Page 149 of Making Choices

“Good morning, dancing queen,” Nadia bounds into my bedroom. As I crack my eyelids to peek at her, she raises her arms. In one hand, she holds a bottle of water. In the other is her phone and two pills. “I come bearing gifts… and pain. I haven’t decided which one I’ll hit you with first.”

Bits and pieces from last night pop into my head as I slowly push myself upright.

Club Mirage.

Hunter’s MDMA.

Me and Nadia making out.

Sander carrying me out the side entrance.

Slash crooning reassurances to me as I vomited in my bathroom.

After rolling my eyes at the thought of the big man finally breaking his week-long bout of silent treatment, I immediately regret my petulance. As a stabbing pain begins to pound behind my right eye, I roll over and pull the comforter over my head. Sleep is my only escape right now, one I plan to embrace it as much as I can.

My bed smells like Slash.

Weird.

Since the thing that happened between me and Slash, discovering that my dad is an absolute deadshit, and Venom taking off to Sydney again after telling me that he’s moving on from our relationship, I’ve been out every night. Skipping out of work early, avoiding my brothers, silently pleading for Slash to look me in the eye whenever our paths cross, I’m a mess, and I’m not even mad about it. A meltdown of epic proportions has been on the cards for a long time.

I’m just happy that I have Nadia to join me on the path to obliteration.

Her antics always make mine look a little less crazy.

“Nuh, uh, uh. I’m up, that means you’re up.” My best friend strips the covers from my bed. Grumbling, I pull my knees to my chest and tug the t-shirt I’m wearing over them in an attempt to stay warm enough to go back to sleep. “I have water, Panadol, and gossip about Venom. Which one do you want first?”

“None of them… go away.”

“Can’t. You’ve got visitor’s descending in T-minus ten minutes.”

“Actually,” a distinctive East Side New Yorker accent interrupts Nadia. I fly upright, eyes wide, mouth open, as Seraphina plonks down onto the bed next to me. “Time’s up.”

“No way!”

“Surprise,” Ziva Navarro exclaims as I hug Sera. She makes jazz hands then presses a kiss to my cheek. “We’ve come to visit.”

The redness around Sera’s eyes alerts me to the true nature of their trip, but I don’t correct Ziva. Apologies to Medusa are all over the gossip sites right now after the news about the overdose of the band’s lead singer was leaked. As bad as that sounds, the truth is a lot worse. Sera’s twin sister is currently in a Perth hospital, being kept alive by machines, while the decision whether or not to take her off life support is made. It’s a convoluted tragedy involving catfishing, the meteoritic rise of a rock band with underworld connections, secret babies, a drug-fuelled threesome that somehow ended up online, and stolen identities that would be rejected by Hollywood as too fantastical.

Unfortunately, it’s actually Sera’s life.

As Serena Abaddon throws an arm over her stepsister’s shoulders, and Indigo Michaelson comes to sit next to Sera and me, I watch Nadia’s expression turn blank. The other girls are underworld royalty. Serena and Ziva are princesses of the mother chapter of the Black Shamrocks MC in the USA. Indigo is the daughter of the VP of the London chapter.

Seraphina’s father is one of the leaders of the US guild of La Trinitat Nova.

Then, there’s me… daughter of the Shamrocks’ Australian president, the dumped via text ex-fiancée of the VP, and the woman the SAA declared his love for a week ago then promptly started avoiding.

Nadia felt out of place even when she was dating Bear. To say that my best friend feels like she doesn’t fit in now that she’s single is an understatement. As often as I point out that she has been part of my life since we were twelve, I can’t make her understand that she’s family.

When she feels me looking at her, Nadia offers me a tight smile.

I mouth, “Love you.”

Her lips quirk, even as she tries to hide her unease from me.

“So, how have things been, little Cherub?” Serena asks. Her smile is sly and her eyes flicker with mischief as she continues. “I see you finally came to your senses and ditched the angry Tom Hardy wannabe for the still waters of the Travis Fimmel clone.”

Ziva elbows Sera, then Indi.

---