His heart leaped, his first thought, his only hope was Adrian, a late-night call telling him to come over... an end to his torture. But when the screen lit up, it wasn't him.
Jade's name, his little sister, appeared on the screen.
And it was a video call.
Panic hit him instantly. He couldn't let her see him like this, flushed, sweating, and exposed.
With shaky fingers, he swiped to answer, carefully angling the phone so only his face was visible, and threw the shirt out of his mouth just in time.
"J-Jade? Hey, what's up?" His voice cracked, his chest beating, while his sister's bright, sleepy face filled the screen, totally oblivious to the mess he was in.
The sudden appearance of the small face on the screen, pale but bright-eyed, acted like a bucket of ice water. She had spent most of her life in and out of wards, fighting sickle cell anemia, a constant cycle that defined her childhood phase.
