“Fine.” I could get plenty drunk on my own in my apartment. Then again, I hated being alone. For so many years, I was alone, locked away in a tiny room that wasn’t much bigger than a coat closet, when I wasn’t with a john. Often chained to the wall or the bed for fear of the best moneymaker of the harem escaping.
Most chicks would kill for a body like mine, but it’d been my curse. One my mom doomed me with both through heredity and poor life choices.
I’d tried escaping one too many times, so it was my own fault I got the chains.
Ten silent minutes later we got to the convenience store, and there were two cop cars and an ambulance.
“Motherfu—” Bill pounded the steering wheel.
Hunter skidded to a stop and bolted out of the car. Bill steered the SUV beside Hunter’s and we both hopped out. I sprinted around the front end and darted between two EMTs standing beside the ambulance and yelled, “Drey!”
I was surprised at the sudden dread stealing my breath.
“Hey!” One of the EMTs took off after me.
I spun out of his reach, pushed off the ambulance and raced past a cop talking to some short guy who was almost bald and had a Twinkie-padded belly.
“Where’s Drey?” I glanced through the open door and got my answer.
He was on the floor, eyes closed and head tilted to the side. But what got me was the amount of blood on the floor around him.
Chapter Three
Drey
Beeping.Beeping.Beeping.Itwas driving me insane! I scratched at my arm, trying to douse the fire ants crawling along my skin.
“Hey buddy. Hold on.”
That was Hunter’s voice. And that was his iron clamp around my wrist now, too. Damn that guy was strong.
I opened my eyes and found the guy staring down at me, his eyebrows furrowed. Wait. He had a black eye?
“Bar fight?” I asked with what felt like a mouth full of cotton.
“You sucker punched me, you jerk.”
Ha, I gave him a black eye? “Sweet.” That’d be the only time I’d ever get one on him. Guy had freaking spider senses.
“Yeah, live it up, asshat. That’s the only time you’ll get the upper hand on me.” He held up his iPhone, and I saw Angelina’s smiling face.
“Hi Drey. You okay?” she asked, waving to me.
Such a cutie. Fresh from beating her agoraphobia, she still didn’t like hospitals, so evidently she wasn’t here in person.
“Good to go,” I said, using her words. She was known to say that phrase when she was struggling with a panic attack or anxiety and having trouble spitting out her words.
“If you wanted some attention, all you had to do was ask for it, Drey. Didn’t need to go and get stabbed.” I blinked through the confusion of another voice in the conversation. It was then I saw Lizzie’s face on the other corner of Hunter’s phone. Jeez. It was busy up in here.
“Hey Lizzie. You coming to see me?” I asked, knowing full well she wouldn’t. She was Angelina’s best friend, who also suffered from agoraphobia.
“You been pumping that morphine a little too much, buddy. Although I did make it to the end of the block today.”
“That’s awesome!” I said.
“It is. So suck it up, man. You’re tough.” She waved. “Feel better.” And she blinked out.
Unlike Angelina, Lizzie hadn’t gotten over her agoraphobia yet, but she was getting there.