Chapter Eight
Ava
Oh my God. What happened last night?
My whole body aches and my head feels like it’s got a bowling ball inside it. I don’t think I had that much to drink, did I?
I shift in bed to sit up, only to realize I’m completely naked and lying on top of the covers.
What the fuck is going on?
I try to recall the events of last night, but my head is fuzzy, and everything is blurring. Please tell me I didn’t hook up with someone. I’m not a virgin, but I’m also not overly experienced and a one-night stand is really not the sort of thing I’d do.
I look around my bedroom, but no one else is here and the door to my bathroom is wide open and empty. My eyes, however, land on my trusty purple dildo, which is lying abandoned amongst my rumpled sheets.
What the fuck?!
***
After a hot shower I feel a lot better, but I need a coffee to really feel like myself.
I scream as I enter my living room and see the body on my couch.
“Christ, pipsqueak, keep it down,” he grumbles as he rolls onto his back and runs a hand down his face.
“River?” I gasp. “What the fuck?”
“From your shock at seeing me, I’m going to guess you don’t remember last night.”
“Why are you here?” I look around my apartment as if it can answer my question.
He groans as he sits up and skates his fingers through his hair. “I need coffee for this conversation.”
“River? What’s going on?”
“Coffee, pipsqueak, then we can talk.” He gets up from the couch and makes his way over to the small table I have set up between my kitchen and living room. I guess I’m making coffee for two, then.
“It’s not as good as your mom’s, but it’ll do.” I place a mug down in front of him and take a seat opposite.
He picks it up in his big hands and takes a large gulp, his eyes close as he appreciates a drink I’m quite sure the Gods sent to us.
“What do you remember about last night?”
“I was at the club with the girls, we were drinking and dancing, but I don’t remember having that much to drink.”
“You didn’t,” he confirms. “What else?”
“You were there with the blonde.” His eyes roll at my comment. “I got a round of drinks at the bar…” I pause while I think, this is where things get blurry. “I-I don’t… was there a fight?”
“Kind of,” he mutters. “I punched a guy. He spiked your drink, baby.”
“Oh shit,” I breathe.
Baby. There’s something there, at the edges of my memory. I don’t think this is the first time he’s called me it.
“Yeah, security took care of him. I got you out of there and brought you home, I wasn’t sure what he’d given you, so I stayed to make sure you were okay.”
“Do you know what it was now?” He won’t meet my eyes and his fingers fiddle with his mug of coffee.
“Yeah, I kind of worked it out pretty quick.” He doesn’t say anything else.
“Well?” I prompt.
“He, uh, he gave you an aphrodisiac. Pretty sure it was E, and with your lack of memory for some parts of the night that would make sense.” The words sit in the air around us, hovering at my subconscious, trying to draw the memories to the surface.
“Oh — oh my God.” My head falls into my hands. The dildo, me being naked; it’s all starting to make sense now.
“It’s fine, you were… ah shit.” His fingers press into his eye sockets. “Nothing happened, okay? I didn’t touch you, not like that.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, and his eyes fly to mine.
He took care of me. The man I always thought hated me, the man who for the past five years has done everything he can to make my life difficult, to hurt me in some way, saved me.
He didn’t just save me either, he stayed, he made sure I was okay, and even though it must be difficult, he’s sitting here now explaining it all to me so I don’t worry.
“Always,” he murmurs and then shakes himself out of the trance we’ve found ourselves in.
“Look, I should go.” He looks around him like he’s unsure of what else to say.
“Your cell is on the coffee table. I had to put it on silent because it was pinging like crazy. I let the girls know you were okay and that I was staying with you, but they want you to call them.”
Before I can even blink, he’s hurrying to the door of my apartment, desperate to escape, and I let him. Now isn’t the time to work out what’s going on between us, but I know with every part of me that something has changed.
Plus, it’s not until the door closes behind him that his words from last night come back to me.
Fuck, baby, not like this. The first time I touch you won’t be when a drug is running through you, you’ll remember every moment of what I do to you.