Page 4 of Solanum

"Please tell me these are clean."

She laughed, shaking her head. "Probably not."

"Nor, c'mon." I tossed them behind me, and she laughed. "So, how was your vom?" I patted her shoulder. "Sounded like vodka tangled with a bit of olive."

"Shut up." Nora covered her face and groaned. "It wasn't vodka."

"Rum then. Malibu, pineapple, cranberry, right? Those acids probably burned the shit out of your throat on the way up."

"Fuck you, Donovan." She curled up on the sofa facing me and pulled a ratty blanket over her shoulders. "Get out of my house."

"You have no food here."

"When are we ever home?" She yawned and shivered hard. "I eat at work or on the road like everyone else. And Maya's still in the dorms, so why keep anything here?"

"True…" I crossed my legs and joined her in the yawn. "Been awhile since I've been here."

"Since the Christmas party."

"That was fun. Wilkinson playing beer pong was hilarious. Can't believe he showed."

"He's a whacky old man." Nora smiled at the memory of it.

"Why did you go to that club, Nor? The real reason."

"I told you. I've been hanging out with Raven." She sighed, clearing her throat with a sour expression on her face.

"Raven is an asshole. Have you ever gone there before?" I asked, dropping my head back on the cushions.

"She's not and no. It was the first time."

"Are you into BDSM?" I turned to meet her gaze then.

She shrugged, her eyes falling to the gray fabric of the sofa between us. "I don't know. Maybe. Raven isn't an asshole."

"She is. You don't think she is because she probably fucked you good."

"C'mon, Caroline. Just…" She frowned at me. "You're so rude."

"I'm not rude. You and everyone else hate when I say things that are true. Get over it."

"No."

"Are you sleeping with Greg?" I asked, allowing the words to blurt right out of my mouth.

"No. We're just friends."

"For now. You were going to scene with Ravana and her two subs tonight, weren't you?"

"I don't know." She flopped her hand down on the sofa. "Stop interrogating me already. You sound like Anita."

"Who's Anita?" My brow furrowed.

"My friend the psychiatrist—"

"Oh, right. Oliver. The psychiatrist you fucked in the call room while both of you were working." I laughed at that. "Good thing the patient you were meant to be watching was chemically sedated."

"Are you fucking kidding me, Caroline? Is that all you do? Criticize me about my sex life? Anita's my friend. We did something stupid one time like two years ago. And it wasn't in the call room. It was at her apartment."