Chapter 34
The headache I have is out of control. If I’m honest, it puts all of my past hangover headaches to shame, and I’ve had some pretty nasty benders.
It takes me probably twenty minutes of working myself up to finally crack my eyes open.
A pitch black room greets me, though I’m unsure of whose bed I’m actually laying in.
When I lean back down, I catch a whiff of must and pine, along with the familiar undertone of lavender from the detergent used to clean the sheets.
Realization dawns on me then—I’m in Dax’s room.
What the hell happened?
A door opens, and I turn away from the light.
“You’re up!” Dax exclaims. He sounds relieved.
“Mhm.” I cover my eyes, though, unable to look at him. “Can you just close the door? My head is pounding.”
“Millie?” Jill calls from the doorway. She comes running in, and to my surprise, wraps me in her arms, tackling me back down to the bed.
Jill doesn’t relent or let go. She hugs me the way I hugged my grandma before she boarded her flight to Florida. There’s so much weight to this embrace that I’m not sure what to do, except to hug her back.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
Jill pulls back, and a small light in the corner turns on. The neon glow of a lava lamp lends enough light for me to see them both. They look… tired. Exhausted, actually. The darkness clings to the bags under their eyes in a way that makes me wonder when they last slept.
“You don’t remember?” Jill asks, her tone cautious.
“Remember what?” I see a black mark under her eye and flinch. “Oh, you mean punching you? I’m sorry about that.”
Jill covers her bruised eye with a start. “What? No, not that!”
Dax huffs a laugh as he pulls up the gaming chair from his computer desk and rolls it over to the bed. He has a mug in his hand that I hadn’t noticed before. Steam wafts off the top, and I smell faint notes of cinnamon and pecan. He offers it as he asks, “What’s the last thing you remember?”
I take the cup gratefully and drink it down, even though it’s hot and burns the top of my mouth. All I can think about is how good it tastes and how badly I needed it to make the headache go away.
“I remember… coming to the club early,” I say, thinking back. “You asked me to meet you here. I assumed Jill was with you, so I came over.”
Dax exchanges a quick look of concern with Jill. I take another drink and breathe in the smell of it, warmed by its heat. My memory might not be working at the moment, but at least I know I’ll never forget about coffee.
“I’m guessing we didn’t talk,” I start hesitantly. “Did we?”
Dax doesn’t answer. Instead, Jill places a hand on my shoulder and says, “No. We didn’t talk.”
Memory loss is kicking my ass. “Great, so what does everyone know that I don’t? Does Dax know you’re a witch?”
“He does.” Jill’s shoulders sink and cuts her eyes toward Dax. “He also knows about the vampires, too.”
“Of course.” And how could he not? Jill was bound to tell him everything if it meant my safety was at risk. “Wait, if he knows, then…”
Before either of them can answer me, there’s a loud bang outside of the room. It sounds like a bomb is going off, repeatedly. They look like a couple of startled cats the way they tense up. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they know the cause of it.
“I’ll take care of it,” Dax says, pushing himself to stand.
Jill doesn’t say a word as he leaves the room.
I wait, caught between curious and confused.
A few seconds later, I hear voices, one frantic and panicked, the other cool and collected.
I can’t make out anything solid, but it isn’t long before I can hear every single thing they’re saying.
The conversation takes a turn and suddenly they’re both shouting—Dax and his visitor.
Realization dawns on me. Before I left, I wrote a note for Gray to find when he woke up. My heart rushes to my throat. It has to be him.
“Is that Gray?” I ask.
“It usually is.”
What the hell does that mean?
I kick back the covers from my legs and climb out of the bed, coffee cup firmly in hand. It almost falls to the ground, though, as my legs give out beneath me. Jill rushes to steady me, grabbing my elbow as she wraps an arm around my waist.
“Slow down,” she scolds.
“Sorry,” I reply sheepishly. “I didn’t realize how bad my legs were.”
“Well, one of them was pretty fuckin’ broken.” Jill releases my elbow and takes the mug from my hand, depositing it on the bedside table as she leads me to the bedroom door.
“What?”
“Just wait.” She guides me down the short hallway to the front door, and I almost collapse again at the sight of Gray.
He looks like shit. His skin is sallow, pulled taut around the sharp angles of his cheeks and jawline. The ruby sheen to his red eyes is dull and murky, as if he hasn’t eaten in days. My vampire looks like a corpse.
“Millie…” My name is a whisper on his lips. Behind him, I see that the sun is still shining and there are tendrils of smoke coming off his back.
“Fucking hell, Dax, let him in!” Panic overcomes the unsteadiness in my legs as I break free from Jill, lunging forward. “He’s going to set himself on fire!”
Dax opens his mouth to argue, but stops.
“No avoiding it now,” Jill says coolly. “Invite the leech in.”
“Come on in,” Dax relents, clearly unhappy about it.
Gray falls through the frame and flips the door shut before collapsing to his knees. I go down with him, just in time to catch his weight against me. He feels like a bag of bricks.
“Why would you do that?” My voice sounds shrill and panicked. He’s still smoking, and it kind of smells like burning leaves, but at least the sunlight is gone. There’s nothing now but the ceiling light above us and the two searing gazes from Dax and Jill.
“So I could see you,” he says, catching my face between his hands. The sheer amount of relief in his expression hits me like a left hook. There’s a reason he looks so awful, yet so happy to see me. Whatever it is I don’t remember is working against me in the worst way.
“I’m here.”
“And you’re alive.”
I breathe. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Gray looks up and shoots Dax a hard look. “She doesn’t know?”
“She just woke up, okay?” He crosses his arms and leans against the wall. Jill is at his elbow, wearing a similarly wilted expression. “We didn’t get that far.”
There’s a flicker of irritation in his eyes, lighting them up a fraction. It’s good to see that he isn’t completely drained of energy. I pat his shoulder and help him to stand, offering as much of my body for him to lean into.
“Can we all drop the cryptic bullshit and just let the bomb go off already?” I beg.
With a shrug, Dax says, “You’ve been out for four days.”
I feel my eyes bulge. “Four days? Holy shit, why?”
“You were attacked.” Gray slips an arm under my own, reversing our roles. My own shock must be written in spades across my face. “Jill stopped him before… before he could sink his teeth into you.”
“Stopped him? I set his ass on fire,” Jill corrects, placing her hands on her hips.
“A one-trick pony witch.” Gray scoffs.
“Fuck off!” Jill snaps back.
I push away from Gray and stand between the three of them.
Though Dax doesn’t immediately speak up, I know he has plenty to say on the matter.
If this goes on, he’ll step in to back Jill up, and I just can’t handle both of them without knowing what’s going on.
Between my memory loss and them talking in circles around me, I just need a scrap of cooperation that doesn’t include arguing.
“For fuck’s sake, stop. Both of you.” I look at Jill, hoping she’ll just hear me out. “Can we all just talk?”
Jill presses her lips into a tight line and nods. She’ll cooperate.
“And you.” I turn to Gray. His brows pull together in question. “Can we not antagonize her? She almost killed you once already. Let’s not go for round two.”
That earns me a small smile, and he holds his hands up in defeat. “Fair enough.”
“Great!” Clapping my hands together in front of my chest, I then point to Dax. “Now that we’re all on the same side, can we get an entire pot of coffee going? Something tells me I’m going to need more than one cup of caffeine.”
I’m on my fifth cup of coffee, all black, no sugar, and I’m shaking.
“So, I was… dead?” I ask.
“Don’t exaggerate,” Jill says, sinking into Dax’s couch. She looks so tired from where I’m sitting, and immediately, the guilt sets in. They’ve been looking after me this whole time, running on little to no sleep.
Worry will do that to you.
“Okay, so almost dead. And the guy that came after me?” I look at Gray, who is a safe distance between me and the armchair I’m sitting in. He’s opted to lean against the wall, opposite of where Dax is sitting at his bar. We’re all scattered in odd places—close, but not cozy.
“We think it was our mutual friend from Halloween.” Gray pushes away from the wall. Slowly, he kneels in front of me and takes my hand. “Does any of this provide clarity? Have you remembered anything at all?”
With a slight shake of my head, I say ‘no.’
“Don’t strain yourself,” Gray says, patting my hand. He stands and lets it fall back into my lap. I feel like he’s trying to put some distance between us, and while the moment isn’t exactly romantic, it would be nice to know he still cares. Even just a little.
Jill’s phone goes off, and she sits forward to take it out of her pocket. “My ride's here.”
“Wait!” I shout. “Are we just… we’re just gonna leave it at that? I don’t get to hear about your witchy stuff?”
Jill snorts and shakes her head. “You almost died, Millie, and you want to waste time listening to me talk about magic?”
“Yes? I mean, my two best friends are witches. Why wouldn’t I want that?”
“Sorry, Millie. Next time, okay?” Jill stands, and I follow. “Right now, I need to get some sleep.”
When she holds out her arms for me, I go in for a hug. The last few days haven’t been awesome for me, but I know they’ve been much worse for her.