Chapter 32
The first thing I’m aware of is that I’m not in my own bed. As my eyes open, I see the pink walls and feel as if I ache all over. My mind struggles to wake up and as I look around me, I take in the unfamiliar surroundings and then the memory returns.
Fuck me, what a night.
I look to the side and see the empty space beside me and try to drag myself up but feel as if my limbs are made of clouds.
I feel so weak, and my body burns as if a thousand cigarettes have been extinguished on my dick.
I notice the time on the clock on the wall and groan. 10 am, what the fuck?
The sun is high outside, telling me I’ve been here for over twelve hours and then I hear a soft giggle as the door opens and Miss. English heads into the room dressed for class.
“Hey, sleepyhead, you made it back.”
“What happened?” I groan as I try to make my limbs work and she sits beside me on the bed and pushes the hair from my eyes. “We made a night of it and honey; you were a legend.”
“Then why do I feel like shit?” My throat is dry and my breathing uneven, and then it hits me. This isn’t normal. Did she drug me or something?
Thinking back on the bottles of beer she fed me on repeat, I wonder if they contained more than alcohol. Quickly, I reach out and grab her wrist and snarl. “What do you give me?”
She snatches it back from my weakened grasp and giggles. “The night of your life, honey. That’s all it was and putting it simply, I fucked your brains out. Now, all good things must come to an end, and we need to get you out of here without anyone seeing you leave.”
She grabs my clothes and thrusts them toward me and says firmly, “I’ll head off and you can leave the way you came. Make sure it’s when class has started and keep to the treeline. The last thing we need is word getting out about this.”
She stands and then, as an afterthought, sits back down and presses her lips to mine. She tastes of toothpaste and cherry lip gloss and when she pulls back, whispers, “Just for the record, you were an amazing fuck. Then again, I always knew you would be.”
She winks and leaves, slamming the door on her way out.
I dress quickly and think about what happened. Fuck, what was I thinking? I lost control for once in my life and I hate how that makes me feel.
A thousand thoughts spin through my mind, but I can’t remember a fucking thing about last night past the moment where she placed the blindfold over my eyes and sucked me off while I drank beer.
I always knew she was a wild one but quite honestly, I can live without shit like that because what’s the point if you can’t remember and if anything, I feel violated, dirty even and wish I never came.
Sighing, I make my way outside and drag in deep lungful’s of much-needed air.
I need to clear my head and get back to business because there is something making me uneasy about life at Rockwell ever since Winter came to stay.
I MAKE it back and the house is empty when I stumble inside, still a little unsteady on my legs. I head straight to the kitchen and fix myself a coffee and some toast because I need to get some food and drink inside me to help counteract how sick I feel.
“You look like shit.”
I look around and see Flynn heading downstairs and I take in the huge black circles under his eyes and note his grazed knuckles. “I could say the same about you.”
He heads into the kitchen and nods at the coffee. “Is there one of those for me?”
Pushing mine toward him, I pour another, and he groans. “Fuck, what a night.”
“What happened?”
“Usual shit.”
“Then tell me.”
He sighs heavily. “I went to town and ended up in a bar. Had too many to drink and picked a fight with a guy hitting on a girl. Ended up rearranging his face into a more interesting one and escorted the girl home. She invited me in and turned out to be a more grateful than I realized. We spent the night fucking Emma out of my head and now I’m good.”
“What about Emma? Will it be ok living under the same roof?”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
He yawns. “Sure, she’s good about it. Knows it was one night of pleasure and has moved on already.”
“She has?” I’m surprised, thinking of the frightened friend of my sister, and he grins, a little sadness dancing in his eyes. “I followed her to the party with Winter and watched them. Some guy latched on to Emma and they ended up making out in the shadows outside the house.”
“You watched! What are you, some kind of pervert now?”
I laugh as he grins. “Never pretended otherwise. No, I was just checking she was ok with it.”
“And was she?”
“Seemed that way. I heard them arrange to meet for breakfast and all that soppy shit couples speak to one another when they part company.”
He sighs heavily. “My job is done. One frightened girl made into a woman overnight and able to take on the world. It’s a public service. What can I say? I’m her guardian angel.”
He grins. “Tell me what happened to you. I’m enjoying seeing this new side of you.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“The untidy hair, the stubble on your face and the shadows under your eyes. That you’re still in yesterday’s clothes and the fact you stink like you’ve attended a whore house and fucked every one of them multiple times.”
“Miss. English.”
Laughing loudly, he thumps his fist on the counter and howls like a wolf.
“Then sign me up for history, you lucky bastard.”
“Yeah, well, enough about that. Do you know if Winter was ok at the party?”
“I think so. I saw Ivan at breakfast, and he said she left around twelve. He looked fucked though, man.”
“How?” I feel irritated thinking of him hitting on the girls at the party rather than do his job of looking out for my sister.
Flynn grins. “Apparently, once your sister was safely escorted from the party, he headed into town for an open fight. Turns out he went up against at least eight men and it was only stopped when someone called the cops. The rest hightailed it out of there and he looks as if someone used his head to batter a door down.”
“Did he win?”
“What do you think? Three thousand dollars richer and wearing a smug bastard look on his face.”
“Did Malik find out the identity of the mask wearing bastard?”
“He didn’t say. Just growled something about making a few calls and headed off to class. He’ll report back to you before he tells us anything, anyway.”
Nodding, I hope to God he’s found the information I need because that feeling of unease just won’t go away.
Sighing, I mention the one man I should be most worried about and say bluntly, “Alessandro?”
Flynn shrugs. “By all accounts, he was in bed around one this morning and is sleeping in. Lazy bastard.”
“And Winter?”
“Her schedule says she’s got a study period, so she’s probably sleeping in. I know I would. Mind you, she was moaning about an assignment that’s due in, so is probably holed up with Emma somewhere doing what the rest of us manage to avoid most of the time-learning.”
He yawns. “I’m off to bed. I need to sleep off the night I had, and I suggest you do the same.”
He heads off and I think about my friends, my sister and the problem I can feel building. It’s all around me, like a pandemic waiting to strike.
There’s something going on that’s out of my control and while everything seems in place, I can’t shake the feeling that a storm’s about to hit that we may not survive.