Read Dark One: One for Sorrow... (The Khiara Banning Series Book 1) for Free Online Page A

I pull the covers back and help him in. I feel his forehead and note that he’s got a bit of a temperature. I feel pretty much the same, but he seems to have worsened.
    “Take your shirt off.” I say, “It’ll help with the fever. I’m sure you’re only wearing it because I’m here anyway.”
    He obeys.
    “You’re wearing boxers, right?” I ask him.
    Cael nods, rolls his eyes and takes off his pants, sensing what I was about to say. “It’s better to sleep light if you have a fever,” I explain.
    I help him under the covers and pull them over his shivering body. I turn on the fan that’s on his bedside table, feel his forehead again and sigh. He’s burning up. Fleetingly I wonder if I am as well, but that can wait.
    “Your room is really something. The wall, right there,” I point to the text and symbols, “what is all of that?”
    He smiles as his eyes droop, “It’s what I get to take with me. I’ve traveled to many places and I always learn some of the language of the land. I guess you want to know what it all means?” I nod my head. “It’s all the same sentence. It says, ‘I will never regret.’ I’ve yet to write it in English for some reason, which is kind of funny considering.” I smile as I notice it written in French, my dad’s native tongue, just over the headboard on the left side.
    I think about it.  I will never regret. What does he mean, he’ll never regret? What will he never regret? I find myself asking him out loud and am met with another yawn. I shouldn’t bug him too much, he’s pretty sick, and we hardly know each other. I think we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well though, in the last couple of hours. It’s been so natural. I mean, hell, I just put the guy to bed like I’d do for Cara.
    Awkwardly, I brush some hair that’s fallen over his eyes, “I’ll be going now. Feel better Cael, and hopefully this isn’t goodbye. You seem like a cool guy.”
    He’s already passed out and snoring lightly. I smile and grab a paper pad and pen from his bedside table to write my number so he can call me, if ever he wants to hang out for real. I decide to write a note:
     
    Cael, thanks for being so cool about everything. You’re really something; you’re very different from anybody I’ve ever met. I like that. I hope you feel better, so here’s my number if you ever want to give me a call, no pressure or anything, but I mean, I’ve seen you in your underwear and have had a pretty good laugh with you, so I feel like we could be friends. I mean, here I am, standing in your apartment while you’re sleeping…I should probably go. Wow, I’m somehow rambling even though I’m writing this on paper…I do that when I get nervous. Not that I am. It’s 467-9002.
     
    Khiara Banning.
    P.S I totally think the punch was spiked with something.
     
    I place the note on the drawer, smile at his sleeping form and begin to walk towards the door until he says quietly, “God, I am so sorry. Just know that you’re not alone okay? Just because it is said, doesn’t make it so. I won’t let it. I‘ll never let it.”             
    I sigh and smile. He’s dreaming . “Good night Cael.”
    I walk out of his room and then out of his house, down the stairs and out into the night, which luckily is lit by the streetlights. I pick up my phone, sighing, and call Cara who has left me tons of text messages and a couple of missed calls.
    “It’s like you’re going through the end stages of Alzheimer’s. I drove that guy Cael home and now I’m going home myself I’m pretty sure both our drinks were spiked and it made us feel really sick, he had a fever and I think I probably do too. I have to walk home mind you, but God don’t you remember what I tell you?” I say into the phone, annoyed.
    Cara sniffles and I wonder what could be wrong. “I know! But I need you to come here right noooow! Damien’s outta control and Victoria and him have been fighting, like, major bad! I