Read Online When Angels Cry by Maria Rachel Hooley - Free Book Online

at me.”  His gaze snapped to her face , and he inhaled sharply.  In three long strides, he ’d crossed the room, laid his hands on her shoulders, and tried to turn her to him. 
    “Whatever you’re going to say, Bastian, don’t.  I never should have told you.  I don’t want your pity.”   Kaylee tried to shrug away his hands, but they refused to go, just like the man standing beside her. 
    “ I kissed you because I couldn’t help myself.  I don’t pity you.  This isn’t about you.  It’s about me.  I don’t feel good enough for you, and I never believed that someone like you could come into my life.  I’m nobody.”
    Bastian tugged until Kaylee turned to him.  He slipped a finger beneath her chin and lifted until he found her blue eyes.   He stroked her face, teasing his thumb a cross her petal-soft skin.
    “That’s not true. ” 
    He stiffened, closing his eyes.  “You don’t know anything about me.”   
    “I know all I need to.”  She touched his face with her forefinger and traced his lips.  Her fingers moved from his mouth to his cheek, from his cheek to his neck.  She leaned toward him and touched her lips to his.  One of his hands settled at her waist , and the other caressed the back of her head, deepening their kiss.
    Kaylee slowly slid her arms around him and leaned her head against his chest.  As she pressed against him, she could hear his heart hammering.  One of Bastian’s hands stroked the small of her back, the strawberry scent of her shampoo lingering.
    “Are you all right with this?” he asked softly.
    “I take things for what they are.  Anything else is pointless.” She drew him to her.
    “Why didn’t the hospital notify your parents while you were there?   I’m sure they would have come so you wouldn’t have been alone.”  
    Kaylee tightened her embrace.  “I wasn’t alone.  You were with  me.  Besid es, I don’t have parents.  I only have one living, my mother, and I didn’t have the energy to explain why I was in the hospital.”     
    Bastian shook his head.  “Why would you have to explain?  Everybody gets sick.”  
    “Bastian, I’m not sick.  I’m dying, and she doesn’t know.  I don’t want her to know.  I’m not ready for that.”   She leaned against him, clos ing her eyes and f inding his heartbeat again. 
    Bastian g ritt ed his teeth .  “There are still things that can be done, aren’t there?   You can fight, can’t you ?”  He pulled away enough to meet her gaze.  When he looked at her, butterflies fluttered in his stomach the way, years ago, they used to when he’d gotten up in front of his classmates and given speeches.
    “I won’t win–and the battles get harder.”
    “What about drugs?”
    “My body isn’t responding to the m .”  Kaylee shifted her gaze to her hands, focusing on a broken nail .  She could feel Bastian looking  at her.    She clasped her hands together.
    Bastian grabbed Kaylee’s shoulders.  “How the hell can you just give up like this?  There has to be something they can do.”   
    “You don’t understand, Bastian.  Maybe you think that any day, no matter how bad it is, is better than no day, but I don’t want to be in a hospital, barely lucid, in so much pain I don’t even know my name.  When I’m sick, it’s hell, Bastian, and taking drugs will only extend my sentence, not the quality of my life.”  Her whole body trembled now, and she pulled away.
    “How can you not tell your mother?  Doesn’t she have a right to know?”
    Kaylee’s face pale d and she winced.  “No, she doesn’t, not if I don’t want her to.”  She took in the surprised curve of his mouth and the frown darkening his features , but a hint of pain in his face softened her res olve .
    “I will tell her, but not now,” she said quietly.  “I don’t have a choice about this disease.  But that doesn’t mean I have to regret the way I did it.  The last thing I want is