Ember
Iwake up slowly, and everything hurts. My mouth is dry as sandpaper, my head is pounding, and there’s a needle taped to the back of my hand attached to a bag of something clear. The light is too bright, and it takes me a long moment to work out where I am, and even longer to work out why.
A hospital. I’m in a hospital.
“Hey, you’re awake.” Emmett’s voice, and then his face, leaning over me. He looks terrible, gray and unshaven with dark circles under his eyes like he hasn’t slept. “Don’t try to sit up too fast.”
“Em?” My voice comes out like a croak. “What … what happened?”
He gets me some water, holds the cup while I drink because my hands are shaking too much to hold it myself, and then he sits back down heavily in the plastic chair beside the bed.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” he asks.
I try, I really try, but there’s nothing.
“The club,” I say slowly. “We were at the club. There was a sign. Cassidy and I were dancing.” I frown, chasing it, and it just dissolves in my hands. “And then … nothing. I don’t … Em, I don’t remember anything after that.”
His jaw goes tight as he squeezes my hand. “That’s okay.”
“Why am I in hospital?” Panic climbs up my throat as the beeps on my machine quicken.
So, he tells me carefully, watching my face the whole time, that someone put something in my drink. That I got separated from the girls, Sully noticed me acting weird, and followed me. He attacked the man who did this to me, and then I was rushed to the hospital.
“Oh my god,” I whisper. “Someone drugged me.”
“You’re safe.” He takes my hand, being careful of the drip. “You’re safe, Em. It’s over. You’re okay.”
I lie there, trying to feel something, but mostly I just feel very far away, like all of this is happening to somebody else and I’m watching it through glass.
“Where’s everyone?” I ask.
“Cassidy went back to the hotel to shower. She’ll be back in an hour.” He rubs a hand over his face. “The boys had to fly out, there’s a game tomorrow.”
“Of course. Why are you not with them?”
“I couldn’t leave you. I’ll be meeting up with the team later,” he tells me. “Sully didn’t want to go.”
“Okay.”
“But because he’s not family, he wasn’t allowed to stay behind,” Emmett explains.
“Understandable. I’m glad you’re here. It’s all very confusing,” I tell him.
“I’m sure it is. But you’re safe now. I haven’t told Mom yet, I didn’t want her to worry. You know she would be on the next plane down here,” he tells me. That is true, she would. “The girls said they will fly back home whenever you are up for it, there’s no hurry.”
“That’s nice of them.”
“Perks of having your own plane, I guess.” He chuckles.
He’s not wrong there.
A soft knock interrupts us. Two detectives stand in the doorway, a middle-aged man with a notepad and a woman in her forties with calm, tired eyes. They introduce themselves quietly, badges clipped to their belts, and ask if now is a good time.
Emmett steps back, giving them space.
“Ms. Black,” the woman says gently, “we’re here about what happened last night. How are you feeling?”
I swallow. “Still a bit foggy … but okay.”
She nods, voice steady and professional. “If you’re up to it, we’d like to ask you a few questions about the evening. We can stop at any time.”
“I don’t remember any of it,” I tell her. “I already told my brother. There’s just nothing there.”
“That’s very normal with what was in your system,” she says. “You don’t need to remember. We have the footage.”
The footage.
She tells me they have him. That the club’s cameras caught all of it, clear as day. A man approaching our section, then later, near my drink. And when I got up, the same man steering me toward a fire exit while I could barely stand.
“He’s in custody,” she says. “He’s been charged.
And I want you to hear this part, because I think it might matter to you down the line.
” She leans forward. “We know him. We’ve been trying to link him to a string of incidents at that club and others, women drugged, some of them taken.
We’ve never had enough to hold him. Never been able to catch him in the act. ”
I stare at her.
“Last night we did. He got sloppy,” she says. “Because of what happened to you, and because someone got to you in time, we finally have him. He is not going to be able to do this to anyone else.”
I don’t know what to do with that. That other women are safe because it was me. Right now, it’s just noise.
“Thank you,” I say, because I don’t know what else to say.
She leaves her card on the tray table and tells me to call if anything comes back to me, and then they’re gone.
The rest of the day is a blur of checks and quiet conversations.
The doctors say I can leave once the last of the fluids are administered.
My brother says Cassidy has packed up my things and there is a clean outfit in the bag on the side table.
As soon as I am released, we can fly back to New York. I nod as Emmett explains the plans.
Harper’s plane is already waiting for me when I arrive on the tarmac. Emmett had said goodbye to me at the hospital, and Cassidy picked me up on the way. She hasn’t let go of my hand since the hospital.
The stairs feel steeper than they should. Cassidy walks up first, still holding on to me like she’s afraid I’ll disappear if she lets go. The second we step into the cabin, the conversation dies.
Harper is the first one to move. She’s got Bastien against her shoulder, and when she sees me, she just gives a small, steady nod. “Hey,” she says quietly. “Come sit, we’ve got whatever you need.”
Issy reaches out and gives my arm a quick, firm squeeze. “Glad you’re here.”
Violetta and Evelina look up from opposite seats. Violetta tips her chin toward the empty spot by the window. “That one’s free.”
Evelina smiles. “You’re looking better.”
Cassidy steers me toward the seat. No one makes a big deal, they just make space and let me take it. The flight attendant comes around with drinks, I take a sparkling water.
The engines start and the plane begins to taxi.
I keep my sunglasses on and stare out the window the entire flight.
Cassidy sits beside me, close but not crowding, her hand resting loosely near mine in case I need it.
No one fills the silence with forced conversation.
Every now and then someone offers water or asks if I want a blanket.
I shake my head each time, and they leave it alone.
When we land in New York, the cold hits harder than it should. Harper has arranged a car for us. She pulls me into a quick, firm hug on the tarmac before we separate.
“Call me if you need anything, and I mean anything. We are all here for you. You are not alone,” she reassures me.
“I’ve been in your place before,” Evelina says when she hugs me goodbye. “Call me if you need to.”
“Sorry I ended the trip so soon,” I say quietly.
“No, you didn’t. You have nothing to apologize for,” Issy states firmly. “Vegas will be there if we ever feel like we need to go back. Do not think you ruined anything, got that?”
I nod, and the girls say their goodbyes again.
Cassidy stays right beside me as we get into the car.
The city slides past the windows in streaks of light, and I don’t really see any of it.
Neon signs blur into each other. People on the sidewalks move like they’re underwater.
Everything feels distant, like I’m watching someone else’s life through thick glass.
The elevator ride up to the apartment is silent.
Cassidy doesn’t try to fill it. She just stands close enough that I can feel she’s there.
When the doors open, I walk straight down the hall and into my room.
The door clicks shut behind me softer than I expect.
The ordinary sounds of the city outside feel too loud and too far away at the same time, a siren somewhere, a car horn, the low hum of traffic that never really stops.
I sit on the edge of the bed without taking my shoes off.
My bag is still in my hand, and I stare at the floor for a long time, waiting for something I don’t know what, but nothing happens.
Cassidy knocks once, softly. “Em?”
I don’t answer.
She waits a few seconds, then the door opens anyway. She doesn’t ask permission. She just comes in, closes it quietly behind her, and sits on the edge of the bed next to me. For a long moment neither of us speaks. Then the silence cracks.
Suddenly, a sob rips out of me. It scares us both. Cassidy doesn’t say a word, she just pulls me into her arms and holds on while I break. I cry big, ugly, gasping tears. She rocks me slightly, one hand in my hair, the other tight around my back, and lets me fall apart against her.
“I’ve got you,” she whispers. “I’ve got you.”
I don’t know how long we stay like that. Long enough that my throat is raw, my eyes burn, and the front of her sweater is soaked. When the worst of it finally eases, I stay slumped against her, exhausted and empty.
She doesn’t let go. “How about I stay here tonight with you?”
I nod.
“It will be like the slumber parties we used to have when we were kids. Let’s get into our pajamas, and we can watch a movie or something in bed.”
She leaves the room, and I get changed. I pull my phone out of my bag and realize it’s dead. I leave it like that, enjoying the peace. I know it will be filled with concerned text messages and I’m not up for that.
When Cassidy comes back, we’re both in old T-shirts and thick socks. She puts on some quiet movie neither of us watches and for a long time we just lie there in the dark.
Then the questions start in my mind, and I have to know more. “What happened?” I ask.
Cassidy answers carefully, trying not to re-traumatize me.
She explains it was Sully who noticed first something was wrong.
He ran after the man before crash tackling him, then proceeded to beat the shit out of him.
I listen and try to fit the pieces into the black hole where my memory should be.
It doesn’t help. The gaps stay empty and somehow that feels worse.
“Apparently, this man has done it many times before.” My eyes well thinking about how those poor women must feel. They didn’t have a lucky escape unlike me. Where are they now? Are they okay? Are they alive?
“And now he will never do it again,” Cassidy reassures me.
“But what if next time …”
“There won’t be a next time,” she says firmly. “You never have to worry about that man, he’s going to jail.”
I try to put a brave face on as we continue to talk about the weekend. We talk until our voices go soft and the movie credits are long over. Eventually, her breathing evens out and she falls asleep still holding my hand. I stay awake longer, staring at the ceiling, the fears circling.
When sleep finally comes it doesn’t stay gentle.
One second I’m drifting, the next I’m back in the club—the lights smearing, the music turning into pure noise, a hand locked around my waist steering me toward a door I don’t want to go through.
I try to pull away, but my body won’t listen.
The hand tightens. A voice I don’t recognize is saying something low and urgent against my ear. Panic explodes in my chest.
I jolt awake in the dark with my heart slamming against my ribs so hard it hurts. My skin is damp, the feeling of that stranger’s hand is still so real I can almost feel the pressure of his fingers. For a split second I don’t know where I am.
Cassidy is already sitting up, reaching for me. “Em. Em, it’s me. You’re home. You’re safe.”
I can’t catch my breath. She pulls me against her and holds on while the nightmare slowly loosens its grip, my whole body shaking.
“I’ve got you,” she keeps saying. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
It takes a long time before the trembling stops. Even longer before I can lie back down. Cassidy stays awake with me, one arm around my shoulders, until the first thin light of morning pushes against the curtains. I finally fall asleep.