“Oh, you’re awake,” she says.
I wince at the sound of her voice. “What am I doing here?”
She eyes me intently. “You don’t know?” I shake my head. “You showed up last night, drunk and high, rambling some nonsense about being a murderer.”
Her words make me choke on air, but as soon as I start coughing, I feel like I’m going to throw up again. I rush into her en suite bathroom and vomit into the toilet. She follows behind me and sighs as she leans in the doorway.
“Yeah, there was a lot of that, too. I’m guessing you had a bad batch of coke.”
I slouch against the bathtub, taking slow, deep breaths. Hailey grabs a washcloth and runs it under cold water before handing it to me. It feels good against my heated skin and makes me feel a little less disgusting.
“My head is fucking pounding.”
“There’s some medicine in the cabinet. I’ll go get you some water.”
As she leaves me alone, I try to recall what happened last night. The last thing I remember is demanding Grayson drop me off at some sketchy bar downtown. He had asked if I wanted him to come with me, but I refused. I just wanted to be alone.
“Here.”
I thank her quietly and take the bottle of water, swallowing down the pills and savoring the way the cold feels on my throat. It takes a minute for me to feel like I can move without the room spinning, but once I do, I get up and walk back into Hailey’s bedroom.
Looking around for my clothes, I find them draped over the chair. It’s then that it dawns on me and I feel even sicker than I did before.
“We didn’t…”
She follows my line of sight and chuckles. “No, definitely not. You started whining about feeling constrained or some shit, and took off your clothe
s. I picked them up so none got misplaced.”
I exhale in relief. Well, at least there’s that.
Hailey watches as I get dressed, and as soon as I’m done, I give her the best smile I can manage.
“Thanks for dealing with my ass.”
She laughs softly. “I’ve been doing it for how long? I’m used to it now.”
“Well still, thank you.”
I grab my phone off the desk and head for the door.
“Wait,” she calls. “Do you really have to leave so soon? We could hang out, like old times.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Getting up from her bed, she comes closer. “Why not?” Her hand rests against my chest. “I know you and the Virgin Mary broke up, so there’s no reason why we can’t go back to being us.”
“Hails, there are plenty of reasons,” I tell her.
“Like what?”
I move back to put some distance between us and her hand falls to her side. “A lot, but the biggest one is because that Virgin Mary is the best thing to ever come into my fucked-up life, and I’m nowhere near over her yet.”
I PULL INTO THE parking lot and shut off my motorcycle, climbing off and leaving the helmet on the handlebars. The guys are in the same place they usually are, but there’s something different this time. As soon as I approach, they all look at me with disgust on their faces.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
Zayn shakes his head. “Not fucking cool, Knox.”