When Angels Cry by Maria Rachel Hooley Read Free Book Online Page B

Bastian in the eye.
    “Not my experience, exactly,” he replied.  “Did you use peroxide?”
    “Yes, Mother,” s he nodded.
    “Good girl,” he said slowly.  “Maybe I’ll give you a cookie after supper.”  He lifted Kaylee’s hand and pushed her forefinger against the cotton.  “Hold this.”  Reaching past her, he opened the medicine cabinet.  “Got any bandages?”
    “Second shelf.”  Kaylee pointed.  Bastian pulled the box down, took out a bandage, and applied it.  She swung her legs slightly.  “Did you knock your head on something when you were a kid?”
    “If I said yes, I’m sure that would explain quite a lot, but no, it wasn’t my head.  It was my sister’s.”  Bastian smoothed the bandage into place , then set the box back on the shelf , and closed the door.
    “Younger or older?”
    “ Younger .”  He gritted his teeth.
    “So what happened?”  Kaylee touched the bandage gingerly , her fingers probing where Bastian’s had just been. 
    Bastian focused on the circular pattern her finger rubbed against the bandage.  “ I’m assuming you weren’t watching where you were going, but then you’d know that better than I would.”
    “No, not me–your sister?”
    Bastian shrugged.  “One day we were racing on a mountain path around a curve.  She didn’t see the fallen branch until i t was too late.  She hit it and was thrown off her bike .  She hit her head on a rock.”  Bastian lifted Kaylee’s bangs. 
    “What happened then?” Kaylee fidgeted , tapping her fingers on the counter.
    “There was blood everywhere, and Angie was crying, of course.  She was wearing a white shirt and panicked when she saw the red. She didn’t like the sight of blood.  So I took her to the emergency room and sat with her while she got twenty stitches.”  Bastian touched the skin around the bandage, checking to make sure no blood seeped around the edges.  Bastian closed the toilet lid and sat.  “I think she got the easy part.”  Bastian tossed the wrapper from the bandage in t o the trash.  
    Kaylee pushed her hair over her shoulder.   “How so?”  
    “When we got home, my father lectured me about responsibility, and, just so the point made an impact on my teenage mind, I also got a few swats.”  Bastian stared into the space ahead of him.  His eyebrows furrowed, and a frown deepened the creases on his forehead.  His shoulders stiffened.
    “That hardly seems fair.”
    “What do you mean?  What hardly seems fair?”  Bastian blinked a few times and turned his gaze toward her.  He stretched his back.
    “The fact your dad punished you when you didn’t do anything wrong.”  The counter rubbed the back of Kaylee’s legs and she stood.
    Bastian followed suit.  “It comes with being the sibling of the favored child who can do no wrong.” 
    At this point , Kaylee realized her head only came to his chin.  It was a small bathroom, far too compact for the two of them , and only inches separated his body from hers.  Clearing his throat, he focused on the aquamarine carpet beneath his feet.
    He shoved his hands into his pockets.  “I don’t mean to impose upon you, Kaylee , and I didn’t mean to anger you earlier.  I misjudged you.”   
    “It happens . ”
    “You get acquaintances who impose on you a lot?” Bastian asked.
    Kaylee shook her head.  “No, I get people who misjudge me a lot .  Like you.”  Kaylee peered at the whirlpool tub that comfortably seated two.  She remembered thinking when she bought it that it would be nice to be able to have a whirlpool tub to enjoy with a man she loved , never mind that she’d never fallen in love.
    Kaylee tried to imagine herself sitting in that tub, her body entangled with a lover’s.  A male body popped into her mind, but he was faceless, forcing Kaylee to reach deeper, wanting a face —any face to help her see what she’d missed.  Bastian’s midnight eyes and dark hair surfaced , along with hi s