Read Always For You (Books 1-3) for Free Online Page A

my
mind drifting back into the blackness. Back where there was no pain.
    I woke again, my eyes slowly opening,
still wet with tears. Ellen and my dad were sat on either side of me,
their faces a mixture of delight and grief.
    “ Gracie,”
my dad cried as he hugged me gently and kissed me on the cheek. Ellen
followed, tears rolling down her face. “I'm so happy you're awake,”
she said. “I thought I'd never see my beautiful little sis again.”
She hugged me again, her soft cheeks pressed up against mine.
    I said nothing, my words still stolen
from me, taken by my grief. All I could do was lie there, numb, my
eyes stinging with salty tears. “Just get better, Gracie,” my dad
said, “please just concentrate on getting better.”
    It
was as if I had a choice. Don't
grieve for mom, just make sure you get better first. I lay there unspeaking, more words of comfort coming from my family.
They told me how many people had visited me, how different family and
friends had been coming everyday, how many gifts and well wishes I'd
got.
    As they spoke I couldn't help but think
of mom. There were no other thoughts in my head.
    “ How
did she die?” I asked suddenly. I needed to know.
    Ellen leaned in, taking my hand. “It
was quick, Grace, she didn't suffer.”
    “ How
did she die?” I repeated blankly.
    “ She
died in the crash. Trauma to the head. She would have been knocked
out, wouldn't have felt anything,” Ellen continued, trying to keep
herself together.
    I turned my head, tears once more
rolling down my cheeks. It had been three weeks since it happened,
since everyone had found out that my mom had died. For dad and Ellen,
they'd had some time to deal with it, some time to grieve. For me, it
was fresh, a raw wound.
    I took a few deep breaths and leaned up
against the pillow behind me. “How did we crash?” I asked. “What
happened?”
    “ No
one knows honey,” my dad came in. “There were no camera's, no
witnesses who saw anything. We thought that maybe...you could tell
us?”
    I racked my brains for a moment, trying
to think back. “There was a sudden jolt behind us – on the left.
I guess it must have been a car bumping us. It – it sent us into a
spin. Mum was trying to keep the car steady – keep the car
straight...” I trailed off.
    “ It's
OK darling, you don't have to talk about it now, you don't have to
think about it.”
    I took a breath. “No – no it's OK.
There's nothing more to say. Someone bumped us, and we crashed.”
    “ OK
honey, you get some rest. We'll be here.”
    “ No
dad, Ellen, it's OK you can go home. You don't have to stay, you must
have been here a lot recently. Please, I need time to think anyway. I
want to be alone.”
    “ If
you're sure darling.” He learned in to kiss me on the cheek again.
“We'll be back first thing in the morning.”
    It was an hour after they'd left when I
lay there in bed, painkillers numbing me, my eyes drifting off to
sleep. Before I did, I could see the shadow of a figure again,
standing beyond the window, looking at me. It just stood there,
unmoving, a ghost. “Mom?” I called out quietly as a tear fell
from my eye. “I miss you.”

Chapter 7
    October
10 th 2012
    Cain
    A woman lay on top of me, panting. Her
naked body was intertwined with mine, breathing heavily past my ear,
the smell of smoke pouring from her lungs. She rolled over and onto
the other side of the bed before getting up and walking away to the
bathroom.
    I lay there, satisfied, my thoughts
elsewhere. Yet another girl, yet another one night stand. It wasn't
going to go further, it never did. Not with these girls anyway.
    She walked back in and starting putting
her clothes on. At least this one didn't want to stay over. I liked
that, she wasn't clingy. “I had a great time baby,” she spoke to
me in her lazy drawl. “I may let you do it again some time.” I
liked her confidence too.
    She pulled a piece of paper from her
purse and tore off a sheet, scribbling down her name