Guilty By Association

Chapter 14 - Breaking the News

Chapter 14 – Breaking the News

Kelsey felt horrible. She was physically drained.

After Alex left, she soon got off of the high she’d felt with his presence. Thoughts of his kisses and touch soon escaped her mind and memories of her time with Kara came to mind.

She was such an idiot. Kara told her what she wanted to hear and she believed her. If Kara hadn’t forgotten her wallet in Kelsey’s car, she would have never caught Kara leaving. She’d gone straight to Caleb Rocha.

She’d been wrapped up in his arms like…like a snake.

She couldn’t sleep all night because the image of Kara pointing a gun at her kept coming to mind. It was like a mirror. And she did it because some guy asked her to. She didn’t even argue. She just raised her gun and pointed it at Kelsey.

Was Kara even still her sister? Even after what she did?

After forcibly gaining a few hours of sleep, Kelsey was awakened by the sound of her phone ringing. She grudgingly got out of bed and answered it. “Hello?”

“Kelsey?” It was her father’s worried voice on the other end of the line.

“Dad?”

“Kelsey, Kara hasn’t come home all night. Do you know where she is?” Kelsey straightened up at his question. What was she supposed to tell him? It didn’t occur to her to ask Alex what she should do if her dad asked where Kara was. Kelsey wasn’t a liar. She had to tell him the truth.

“Dad, do you think you could come to my office, today? We need to talk.” Kelsey said. This wasn’t the kind of thing she could share with her dad over the phone. She had to tell him face to face.

“We do need to talk.” Thomas agreed. Kelsey’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. What could her dad possibly want to talk to her about? “Gwen just arrived on my doorstep this morning.”

“Mom?”

“She says she’s here to see Kara. Kelsey, what’s going on?” Thomas’s voice was laced with concern and Kelsey found herself in a position she’d never wanted to be in. Moments ago, she was only mentally preparing herself to tell her dad the truth. Now, her mom was here, too.

“Why don’t you bring her to my office, too?” Kelsey suggested. “I just woke up. I’ll see you guys there in about an hour.”

“Fine, but I expect the truth from you.” Her dad proclaimed.

“Don’t worry, Dad. I’m not going to lie to you.” With that, Kelsey hung up and fell back on her pillow, feeling more exhausted than she’d felt when she’d gone to bed. Somehow, her life seemed to be getting more and more complicated as time passed and it seemed like she couldn’t keep up with it.

After a few moments, she finally took a deep breath and crawled out of her bed and into the shower, peeling her clothes off she stepped into the warmth of the water. It felt like heaven, like all the guilty pleasures she’d denied herself. The water rolled down her body, comforting and soothing the sore, tense muscles of her body. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to relish the feeling of pure satisfaction.

Too soon, the water started getting cold and Kelsey forced herself out of the shower. Her eyes landed on her bathroom mirror and Kelsey jumped a little, frightened by her reflection. Her blonde hair had become a tangled, wet mess. The bump on her head was massive and visible. As she wrapped her towel around her, there were very visible bruises on her arm that resembled a handprint. Her eyes were surrounded by dark circles and Kelsey thought she looked downright nasty. She had no idea how Alex had kissed her the way he had last night. She looked worse than she normally did.