Page 41 of Jayce

I clutch the water bottle, aspirin, and both foul hangover cures he’d made to my chest.

“Do you want some help?” he offers.

“No, I’ll manage.”

I stand outside the door, realizing I don’t have a hand to open it with.

Anjal walks over. With his hand on the knob, he drops his head. “I don’t know what to do. I want to fix this.”

“It’s new for me, too. We’ll be okay. Eventually.”

I step into the dark room he’d opened for me. It’s even darker once he shuts the door behind me.

“Anjal?” Priscilla croaks, with the duvet pulled up over her head.

“It’s me.”

She flips the covers down and cracks an eyelid in my direction. She groans, rolling over to turn the lamp on next to the bed.

“I’ve got aspirin, water, and something that we probably shouldn’t consume. Which do you want first?”

“As bad as I feel—I’ll risk the one not for consumption.”

After she shimmies and slides her body until she’s in the upright position, I hand her the toxin.

I set the water and pills on the nightstand.

“Bottoms up,” I squeak before choking mine down too.

I suppress the urge to vomit the contents back up.

“Ugh, what was in that?” she asks.

“Anjal wouldn’t tell me.”

She nods and pats the bed next to her. I move the blanket and slide in beside her.

“So, Jamie, huh?”

She looks at me and brunches her eyebrows. “He came? I didn’t dream it?”

I grab her hand. “He came.”

She gasps and leans forward as if remembering something.

“What is it, Cill?”

She falls back against the headboard. “It’s nothing. I’m not even sure.”

I let it go for now.

“I guess we should talk about Emjay,” she broaches.

“We have to.” I’d like to forget about her and all the horrors she told us, but I know I can’t.

“Do we forgive her?”

I shake my head. “We forgive, but we don’t have to like her just yet.”

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