27. Thea
THEA
I drop my mouth into an O.
No.
I couldn’t be so stupid in this day and age to get catfished.
It’s not the first time it’s happened, but usually I’ve been able to tell through the messages I receive that a guy isn’t real.
But… Damn it all. Twistr doesn’t have a messaging feature. The only thing we were able to communicate to each other was a time we were both available. The app took it from there. I didn’t even know where I was going until the Mercury Cyclone dropped me off.
Usually I’ve had the foresight to check a guy’s pictures out. Do exactly what Aus did—take screenshots and then put them in a reverse image search.
But with most dating apps, you wait a few days between the match and the date. This was almost instantaneous. I wanted to find someone to go out with tonight, and the app delivered.
Except it didn’t.
My guard was down. I’ve been on so many lousy dates with guys who actually exist that I was willing to throw caution to the wind with Bobby.
I was the only person at O2 news who isn’t married, engaged, or dating. Micaela Fields and her perfect cookie-cutter life got to me. I wanted to go out. I’m not getting any younger.
And to tell the truth? I wanted to get laid.
I suppress a chuckle. I at least got that.
But not with Bobby. With a man ten times more attractive than the guy whose photos he stole.
That was just dumb luck, though. I could have easily ended up in a far worse situation.
“I can’t believe I let myself be tricked so easily.” I bury my face in my hands.
Aus wraps his strong arm around my shoulders. “Baby, you couldn’t have known.”
“You figured out the guy was a fake in fifteen seconds.” I cross my arms. “What if he’d turned out to be a rapist? A human trafficker? Something worse than just some dick who stood me up?”
“You’d have no reason to check him out beforehand. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Only after he stood a prize like you up—fucking insane, by the way—were my hackles raised.” He kisses the top of my head.
I smile. His lips are a salve for my fractured ego.
“I guess you’re right. To be honest, I was desperate for a good date.
I’ve been on so many terrible ones the last few months, and when I matched with this guy who came straight out of a modeling agency—and now we know that he literally did—I went for it without even thinking.
Plus, to tell the truth…” My cheeks warm.
“What?” he asks.
“It’s embarrassing,” I murmur.
“Hon, I think we’re past embarrassment.”
“You’ve got a point there.” I laugh lightly. “I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I was just…insatiably horny that night. Especially after I had a few drinks.”
Aus lifts an eyebrow. “What drinks?”
“The drinks Kin made me. It had been a while, I guess, so once my inhibitions were removed…”
Aus lifts a hand. “Wait. So you weren’t feeling that way before the drinks?”
I shrug. “I mean, I was a normal amount of horny. Like I said, it had been a while.”
His gaze darkens. “Do you think you may have been drugged?”
I drop my jaw. “No. No way. I wasn’t roofied, at least. I remember everything that night. There aren’t any gaps in my memory or anything.”
“There are drugs besides roofies.” Aus scratches at his chin. “But what you’re describing, this insatiable sex drive… Did you feel anything else?”
“I suppose I felt…giddy. Like I couldn’t stop smiling. And I remember thinking I felt really off kilter for only having two drinks. Like they must have been way stronger than I thought.”
“Holy shit.” He pulls out his phone. “I’m going to get you in for a drug screen stat. There’s an urgent care around the corner we can check out.”
“Do you really think that’s necessary?”
He stares me down, tiny flames in his eyes. “A man is dead and the cops are circling you. We need to do everything we can to have the full picture of what happened to you that night.”
A few hours later, we’re in an examination room at an Urgent Care. I’ve had my blood drawn and have also given urine, saliva, and hair samples to the nurse. There’s a knock at the door and a middle-aged man with thinning hair walks inside.
“Good afternoon, Ms. Storm.” He extends a hand. “I’m Dr. Cooke. We have some preliminary results from your urine sample, and we’ll go further in-depth with your blood tests over the next few days to confirm our findings.”
“Which are…?” Aus presses.
Dr. Cooke takes a seat on a stool across from us. “To your knowledge, Ms. Storm, you had taken no drugs prior to the evening before last?”
I nod. “That’s correct. Besides a few drinks at the club.”
“I see.” Dr. Cooke jots down a few notes on his clipboard. “As I said, this is just a preliminary screening, so this could be disproven by the blood tests, but so far you’re coming up positive for amphetamines.”
I cock my head. “Amphetamines? You mean like meth?”
“Amphetamines are a class of drug stimulants that can be prescribed to treat anything from ADHD to narcolepsy. Adderall is one of the most commonly prescribed.”
“You can’t be suggesting someone spiked my drink with Adderall. I didn’t spend the evening studying for the MCATs.”
Dr. Cooke laughs lightly. “No. That was just an example.” He leans back in the stool. “To confirm, you reported higher-than-average libido that evening, correct? And unexplained euphoria?”
“Yeah. I felt like I was on top of the world.”
“I see.” He jots down a few more notes. “Given that information along with the positive drug result, I can reasonably ascertain that you might have unintentionally ingested MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy or molly.”