Chapter 18
18
ASHER
My head throbbed. I tried to move, and my mind screamed internally. Fuck, it felt like my brain had been wrung out and left to dry. What had happened?
I tried to open my eyes but realized I was face down. Excruciatingly slowly, I rolled onto my side. Somehow, despite my closed eyes, the world seemed to spin. I clutched my stomach and rode out a wave of nausea.
My lips were glued together, and when I forced them apart, my tongue was thick and fuzzy, sticking to the insides of my cheek each time I moved.
I opened my eyes and blinked in the dim light. I was in a bedroom, but not one I recognized. Had I gone home with someone?
I reached behind myself, but the bed was empty. Thank God. The last thing I needed was to have to deal with a woman I didn’t remember. I strained my ears in case she was in another room, but the house remained silent.
I sat up, groaning when my head protested. I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed my temples until the pounding receded. When I opened my eyes again, my jaw dropped. So much for being alone. A woman lay on a foam mattress on the floor beside the bed. Her hair was over her face, a blanket pulled up around her shoulders, and she was completely out of it.
Cautiously, I leaned closer. Relief lightened my heart as I realized she was wearing pajamas. And was that…?
“Summer?” I rasped, my voice barely audible.
Summer bolted upright, blinking sleepily. “I’m awake, I’m awake. What’s going on?” Her gaze landed on me and her eyes widened. “You’re up. How do you feel?”
“My head hurts like hell.” The words husked out of me from my painfully dry throat.
“Hold on,” she said, and reached past the far end of the mattress, grabbing for something. She lifted a glass of water and passed it to me. “Here. I also have painkillers, if you’d like them.”
I nodded, and swiftly regretted it as the throbbing worsened. She retrieved a pack of acetaminophen and popped two out of their cases, then offered them to me. I took them, swallowed enough water to wet my mouth, and then gulped down the painkillers along with the rest of the glass of water.
I set the glass on the nightstand. “What am I doing here?”
She frowned. “Don’t you remember?”
I wracked my mind but came up empty. I remembered singing, eating a slice of cake, and then…nothing.
“No.” Panic clawed at my chest. What if I’d done something bad? Would anyone even tell me if I’d made an ass of myself? “What happened?”
She nibbled her lower lip. “You passed out last night. I was worried about you, so I stayed here to make sure you’d be okay.”
Shame coursed through me, hot and unpleasant. We’d been celebrating her birthday. She shouldn’t have had to babysit me.
I hung my head. “I’m so sorry.”
She shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. If I’d stayed at the party, all I’d have done is danced, and nothing could top our dance, so what would have been the point?”
My chest tightened. We’d danced? And it had been good? Had I done anything? Touched her in ways I shouldn’t because my inhibitions were lowered?
Fuck, I wished I knew.
“I hope I didn’t do anything to make you uncomfortable while I was drunk,” I said.
“You didn’t.” For some reason, she looked sad, her expressive eyes without their usual sparkle.
“How much do you remember from last night?”
I grimaced. “Nothing after the cake.”
“Right. I guess that’s that, then.” She sighed. “I’ll get you some more water.”
I closed my eyes as she left and tried once again, to recall the previous evening. I could remember the sweet chocolatey taste of the cake on my tongue and then it was like my memory ran up against a brick wall. Damn. I couldn’t help feeling like something significant had happened after that and I’d forgotten.
I gazed around the room, noting that it was Max’s former bedroom. Some of his fantasy novels still lined the bookshelves against one wall. He’d been a Dungeons and Dragons nerd, but he got away with it because he was a Braddock, and they were practically Destiny Falls royalty. Everyone loved the Braddocks.
Summer appeared in the doorway, silhouetted against the light emanating from the hallway. “Do you feel up to having breakfast? Dad has been cooking.”
My mouth watered. “Is there bacon?”
She grinned. “Yes. Eggs too. Hashbrowns, and all the greasy stuff.”
“Then I’ll manage.”
With effort, I clambered off the bed and righted myself. She gave me the glass and I drank it down. The ache in my head was already fading, although I doubted it would disappear completely.
I followed Summer out to the dining room, where plates loaded with bacon, eggs, hash browns, and toast occupied the center of the table. Toby sat at one end, his head in his hands, his complexion waxy and white.
“You look as terrible as I feel,” I told him.
He raised his eyes and groaned. “Everything hurts. I wouldn’t mind, but Winita snuck out on me in the middle of the night, so now I’m miserable.”
“Winita?”
“Yeah.” He squinted at me. “I introduced you at the party.”
“I hardly remember last night,” I told him, slumping on a chair a few over from his and dragging an empty plate toward myself.
“Bummer. At least I have the memories.”
“Hey, boys,” Eugene called from the doorway.
Was it just me, or had he spoken a little too loudly? And did he need to look so perky? It was ass o’clock, and some of us felt like an unwashed ball sack.
“I have pancakes,” he announced, and I forgave him for everything. He raised the bottle in his other hand. “And maple syrup.”
As soon as he placed the pancakes on the table, I pounced. I loaded two onto my plate, then stacked bacon on top and drizzled maple syrup over everything.
Eugene sat opposite, and Heather joined us, carrying a tray of radioactively green drinks.
Toby’s eyes bugged out. “God, no. Don’t do this to us.”
Heather laughed. “Sorry, boys. If you drink half a bar’s worth of alcohol, you have to deal with the consequences.”
“Uh…I’m not actually feeling that bad,” I lied.
Everyone knew Heather’s homemade hangover cure was worse than the affliction itself.
Summer bounced in behind her, smiling evilly. “Bottoms up.”
Toby snatched one of the glasses and chugged it, wrinkling his face up as he did so. Summer raised her phone and snapped a photo. Toby shoved the glass away from himself and tore a bite from his pancake, using his hands and teeth. He chewed furiously and swallowed, then rinsed his mouth out with water.
“Delete that photo,” he panted, glaring at Summer.
“Hmm.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Nope.”
He slumped. “Come on, do me a favor. I already had to accept that my new girlfriend doesn’t love me after all.”
Summer rolled her eyes. “Maybe if you came off a little less intense…” She shook her head. “No. On second thought, don’t change a thing. Anyone who can’t handle you as you are doesn’t deserve you.”
“Aww. Does that mean—”
“Still not deleting it.” She pushed one of Heather’s concoctions toward me.
I drank it, knowing there would be no escape, and I pulled a face at Summer’s phone camera when she aimed it at me. I shoveled bacon into my mouth to erase the nasty taste and slimy sensation of it on my tongue.
Summer and Heather joined us at the table, and Summer smugly sipped from a mug of coffee that neither looked nor smelled green and revolting. Show off.
Halfway through the meal, I shot to my feet. “I forgot to feed Cookie.”
Summer wiped her mouth on a napkin. “Kennedy has taken care of it.”
I lowered myself back down. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Are you sure you’re doing all right?”
“As well as I can be.”
It was true, but also not the full story.
I hated having no memory of last night. I hadn’t been blackout drunk since my early twenties, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something important. The trouble was, if I didn’t remember, and no one else felt inclined to tell me, how could I know what it was?