Page 20 of Star Struck

‘I’m just enjoying the peace and quiet.’

‘Two shakes then.’ He leapt inside and was back in a couple of minutes with a large glass of something amber. ‘Here. Drink that down and you’ll be fit for an early night.’

I sniffed it. ‘Wow. Smells like paint stripper.’

‘That, darling, is a Broken Hill Special.’

‘Smells like it. Broken something, anyway.’ I sniffed again. ‘Intestines, possibly.’

‘Chug-a-lug, there’s a good girl.’

I took a cautious first sip. The warmth rode down my throat like a roping cowboy, captured my tonsils and begged for backup. ‘It’s not bad. It’s a bit like . . . tequila?’

‘Mm, mostly tequila.’ Felix watched me drain the glass, then took the empty and sat next to me on the edge of the little raised wall that circled the entire motel, as though it marked some kind of border. ‘Ever thought about moving out here? To the States?’

‘No.’

‘You could sell the house, make enough to move. Might do you good. I’m sure you talked about moving to the States, you know.’

I frowned. Trying to find the memories was like staring into a black maelstrom and made my forehead ache. ‘Did I?’

‘That’s what you told me.’

I shook my head. ‘I wish I could remember. Sometimes I feel like one of those pod aliens — everything you tell me about the past sounds so weird and so unlike me, as though I was someone different before. Like I’m a new soul in a body you think you know.’

Felix shrugged an elegant shoulder and stared off into the desert. There was an expression on his face that was close to pain and I touched his hand. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t mean to remind you of . . . back then. It makes me feel so strange when I think that there’s a life that we had that I can’t remember, stuff that we did, stuff I can’t share in any more. I mean, I can do that whole “remember that time?” thing, but only up to a certain point, and that makes me feel stupid. Like I’m not really trying. I know I can’t help it, but I am sorry, all the same.’

He turned, his expression too complicated to read. ‘I guess you are,’ he said, his eyes tracing the outline of my scar. ‘Right. Feeling better now?’

I wanted to say that I hadn’t been feeling bad to start with, but, although my eyebrows seemed to be fully functioning, the rest of my face had been hit with a kind of palsy which made my lips go numb and my nose start to run. ‘’S a bit . . . bloopy.’ The desert began to melt and I stood up, panicked.

‘Bloopy?’

‘Y’know, when you’re all kind of . . . woooo.’ I took a step forward and the ground spiralled.

‘Whoops, here we go.’ Felix caught hold of me and pulled me against him. ‘That was quick.’

‘What’s happening?’ I had to force the words out past an unco-operative tongue which felt like a lump of Spam squatting in my mouth. ‘Oh. Tired now.’

‘Okay.’ With one arm wrapped around my waist, Felix began towing me towards the motel entrance. ‘You’ll be fine by the morning. It’s only half a tablet, just to make sure you get a good night’s sleep.’

His words floated into my brain, almost without meaning. ‘A wha’?’ I asked drowsily.

‘Sleepers.’ Felix spoke into my ear. ‘I brought them just in case. You’ll be fine,’ he repeated. ‘Wouldn’t give you anything that would do you any harm, even with alcohol. Some of us know what we’re doing, drugwise.’

‘Skye?’ Another voice, sounding annoyed. ‘What’s up now?’

‘It’s all right.’ Felix changed his hold on me but I felt another hand move my hair away from my face. ‘She’s just off to bed.’

‘Skye?’ It was Jack. I knew he was talking to me but I couldn’t raise the energy to answer. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Bed,’ I echoed Fe sleepily.

Jack’s face came into sudden focus; he must have crouched down in front of me. ‘I’d have to know you a lot better first,’ he said, quietly and, despite the alcohol and sleeping tablet, I felt a little shiver kick at my stomach. ‘I’ll probably see you in the morning, before it all starts off. If you need anything, you know where I am.’

‘What time do we have to be there?’ Felix tightened his grip on my waist. It almost hurt.

‘If you’d been in the diner, you’d have heard.’ Jack sounded sharp.

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