk getting ill myself, not with work at the moment.”
    The arm around my body, and the buoyant voice of my boyfriend had flicked something in her. I could see that. It was unmistakable. Her eyes had turned as hard as priceless gem, and her lip curled with palpable distaste. She shook her head. Well, I think she shook her head. If she did, then it was so faint I barely noticed.
    “Call me when you land,” I ordered.
    “Okay. Speak to you soon,” she answered, and continued to make her way past the gate, while I stood stock-still and watched my baby sister until she was out of sight.
    Hand in hand, Liam led me to the BMW in the lot. Considering what had happened during the prior four hours, the connection made me uncomfortable. How he failed to recognize it, I’ll never know. In spite of everything, his hand frequently squeezed and clutched upon my loose grip, while my gaze remained on the grey flooring of the lot as we made our way back to the car.
    Lights flashed as he pressed the fob . My hand had begun to worm its way from his clutch to open the door. When his own hand made contact with the release and he pulled the door open for me, it was fair to say, I was relatively surprised. “After you,” he gestured with a gallantly tip of his head and a smile like butter wouldn’t melt.
    “Thank you,” was all I could bring myself to say within my lingering state of inferiority. Body folded, I lowered myself into the protesting leather and reached back to fumble with the belt before drawing it across my body and clipping into place. The door was already slammed shut and narrowly missed colliding with my elbow upon impact.
    Liam slipped in beside me, turned on the ignition and began to back-out of the space.
    It was as though my jaw wasn’t connected to my body the way it kept falling open to free words which I rehearsed in my mind. Rehearsed…stupid I know, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to say or do anything stupid to prove to the man beside me that I needed another punishment dished out. No pun intended. Even the mere concept made my stomach lurch and my head become fuzzy.
    In the midst of focusing on the road, he murmured, “What is it, Kady? You look like a fucking goldfish.”
    My lungs filled themselves to capacity with a deep inhalation, and while I picked my fingernail in my lap, I bit the bullet and rubbed my measly two IQ points together and hoped that I didn’t sound whiny and made a mediocre of sense. “Do you know whether Brittany hooked up with anyone last night?”
    A cautionary yet puzzled expression flashed across his face when he chanced a glance as my fidgeting form. “How would I know? Why do you ask?”
    “Her typical vivacious, crazy chick attitude, compared to what she was like this morning…” I shook my head in the midst of my musing, and rolled my lips over my teeth before relinquishing a sigh of defeat.
    “Kady,” an unanticipated tender hand lowered to my beige, linen-clad thigh. “She’s a big girl. She doesn’t need some third degree. If she did hook up with someone, then that was her choice. Nothing in this world is done without cause, Kady. Every attitude, every action, every approach, it all has an underlining motive.”
    A moment of clarity formed