“Sure.”
She led me over to the bathroom. It didn’t take me long to figure out a way to jam up the window forher.
“Easy,” I said, stepping out a moment later. “I stuck a few of those bobby pins of yours through the latches. Now no one can open it from theoutside.”
“Bobby pins will save us all one day,” she murmured, giving me a faintsmile.
It was then that I noticed how dilated her pupils were. “Holy fuck,” I said, eyes narrowing. “Are youhigh?”
No wonder she hadn’t attacked me yet. Given how she thought I was responsible for the assembly bullshit, I’d half-expected her to pummel the shit out of me with her little fists when she saw me on the island shore. Or push me out of the boat into the freezing water so I would succumb to hypothermia while she paddled back to the campus on herown.
“Sort of,” she mumbled, averting hereyes.
I strode over to her and lifted her chin with one hand, forcing her to look at me. “What did youtake?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “It wasn’t exactly mychoice.”
I stiffened. “Someone spiked yourdrink?”
“Yes.”
“Who was it? I’ll fucking kill him,” I growled, hands curling into fists at mysides.
“It wasn’t a guy, Hunter. It’s not what youthink.”
I clenched my jaw and took a deep breath. “I’m taking you to the hospital. Grab acoat.”
“No, it’s okay,” she said, lifting a palm in protest. “I’ll be fine. I’ll just go to bed and sleep itoff.”
“You’ve been drugged, Laney. It’s not fuckingfine.”
“No, really. I’m okay,” she said. “I felt weird earlier. All hot and spacey and happy. I was even seeing things that weren’t there. But I started feeling better not long after I ran away from the party. I think the shock of the cold knocked it out of me, if you know what I mean. I still feel a bit weird, but it’s coming and going in wavesnow.”
“So it’s wearing off prettyfast.”
She nodded. “Whatever it was, it was a small dose. It wasn’t meant to hurt me,” she said. “At least not physically,” she added in amumble.
I pressed my lips into a thin line. “Fine. We don’t have to go to the hospital if you really don’t want to. But if you think I’m gonna leave you here alone after hearing this shit, you’re delusional. I need to keep an eye on you. Make sure you don’t have a bad delayed reaction, orwhatever.”
“You can go,” she said stubbornly, folding her arms. “I’mfine.”
“Bullshit. The fact that you haven’t started screaming at me and slapping the shit out of me over the assembly thing tells me that you’re very obviouslynotcompletely fine,” Isaid.
Her brows wrinkled. “You want me to hit you to prove I’mokay?”
“No, I’m just saying, you’re clearly not your usual self. You’re still feeling some sort of effects from the drug. Otherwise you’d be treating me a lot differently right now. So I’m gonna stay right fucking here and keep an eye on you until I know you’re fully okay again.” I parked myself in a comfy armchair across from her bed and held up my palms. “Don’t try to stop me. I’m staying whether you like it ornot.”
“Are you serious?” shesaid.
“Yup.”
She sighed. “Fine. Whatever. I’m going to take ashower.”
“Good idea. It’ll make you feelbetter.”
She went into the bathroom, muttering under her breath about how she’d probably feel a lot better if I wasn’t in her dorm. I grinned, not caring about her attitude toward me. I was just glad to be here, making sure she was allright.
Half an hour later, she came out of the bathroom with damp hair, no makeup, and a pale pink terrycloth robe wrapped around her. “I thought you might’ve gone by now,” she said, perching on the end of her bed and flashing me a balefullook.