11. Killian
KILLIAN
“Excuse me, Killian?”
I turn toward the soft voice, pausing just as I’m about to start up the steps to Hamilton House.
Eden is behind me, and she looks like she can’t decide if she’s about to faint or run away. Her cheeks are flushed pink, and her eyes are wide as she wrings her hands in front of her nervously.
“What?” I ask when she doesn’t say anything. “You stopped me, remember?”
Her blush deepens. “Sorry. I just… Is Felix okay?” she squeaks.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t he be?” I glance at the building in front of us. “Did he tell you he was going to do something stupid?”
She shakes her head so vigorously her long hair whips around her face, and a hank gets stuck to her lip gloss. She hastily pulls it free. “No. I just…”
I roll my hand in a “get on with it” gesture. “You just…”
“I haven’t heard from him today.” She pulls her phone out of her back pocket and holds it out, like she’s trying to decide if she should prove it to me and show their text thread.
“And that’s weird?”
She nods. “We were chatting about something last night, and he told me we’d finish the conversation in the morning. I’ve texted him a bunch of times since I got up.” She wiggles the phone at me. “But he hasn’t even read them.”
“Maybe he’s ignoring you,” I say bluntly.
“Maybe,” she agrees quickly, not at all bothered by my dismissive tone or words. “But he’s been off the last few days, and I’m worried about him.”
I look between her and Hamilton House. “What do you mean?” I ask, my voice way harsher than it needs to be. “How has he been off?”
She doesn’t even flinch and demurely tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. “Distant, quieter than usual, and I’m not sure how to describe it, but he’s been really…disengaged.”
“Disengaged?”
She nods. “Like he’s just going through the motions and nothing interests him. Last night we were talking about…something he usually gets really into, but it was like talking to a different person, and everything just felt off.”
“So you’re worried about him because of vibes?” I ask, not bothering to keep the skepticism out of my voice.
She shrugs and gives me a helpless look. “I know it sounds crazy, but something’s going on. Did you know he’s been missing class?”
That catches my attention. “He has?”
She nods. “He’s skipped at least one morning class every day this week. Does that sound like him?”
That makes me pause. Felix is one of those nerds who actually likes school and learning. He already took all of last week off to hide his head injury, so him missing a bunch of classes this week for no reason is weird.
“No, it doesn’t.” I nod at the building. “Come on.”
She beams a big smile at me and follows me up the steps.
A few of the guys in the lobby give us some strange looks as we pass, but they’re smart enough to keep their thoughts to themselves.
I have no idea what Jordan’s beef with Eden is, but I know better than to question his orders. And when he told everyone in the house to stay the fuck away from her or they’d have to deal with him, I knew that wasn’t an idle threat.
Felix seems to be the exception to his rule, and as far as I know, Jordan’s never had a problem with them being friends.
Whatever the reason isn’t any of my business, but I’d be lying if I said I haven’t wondered why Jordan hates her so much and why he’s made it his mission to make sure everyone on campus stays as far away from her as possible.
Thankfully, Eden seems happy to just follow me and doesn’t say a word as we head up to my room.
When we’re finally in front of my door, I unlock it and throw it open. I’m expecting to find Felix on the couch or maybe at his desk, but he’s in bed, the covers pulled up and still asleep.
Eden shoots me a worried look as I close the door behind us.
“That’s weird, right?” she asks.
I nod. It’s almost lunchtime. Did he come back to the room for a nap, or did he just never get up?
“Felix?” she calls, her voice way too soft to wake anyone up. “Are you okay?”
She looks between me and Felix a few times, obviously asking permission to go further into the room. I nod, and she hurries over to his bed to gently shake his shoulder. “Felix?”
He doesn’t move, and I’m already walking toward her when she looks up, her face a mask of fear and concern. “Something’s wrong,” she says as I come up to the bed.
“What do you mean?” I scan the area around us to make sure there aren’t any threats—or clues—I need to know about.
She shakes his shoulder again, hard enough to rock his entire body on the mattress.
He doesn’t move at all. Not even his breathing changes.
“Felix?” I pull the covers back so I can get a better look at him.
At first glance, everything seems fine. He’s curled up on his side, hugging his spare pillow like a teddy bear. There are no signs of blood or injuries, and he’s breathing.
Why the fuck isn’t he waking up?
“Felix.” I grip his shoulder and give it a shake.
He exhales a little puff of air, but that’s it.
“What do we do?” Eden asks, her voice laced with fear. “Should we call the school doctor?”
“No. Not yet.” I rest the back of my hand against his forehead. He’s warm, but that could be because he’s been under the blankets and not because he has a fever.
“You should use your lips,” Eden says.
“Huh?” I shoot her a confused look.
“Your lips are more sensitive than your hands,” she explains. “They’re more accurate for checking for fevers if you don’t have a thermometer.”
“Yeah, I’m not kissing his forehead to check if he’s feverish.”
She rolls her eyes and mutters something that sounds a lot like “Toxic masculinity,” and pushes me out of the way so she can press her lips to his forehead.
I bite back a smirk. She thinks me not wanting to kiss his forehead is because of toxic masculinity? Obviously Felix didn’t tell her about how I had zero issues jerking him off or coming down his throat a week ago.
“No fever,” she announces.
Felix lets out a soft sound, almost like a cross between a sigh and a moan.
“Felix?” I gently tug the spare pillow out of his grip.
He grabs at it and makes a pitiful sound, his eyes still closed.
“Felix?” Eden gently brushes his hair back from his forehead.
He lets out another sigh/moan and scrunches his face up as he curls into himself even more.
“Felix?” I shake his shoulder. “You’ve got five seconds to wake the fuck up, or I’m dumping ice water on your face.”
He blinks his eyes open and squints at us like he has no idea who we are.
“Are you okay?” Eden asks.
He makes a little snuffling sound and nuzzles his face into his pillow.
“Nope.” I shake him again. “Wake the fuck up.”
This time he lets out a disgruntled snort, but he pulls his face out of the pillow and gives me a halfhearted glare.
Something’s wrong with him. His pupils are blown wide, his eyes are slightly red-rimmed, and his skin is paler than usual.
“What did you take?” I ask.
He mumbles something I can’t make out.
“What did you take?” I repeat.
“My pills,” he mumbles.
“Pills?” I glance at Eden.
She shrugs and shakes her head.
As far as I know, Felix doesn’t take any meds, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t get his hands on some and he’s on the tail end of a bad high.
“What pills? Which ones?”
“Lur-ah-zoh-pam,” he slurs. “And zol-peh-dem.”
“Both?” I ask.
“Yup.” He closes his eyes and lets out a soft sigh.
I smack him on the shoulder. “Wake up.”
“Don’t wanna,” he mumbles and rolls onto his stomach.
“Is he okay?” Eden asks. “Is he overdosing?”
“No, just a nasty reaction.” I roll him onto his side. “How many did you take?”
“Five.”
“Of each?” Eden squeaks.
He lifts his hands and makes a number two with one and a number three with the other.
“Two Ambien and three Ativan?” I ask.
He nods.
That sounds like a lot, but I can’t be sure without knowing the dose of each pill. “Where are they?”
“My secret book.” He waves at his bookshelf.
I glance at Eden. She looks conflicted, which tells me she knows what he’s talking about. “Where are they?”
“I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you.” She looks between me and Felix. “I promised.”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes and shoot her an exasperated look. “Just get the damn pills. I’ll look away, okay?”
She nods.
“Did you take anything else?” I ask, focusing my attention on Felix while Eden goes over to his bookshelf.
“No, just those.”
“Have you been taking them all week?” That would explain why he’s been missing his morning classes.
He nods.
“Why?”
“So I can sleep,” he says simply.
“Here.” Eden hands me two pill bottles.
I read the labels. “Jesus, Felix,” I mutter.
“What?” Eden asks.
“He’s at the max dose.” I hand her back the bottles. “It’s no wonder he’s so out of it. Have you been taking that much this whole time?”
He nods. He seems to be having an easier time staying awake, but he’s still a mess.
“Is he in danger?” Eden asks.
“No. He’s just going to be in rough shape until the Ativan wears off.”
“When will that be?”
“No clue. Probably soon. It depends on when he took them.” I glance at Felix. “Do you remember when you took them?”
“Last night.”
“What time?”
“Late. Or maybe it was early.” He scrunches up his face like he’s trying to think. “I’m tired.”
“Yeah, I bet you are.” I pull my phone out of my pocket.
“Who are you texting?” Eden asks. “Is he going to get in trouble?”
“No, and none of your business who I’m talking to.” I open my text thread with the twins.
Killian : I’ve got a situation in my room
Killian : found Felix passed out and high on tranqs
Jace : really? With all the shit going around campus he picks tranqs? boring
Jax : is this something we need to worry about?
Killian : doubt it. the dumbass took them himself
Killian : I’m going to stay with him until he shakes them off
Jax : roger that
Jace : see if you can grab me a few. What’s he on? Please tell me it’s quaaludes. Those are amazeballs
Killian : not quaaludes. Ativan and ambien
Jax : together? He’s either really stupid or really fucked up
Jace : two things can be true
Jace : grab me some Ambien, that shit is fun
Jax : do you remember what you did the last time you were on it?
Jace : nope and that’s part of the fun
Jax : I remember, and it was only fun for one of us
Jace : grab my brother some too so he can relax enough to yank that giant stick out of his ass
I type out a message. We’ll be here until dark if I let them keep going.
Killian : can you cover for me at the meeting this afternoon?
There’s a house meeting later, and even though I’m sure Felix will be up long before the start time, I’m not about to miss an excuse to bail.
These meetings are only about house admin and not Rebel business, and sitting for an hour while we have a debate about which brand of toilet paper they should stock or try to figure out where the broom from the second-floor cleaning closet ended up isn’t my idea of a good time.
Jace : you got it
Jax : let us know if you need anything
I turn off my screen and glance over at Eden. She’s so quiet I almost forgot she was there.
“Everything okay?” she asks.
I nod and tuck my phone away. “You can go.”
She drops her gaze to Felix, her expression conflicted. He’s fast asleep again, but there’s no point waking him up until the meds wear off.
“I’ll stay with him until he’s lucid.”
She shoots me a surprised look but quickly schools her expression into a more neutral one. “You will?”
I nod and point to the door.
Now that she knows Felix is okay, or will be okay, it’s time for her to go. Jordan might not care that she and Felix hang out, but he’ll definitely care if he finds out she was in our room and alone with me while Felix was passed out.
Her expression falls, but she doesn’t argue.
“I’ll get him to text you when he’s up,” I say, not sure why I’m even bothering to make her feel better.
She offers me a wobbly smile. “Thanks.” She gives Felix one last look, then leaves.
“Felix?” I shake his shoulder.
“Yeah?” He blinks blearily at me.
I tuck the spare pillow against him. “You’re a dumbass.”
“Yeah.” He hugs it tight and shoots me a half smile. “I know.”
Shaking my head at how ridiculous this entire situation is, I pull my phone out of my pocket again. Might as well get some lunch sent up while I wait for my dumbass stepbrother to wake up.