The Bloodline She Burned novel · Chapter 17 of 24
Chapter 17: Pharmacy Hours
The pharmacy on Dunmore Street stayed open until six in the morning, and Gabriel had not walked into it in two years.
He had driven past it often.
Tonight he parked the van at the curb with Roz in the passenger seat and the engine ticking in the cold.
"Do you want me to come in?" she asked.
"No."
"Do you want me to wait here?"
"Yes." He looked at the lit window. "Please."
She took his hand and put it back on the wheel, and did not say anything else.
His sister stood behind the counter in a green smock, counting pills into a tray.
She was twenty-one now.
Her hair was shorter, and she had their mother's mouth, set in the flat line she wore when she did not want to be asked.
She looked up when the door chimed.
"You look terrible," she said.
"Thanks."
"You've been on TV."
"A little."
"My manager made me watch it twice." She slid the tray aside. "The girl with the stairs. Is that her in the van?"
"That's her."
"She looks scared."
"She's never scared. She's furious. It looks the same on her."
His sister almost smiled.
Then she bent, opened a drawer under the register and took out a flat brown envelope, soft with age.
"I should have given you this two years ago," she said.
"You said on the phone you found it."
"I never lost it. I told myself I did."
She set it on the counter between them and pressed her palm over it.
"They called me in the week after you were let go. Conrad Ellsworth's assistant, a man in a grey suit. He said the academy was cutting the roster. He said I could keep my place if I signed a development agreement."
Keep reading free with an account. Start The Bloodline She Burned from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 16 · All chapters · Chapter 18 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend