“Man, the cops are going to show up. I’m outta here,” one of the vampires said. “Ray, you’d better take off too.”
His gaze met hers before he stumbled off, a few of the other guests following him. Cowards, she wanted to yell.
When dispatch picked up, Jill relayed their location, and reported that her friend wasn’t breathing. She didn’t hear what the lady said next, or if she did, she couldn’t process it. Barbie took the phone from her limp hand.
Brian continued CPR. Jill waited for Jemma to push him off and say, Yuck, McConnell, get that mouth away. And then laugh with gusto.
But she didn’t.
Jill stood frozen, locked in ice.
Brian’s red face beaded with sweat. “Dammit, Jill, get over here!”
She tripped as she took a step, off balance, and fell next to her best friend. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she reached for Jemma’s hand. It already seemed cold to her. She fingered her wrist for a pulse. This is bad, her mind said, but she couldn’t feel that. She couldn’t feel anything.
“Bri, she doesn’t have a pulse,” she gasped.
He took a deep breath as he pumped his hands on Jemma’s chest. “She will. Dammit, Jem! Come on. Come back to us.”
Then he pressed his mouth to hers again, trying to breathe life into her.
His emotional reaction triggered Jill’s. “Jemma, please!” she cried, sobbing now, her hands tearing at her hair.
“I think she’s gone,” someone commented.
Brian started pumping again—one, two, three. “Shut the fuck up! She’s going to be fine.” He lowered his mouth to hers again.
Putting a trembling hand on his arm,” Jill said, “Bri.”
He shot up, his blue eyes red-rimmed, wild. “No! She’s not dying on me.”
Jill’s heart exploded, the fragments burying deep into her bones, pain radiating everywhere.
Brian didn’t give up. Not until the paramedics arrived, pulled him off, and pronounced Jemma dead.
She walked over to him, feeling like she wasn’t in her own body, but in some glass room where she could see everything but not be touched by it. Brian was panting, watching with glassy eyes as they laid a blanket over Jemma, covering her beautiful face. Jill wrapped her arms around him, pressed her face into his chest, and fell to pieces. His hands fisted by his sides, and she rubbed at the tension in his back, wanting to comfort, seeking his comfort. Then his arms squeezed her in a vice, and he buried his sweaty head in her neck, making her sob all the harder.
Chapter 18
Meredith set the morning paper aside when she heard the muffled rap on the door. She darted forward, her slippers sliding on the hardwood floor. She hoped Jill wouldn’t wake up.
She looked through the peephole and saw Tanner holding two cups of coffee. Even though she wasn’t dressed, she cinched her blue terrycloth robe closed and opened the door. If anyone expected her to look presentable, they weren’t her friend.
“I heard what happened. I brought you guys coffee.”
After what had happened between them the night before, she thought about telling him to get lost, but she didn’t want that. God, she hurt—it felt like she’d been beaten by a bat everywhere.
“Come in,” she said in a soft voice, “but please be quiet. Jillie’s finally asleep.”
She took the coffee, and stepped back to let him in. He removed his outerwear, displaying jeans and a black fleece—a far cry from the pirate outfit. When he followed her into the kitchen, she gestured to a worn chair.
He laid his hands on the table and pinned her with that intense gaze of his. “I had a bad feeling this morning that you didn’t show up at the pool because of what happened between us last night. So I swam off my mad and headed to Don’t Soy with Me. Margie told me what happened. It’s a tragedy. How’s Jill?”
She wanted to hold his hand, so she gripped the coffee cup instead. “She’s devastated,” she said after a moment, “and she’s afraid it’s her fault. She left her to go outside. Brian had arrived.” She rubbed her neck, remembering how Jill’s streaming tears had mixed with her black mascara. “He followed. They had another row. When they heard the commotion, they went back inside.”
She took a sip of the coffee—it didn’t do much to soothe her throat, but at least it was warm. “Brian started CPR. Jill said he didn’t stop until the paramedics dragged him off.”
“That’s tough.”
“Yes. Yes, it is.” She couldn’t stop thinking that her grandpa might have been onto something about the kids getting sick from booze and pot. Oh, God.
“Any idea what happened?”