“You can leave as soon as you want, but you should have someone take you home.”
“I’ll take her,” Rush tells the doctor. He glances at me, daring me to argue with him, and then turns back to the doctor. “She’s been throwing up. Shouldn’t she stay for longer?”
“I’m fine, really I am,” I insist.
In the end, I get my way. A few minutes later a nurse comes in, I hold out my hand, and he takes the needle and drip out and covers the spot with a sticking plaster.
I’m wearing a hospital gown, and my face burns as I get out of bed, wondering who put me into it. I hope it was a nurse and not Rush. The clothes I was wearing last night are in a pigeonhole by the bed, and I reach for them. Rush leaves behind the doctor and pulls the curtain closed behind him. I can see the silhouette of his body through the fabric. His shoulders are bunched like his arms are folded. Tight.
I guess he’s really mad at me. I ruined his night and he probably thinks I’m a drug addict, or at least a liability.
I squeeze my eyes shut. Why couldn’t it have been Jasminta who found me? Why did it have to be Rush?
I pull my dress on over my underwear and slip my high heels on. I didn’t bother with a bra last night, so I feel almost naked in my skimpy club outfit when I step past the curtain. I pass Rush’s jacket back to him, but he immediately puts it around my shoulders again.
“Are you all right walking in those shoes? Hold onto my arm.”
“I’m fine,” I say, and immediately my ankle gives way. Just before my knee slams into the linoleum, Rush catches me and helps me up.
He takes my hand as we make our way out through the exit and into the aggressive sunshine. I hold my hand up and wince.
“Where’s your flat? Do you live alone?”
“Kensal Green,” I tell him, naming an inner suburb northwest of the city. “And yes, I do. Where are we?” I glance up and down the unfamiliar street.
“Not far from there. This is Paddington. I’m taking you home, and then I want to talk to you. My sister lives in Maida Vale. I can ask her to join us.”
I look at him in confusion. His face is a severe, unreadable mask. Maybe it’s the after-effects of the ketamine, but I don’t understand what any of this has to do with his sister. “I’m sorry? Your sister?”
“I thought you might feel safer that way.”
“I’m not safe with you?”
His jaw clenches. “Of course you are. But I want you to feel safe after what’s just happened. You don’t really know me.”
I look at him like he’s crazy. What the hell’s gotten into him? “It’s fine. I’ll just get a cab.”
“No. We’ll get a cab.” Rush orders a car through an app. When it arrives, he insists on getting in with me, and we sit in tense silence in the back seat. A mile down the road, I suddenly realize what Rush wants to talk to me about.
I’m getting fired.
I put a shaking hand over my face. I was just starting to get excited by the idea of working on this video. I remember Rush’s breezy laugh when I told him I was fired from my last job because of drugs. I guess he’s not feeling so breezy now.
When we reach my address, I open the car door and turn to him. “Don’t bother getting out of the car. Please, just go. Get Thomas to send me an email or whatever.”
If he tells me I’m fired then I’ll probably start crying again. Why must everything I do end in tears?
Rush ignores me and gets out of the car. I walk by myself this time, making my ankles stay straight in my heels through sheer force of will. I dig my keys out of my bag, thinking it’s a miracle I managed to hang onto it last night. There are two flights of stairs up to my flat, and I climb them barefoot, heels in hand. I can feel Rush behind me, close enough to catch me if I suddenly keel over.
I let us in, and Rush gestures toward the sofa. “Go sit down. I’ll make tea.”
“The teabags are—” I start to tell him, pointing at the kitchen, but he ignores me and heads toward it.
“I said sit down, Dree.”
I wince and sink onto the sofa. He sounds super pissed. Rush moves around in the kitchen. I hear the clink of spoons in mugs and then he puts a steaming mug down in front of me.
“Don’t drink it too fast. I couldn’t find the sugar so I guess you don’t take any.”
“No, I don’t, but if you want some it’s in the—”