When I Adored You (Bad Desires #1)

NINE

There were times when James felt insecure seeing Kara with anyone else than him. Sharing her was never he enjoyed, be it was with her girl friends or with her family. He wanted her to be with him all the time, need him like he needed her, the desperate need he felt was unquenchable and he wanted her to feel the same. Kara showed that she wanted him, but he always wondered if she craved him just as desperately as he craved her?

James mouth had started to descend down on Kara's when Kara's phone started ringing loudly. James' face dropped in Kara's throat in exasperation as a small giggle left her lips. James lifted his face again, they both ignored the ringing cellphone while James' lips dropped down on Kara's, l*****g the only essence he craved. After a while Kara's phone stopped ringing.

A couple of seconds had passed, Kara and James were busy in devouring each other when James phone also started ringing along with Kara's. This time they could not ignore the screeching sound of the ringtones. Bending down, James grabbed Kara's purse from the ground and pulled out her phone and handed it to her while at the same time fishing out his own Phone from his pocket.

Sliding his thumb over the green pick up button he barked without looking at the screen for the name of the caller, "What?!"

Kara also picked up the call, turning her face sideways to talk in a low voice.

"James," Damon said from the other side of the call, his voice sad and full of grief for some reason, "Get Kara and bring her home immediately."

James immediately sensed the negativity radiating off Damon's voice, burning him with immediate tension, "What is wrong?" Damon growled, "Is everything okay? Everyone?"

Damon took a deep breath before uttering in a low voice, "Kara's parents got into an accident. Her dad died on spot, mom is undergoing surgery. Get home as soon as possible with her."

James' body went stock still in shock. Kara's parents had although stayed away from home most of the time, but when they had been at home, visiting his parents and playing with them, they had always seen him as their own kid, treating him with same affection and love as they treated Kara.

He turned to look at Kara who was talking on the phone with someone, but there was a smile on her face instead of sadness. He assumed she was talking to a friend perhaps.

"We are coming." James said before hanging up the phone and grabbing Kara's dress from the ground to go to her and get home, where the saddest day of her life awaited her.

*****

7 Days Later

Kara's throat clenched shut with tears as she tried to fight back the wave of overcoming emotions. The funeral of her dad was not the only thing she had endured as sadness. Seeing her mom fight the battle for life had been so hard to see, seeing her lay in the white bed sheets of the hospital, fighting for her each breath with every passing second had become a memory that was never going to get out of her mind.

James had kept his mouth shut throughout the way on the day of her birthday. Not telling her the reason for their sudden leave from the church. And after getting home when the reality had dawned upon her, she had been devastated. The tears had flown freely, James' family was there to take care of her, keep her in their arms as she cried her soul out for the loss of her father and condition of her mother.

James had stayed with her for two days after that. Staying near her but not close enough, keeping a distance from her for some strange reason that her mind could not fathom. This was the time that she wanted him close the most, and this was the time he was close to her, almost at touching distance but never showing any affection. That broke her even more because she wanted him, she wanted his hand to hold hers and say everything will be okay, that they will sort this out together and James will be there to fix everything that is broken inside her, he will take care of her and her mom. 

That hope went away when after that second day he disappeared completely. He was nowhere for her to find. Not at the hospital, not at home, nowhere at all. She heard Damon say that he had moved out of the house. She understood that this was somehow important to him in a time when she was going through a tragedy like this, she would have given any excuse to herself to rationalize his action, to understand that probably he needed his space, probably work was very important, probably... probably there was something that was more important than her. 

But then he never appeared at all. He just disappeared after those two days, leaving her crying in bed at nights and sleeping with her head next to her mother's lifeless hand in day. The seventh day came and went away and it was late at night when her mother's condition worsened. She came awake at that time, squeezing Kara's hand so gently that she would have thought of it as a crazy illusion. But it was not. When Kara looked up hastily in hope, she found her mother staring at her. Those loving eyes, the same as her own gazed lovingly at her. She felt Damon shoot up from the couch and run to the bed as well, trying to make sure that he was seeing the truth, that Kara's mom had actually come awake.

After a while the doctors rushed in. Kara was pushed aside when the doctors tried to tend to her mother. But her conditioned had started worsening. Her heart rate picked up and Kara cried out, rushing to hold her mother's hand in hope that she is going to be alright.

That night, the sound of her mother's hand slipping from her own and falling down on the soft bed echoed in her ears like a life shattering scream. That night she became an orphan.