Drake Sisters 06 - Turbulent Sea

am hurt.' Joley kicked at the bed. She'd already thrown the pillows and every other thing she could find in the room that couldn't be destroyed. 'I can't sleep. I can't eat. All I do is think about him .'
    Hannah might be completely across the country, but she didn't have to ask who him was. 'What happened?' She tried to send her sister waves of reassurance, but the distance separating them was too great.
    'I couldn't sleep. I ached, Hannah, inside and out. I swear I feel like I'm in heat or something. Nothing satisfies me. I don't know what to do anymore. When I do sleep, which is rare, I dream about him. And they're not just any dreams, either. Total erotica. I loathe him. I despise him. How can I want him like this? What's wrong with me? I desperately want to be normal, Hannah. Make me normal.'
    'You sound scared. Tell me what happened.' Hannah used her most calming voice and breathed slowly, in and out, in the hopes that her sister would follow suit.
    'He's like a drug addiction,' Joley said, T can't get over him no matter how hard I try. I need to come home. I need to be with you. I'm drowning here.'
    'Do you think your obsession for him will be better if you come home?' Hannah asked, her voice cautious. Joley was volatile when it came to Ilya Prakenskii. The connection between the two of them was strong, and seemed to be growing stronger.
    Joley put her hand over her face, shaking her head, even though Hannah couldn't see her. 'No. No, it won't. I went to a party tonight. I told myself I went because I couldn't sleep and I was bored, but I really went to see him.'
    'Did you go home with him?'
    'No! I didn't, but I would have had sex with him.' Joley squeezed her eyes shut tight. 'He said no. He rejected me, Hannah, and that made me want him even more. He knows he has power over me. I feel like I'm caught in his trap and I can't get away.'
    'Is it possible he used a spell on you?'
    'All of you examined me. You didn't find one. There's nothing but the zap on my palm and his voice in my head. He talks to me. His voice is so sexy, it turns me inside out. Except now he isn't talking and that feels so much worse. I'm really in trouble, Hannah.' Joley knew she was talking too fast, but she couldn't stop herself. 'I have to hear his voice, or I go crazy in my head. But if I reach out to him, he's won.' She sank onto the bed. 'Hannah. Tell me what to do.'
    'I'll come out.'
    Joley shook her head, forcing herself to do the right thing. Hannah had been brutally attacked and nearly died just a few short months earlier. The last thing she needed to do was to fly anywhere in public when she was still trying to heal. 'No, no, we're leaving for Chicago in the morning. I can do this. I can get him out of my head.'
    She rubbed her palm frantically up and down her thigh. Ilya Prakenskii was already deep inside her and he wasn't going to let go of her without a fight. 'Why do I go after men who bring out the absolute worst in me? I don't understand why I'm so different from all of you. Look at Libby. She wouldn't be attracted to a man like Ilya. Only me.
    Just me.'
    Joley sounded so filled with despair, Hannah was alarmed. 'Look, hon, I'm catching the next plane. Hang on and I'll be there. I'll meet you in Chicago.'
    Joley wanted her sister to come. She felt safer when Hannah was around, when any of her sisters were with her, but she was an adult and this was her problem. She had to learn to manage her cravings for the Russian bodyguard because she knew the need wasn't going to just disappear. Hannah would ease the symptoms, but she couldn't stay forever and then the desire would be back at full strength and Joley would be right back where she started. She took a breath in an effort to calm down.
    'I don't want you to come, Hannah. I just needed to hear your voice. Tomorrow I'll be onstage and the energy carries me a long way. I'll be all right. I just need to find a good, decent man. Maybe if I'm with someone who respects me and sees the good side of me, I'll get over my weakness for really bad men.'
    She'd tried being alone, refusing to date anyone, because she was attracted to the wrong sort of men, but once Ilya had come into her life, she couldn't think about anyone else, let alone the idea of someone else touching her. But she would get over that. People could change - she could change.
    'Are you sure, Joley, because I don't mind?'
    'I do. I don't want you to have to fly across the country to hold my hand.' Besides, she was