10. Hudson
Alec was strangely quiet through the rest of breakfast. He kept sending me worried glances, as if I was going to attack him next. But that only irritated me even more and made me want to snap at him.
But I knew that was wrong. I didn’t snap at people, especially harmless goofballs like Alec who didn’t deserve it.
The pressure was already taking over my mood, which couldn’t be good.
No longer tasting the different flavors in the food I was eating, I tossed my fork down and pushed back my chair. “I’m taking a nap.”
Alec bobbed his head, his eyes wide with worry. “Okay. Yeah, good idea.”
I rolled my eyes at him and returned to my room. There, I flopped onto my bed, draped an arm over my brow, and blew out a breath as I gazed up at my ceiling.
Well, I wasn’t getting through this with the finesse I’d been hoping for. I was going to have to do better from here on out.
Closing my eyes, I tried to summon some kind of happy place in my head. I started with cooking, since that was supposed to be my dream now. World-class chef running my own kitchen. Critics raving about my talents. Hordes swarming my restaurant and begging for reservations just to get in. People buying my cookbooks and giving them to their loved ones for Christmas because their favorite recipes were inside.
But the image in my head didn’t do a whole lot for me, so I brought up the gang instead, recalling a memory of us just hanging out together. We sat at a table in a restaurant, laughing and joking. It took me a minute to realize I was remembering my birthday party from the night before.
A smile fluttered across my face. I knew my guys would help pull me through. They always did.
Except I got caught up with an image of Faith entering the room with a tray full of food. And from that point on, memories blurred with daydreams, and I was having a full-on make-out session with her against the wall.
Her fingers were tunneling through my hair, and my mouth was on her neck with my palms riding up the back of her thighs and headed toward?—
The insistent ringing of my phone jarred me awake. Not realizing I’d actually fallen asleep and was literally dreaming, I opened my eyes and hissed out a curse, then remained there a moment, trying to orient myself.
With no idea how long I had been napping, I patted the bed around me until I found my phone buried in some blankets near my hip.
After pulling it free and checking the screen, I groaned miserably and wished I could return to that dream instead.
But reality was back, and I winced out my regret before answering, “Hey, beautiful. What’s up?”
“I need you for brunch tomorrow,” Genesis said without preamble.
No, how was your night with the guys? Or, I missed you? Or good morning…afternoon?
It was all, Fill my needs. Now.
“Ah man, I gotta be at work tomorrow by noon,” I tried to argue as I sat up and stretched. “And then I have my six-month evaluation meeting with your dad after that.”
But she shoved aside my protest with a sniff. “Oh, you’ll have plenty of time for all that,” she assured me, as if my job was secondary to what she wanted. “Alyssa’s bringing her boyfriend, and you know how lovey-dovey they always act when they’re together. I wouldn’t be able to stomach it without you.”
No, she wouldn’t be able to compete and try to act more lovey-dovey with her own fella if I wasn’t present to fill the role. Closing my eyes, I pinched my forehead and released a silent sigh.
I didn’t have time for Gen’s drama right now. The pressure was back, and stress was flooding my veins.
Merely thinking about Genesis and her self-involved issues made my irritation rise. But I’d lose all my goals for the future if I didn’t play her game.
So I straightened and reopened my eyes as I responded, “Alright, then. I’ll make sure I make it.”
“Yay,” she trilled, trying to act surprised and excited about getting her way, even though she’d known the whole time that she would. “We’ll take my car since yours is a piece of shit.”
This was sadly true. Her ride was about a billion times nicer than Chastity, my fifteen-year-old black Dodge Challenger that had been beaten to hell by its previous owner. Dents and dings marred her paint, the windshield wipers were shot to shit, the window on the passenger side didn’t even roll down, and the trunk had to be popped with a screwdriver. But she got me where I wanted to go, and I loved my shitty baby. She was the first big purchase I’d ever been able to afford, and she would be all mine in just eight more payments.
It grated on all my nerves to hear Genesis bash Chastity.
“Fine,” I answered, done with this conversation. “See you then,” and I hung up before she could say anything else.
Damn, even I could tell that my entire temperament was changing. I never would’ve been so short and hung up on her like that before.
This was not good. I was beginning to wonder just how long I had left to actually be me before it took over completely.
Needing a new Advil to calm the pounding in my temples, I checked my wrist for the time to see if it’d been long enough since my last dosage so I could take another, only to be reminded that I wasn’t wearing my watch.
Dammit.
My brow furrowed when I noticed I didn’t have a wrist cuff on my other arm either.
“Huh.” There was no telling what drunk-me had done to them last night, but I had to find them before tomorrow.
If Genesis was going to expect some serious PDAing, then I already knew she was going to mention the watch she’d given me, and if I wasn’t wearing it when she did, shit would hit the fan.
Glancing around, I started to search my room. When I didn’t spot anything on my desk or dresser, in my sheets, under my bed, or in the bathroom, I found Alec and Keene in the front room, playing a round of foosball.
“Hey SpongeBob and Patrick,” I called. “Either of you numb nuts know where I put my watch when I got home last night?”
“Nope,” Keene answered before spinning his rod wildly to send the ball rolling. “I went home with Hannah last night. No idea what you did.”
Alec blocked the ball, and it rolled back toward Keene’s end. “I didn’t bring you home last night either,” he answered. “I was too drunk to drive. Parker took care of you.”
“Ohrley?” I wrinkled my nose in confusion. “Why the hell would Ohrley drive me home?”
“Uh…” Alec’s eyes widened guiltily, then he cleared his throat. “No reason.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. I’m calling Park.”
But he wasn’t much help either. The guy was still too butthurt over our earlier conversation to even care about my dilemma.
He answered with, “If you’re calling to apologize?—”
“Apologize for what?” I asked, shaking my head.
“God.” He rasped out a husky laugh. “Nothing. Never mind. What do you want?”
“Have you seen my watch?”
“Why the hell would I know what you did with your damn watch?”
“I don’t know,” I shot back heatedly. “But I can’t find it anywhere today. Was I even wearing it when you took me home last night?”
“I don’t—” he started, only to pause thoughtfully. “You know, I don’t think you were. Maybe you left it at the restaurant.”
“Why would I do that?” I asked, growing more confused by the second.
“You did ralph all over yourself,” he mentioned. “And Faith was cleaning you up when I arrived. Maybe she took it off to?—”
“What do you mean, when you arrived?” I cut in, not understanding a word he was saying. “Shouldn’t you have already been there?”
“Uh.” Stalling as lamely as Alec had, he cleared his throat before admitting, “Yeah, about that. We kind of…forgot you at the restaurant…for a while.”
“You did what?”
“Hey, I was the last to leave, and you weren’t there when I hauled Alec’s drunk ass home. I assumed Archer and Oaklynn had you. But when I dropped Alec off at the house and you weren’t there, we had a bit of a freak-out moment. Alright? But we found you. Problem solved.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Why’d you drive Alec home? Why didn’t Damien and?—”
“Good question,” Parker snapped. “Why don’t you ask the horny lovebirds who were so consumed by each other that they forgot the rest of us even existed why they couldn’t be bothered with driving anyone else home…to the very address where they lived?”
“Ah,” I said, finally understanding, only to scowl again. “So where did you find me? Where was I?”
“Still at the restaurant. You passed out in the bathroom, and Faith stumbled across you after closing.
“Oh shit.” I winced. “I owe her one, don’t I?”
“Don’t worry about it. I made sure she was decently compensated.”
I scoffed. “Your Benjamins probably just offended her.”
Parker sounded surprised when he answered, “They did, actually. How’d you know that?”
I shrugged. “She just seems like the type.”
“Huh,” was his only answer.
I didn’t particularly care what that meant, so I told him I’d check with the restaurant and thanked him for his help before hanging up.
Except the restaurant didn’t have a watch or wrist cuff in their lost and found.
“Can I talk to Faith, then?” I asked. “She was our waitress. Maybe she saw them.”
“Faith doesn’t clock in until five,” I was told. “Try back then.”
When they hung up on me, I slumped back in my chair with an exhausted sigh. Now I had three hours to wait.
But the good news was that enough time had passed that I could take more painkillers because I needed them.