It didn’t matter if I was drunk or not.
That need…
The sight of Talon fighting Brock. Both of them shirtless. Talon way hotter though. The muscles. Tattoos.
I moved my right leg around him some more and pulled.
“Winter,” Talon whispered. “If this happens… it’s going to be worse than what you’re going through already.”
“No, it’s not,” I said. “You’ll protect me, Talon. You’ll always save me.”
I turned my head a little and made my move.
Just as my lips were about to touch Talon’s, my stomach decided to make its move too.
Oh. Fuck.
I don’t know how I got to the bathroom in time, but I did.
As I ran through the hallway, I heard the sounds of Emily on the counter as she and Crew were still going at each other.
Then again… come on, Emily. Everyone knows what fake sounds like…
I shut the bathroom door and fell to my knees in front of the toilet.
I hated myself and my entire life as I shut my eyes and felt everything working up the back of my throat.
It was like life decided to move in slow motion as I got sick.
Getting sick was terrible.
I hated throwing up.
I hated the feeling of my ribs and stomach squeezing so tight that I couldn’t breathe.
And I hated all of it while still being drunk.
When the first initial round of throwing up was done, I fell to my right side and leaned against the bathtub.
The bathroom door opened and Talon looked at me.
“Get the fuck out of here,” I said.
Talon shut the door.
I shut my eyes.
My mind thought of all the things Talon and I should have been doing right then. What he would have been touching… what I would have been touching… if we would have been…
The bathroom door opened again.
“Hey,” Emily said as she crept into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.
“No…”
“It’s okay,” she said.
“You were busy,” I said.
“Oh, that?” Emily asked. She crouched down. “Crew. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. It’s just slam, slam, slam, slam…”
Emily laughed.
I shook my head. “How… why…”
“Shhh,” Emily said. “Don’t worry about my sex life, Winter.”
“Oh, it’s happening again,” I said.
I moved back to the toilet.
Emily grabbed my hair.
There wasn’t anything else to come up. So I heaved and gagged and felt like I was going to die for a few minutes.
Then the feeling suddenly went away.
Emily got a bunch of towels and made me a bed on the floor.
She sat with her back against the wall and put my head on her lap.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said.
“I know,” she said. She played with my hair. “I want to.”
“Are you going to make a move on me?”
“What?” Emily asked.
“Talon told me…”
“Oh,” Emily said. “He’s an idiot. They all fantasize about me and Raine hooking up. There was one time we were dared to kiss and we did. Just a quick peck. But they were…”
“Being boys,” I said.
“Yeah,” Emily said. “Stupid boys.”
“Always,” I said.
Emily played with my hair and I shut my eyes.
Emily started to hum.
She wasn’t good at it, but it was better than hearing her fake groan while fooling around with Crew.
This was not the way my night was supposed to go.
Then again… none of my days or nights went the way they were supposed to.
Not since the accident.
Not since Noah, Easton, and Xavier wanted me dead.
I started to cry.
Drunk and crying on the bathroom floor in a Troc’s house.
With a girl like Emily touching my hair and comforting me.
I, Winter Seacrum, am nothing but a gigantic fucking mess.
The bathroom had no window, which meant no sunlight, which meant I had no idea what time it was when my crusted eyes decided to peel themselves open.
The first thing I saw was a small bug scurrying along the cheap tile floor, moving up and down the toilet like an inexperienced skateboarder.
I shut my eyes, my stomach sick one more time.
Bugs. A dirty bathroom. The smell…
I reached with my left hand and grabbed for the toilet.
When I tried to sit up, my body said ‘No way in hell, Winter…’ but I needed that way in hell or else I was going to get sick on the floor.
I moved myself over the toilet and opened my mouth.
I told myself to just get it over with. Get that puke out. Get my day moving here…
There was nothing left to come out.
My stomach did flips, but did nothing else.
In fact, after a few breaths, I felt a little better.
I pushed away from the toilet and sat with my back to the bathtub.
My eyes looked down to the floor, looking for that bug.
It was long gone.
The bathroom door opened and Emily appeared with a cup of coffee.
“Hey,” she said in a soft voice. “Look at you. Sitting up. That’s a good sign.”
“Is it though?” I asked.
“You don’t realize how messed up you were,” she said.
Emily was wearing a stretched out, low cut shirt that did nothing to hide the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra.
When she crouched down and leaned toward me, I saw right down her shirt and saw everything.
I shut my eyes, not wanting to invade her privacy, whether she cared about that or not.
She touched my head and then my cheeks one at a time.
“You were out there last night, Winter,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry again,” I said.
“Sorry for what?”
“I remember everything,” I said.
How ironic is that, huh? That’s all I ever do. I remember everything but I can’t get my life in order. Typical Winter…
“Oh, you’re still talking about Kace?” Emily asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “You two were-”
“If you need to know, I took care of him,” she said.
“What?”
Emily laughed. “Winter, you partied like a Troc last night, then you wake up as a Bump. I stayed here with you until you were out cold. I put you on your side in case you threw up again. Then I went into Kace’s room and blew him. That way he wouldn’t be on my ass today about it.”
“Oh,” I said.
My face warmed up.
I thought about Talon.
He and I in bed together.
My leg moving over his body.
What I wanted.
What he wanted.
Why did I have to get sick?
“Yeah,” Emily said. “No big deal. I got mine earlier in the night. I came back in here and stayed with you until a little bit ago.”
“You did that for me?” I asked.
“Sure,” Emily said. “You were talking crazy last night.”
“About?”
“You were slurring your words but you were telling me some story about crashing a car, blowing up a car and falling in love with the guy who wanted to kill you…”