Page 24 of Unexpected

“Thank you,” she whispered.

I smiled to myself, closed her door carefully, and jumped into the driver’s side. I turned the air a little higher and prayed we could make it without her vomiting all over my truck.

“Hazel, where do you want me to take you?” There was only one place I felt confident enough that she’d be safe, especially in her drunken state, but I resisted the urge to be a demanding alpha dick and asked politely instead.

“Nearest hotel,” she murmured, half-awake.

“Yeah, that’s not happening. Try again.”

She opened her eyes enough to attempt to glare at me. It was a weak attempt, but she tried. “Well,” she began as she sat up straighter and cleared her throat. “You can’t take me home, so a hotel it is.”

“You’re being difficult. I said no. Now, try again.” For the moment, I ignored the comment about her not being able to go home. That would be a conversation for tomorrow when she wasn’t drunk.

“There’s nowhere else for me to go, and I just want to sleep. A hotel is my best bet.” Her head lolled to the side as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

“I’m not going to just dump you at a hotel when you’re shit-faced. If you choke on your vomit and die, it’ll forever be on my conscience.”

She sighed deeply and finally conceded. “Fine. Take me wherever.”

My house it was. We were already pulling down our street anyway, and of course, fuckface was planted in a chair on their front porch. He was smoking a cigar and twirling a tumbler full of amber-colored liquor in his other hand. He eyed my truck as I silently prayed that the garage was clean enough for me to pull straight in.

I pressed the garage door button and carefully maneuvered my truck inside. It was a tight fit, but I eased in until my bumper almost touched the back wall, and I was able to close the garage door behind us. I held my breath until the door closed. When the light from the streetlights disappeared behind the closed door, I hopped from the truck.

Hazel was semicoherent and was able to unbuckle her own belt as I opened the door. She swung her legs around and set her bare feet on the running board. Her heels were discarded on the passenger floorboard, and as I went to grab them, she tried to step down out of the truck only to fall into me. Her face hit my chest, and she groaned at the impact.

Hazel did not seem like the type of person to get absolutely shit-faced without a proper plan of getting home in place. As I wrapped my arms around her and lifted her, I knew there was only one person that could have done something bad enough to elicit this reaction from her. Whatever he had done—and even if it wasn’t him, I decided, although it was unlikely to be anyone but him—I was going to beat his ass for it. Fuck being the nice guy if it meant she got hurt.

Hazel was light, and I was able to easily grab her bag, shut the door and get us inside while she wrapped her arms around my neck and settled into my chest. Her hair had fallen over her face, but she sighed against my neck. Through the short hallway, I passed the living room and opened the door to the guest bedroom.

“Fuck.” Josh had decided to clean out the closet that was filled with most of his shit earlier in the day. The contents of the closet had been scattered over the guest bed, and I didn’t have the time nor the desire to clean it up.

Since I sure as hell wasn’t just going to leave her on the couch, I continued down the hall to my bedroom. I laid her on the edge of the bed, and she released her arms from around my neck with a groan.

Sadie entered the room behind me and promptly jumped on the bed to snuggle right next to Hazel.

I grabbed the comforter I discarded at the end of the bed that morning but paused before I pulled it around her. Hazel’s shirt had fallen in the front and exposed her black lacy bra. Her tits were straining against the fabric and were begging to be released. Even in her drunken stupor, the woman was a fucking siren and my dick stirred to life.

She looked peaceful in my bed, and I had to admit, I’d thought about that before. Although Hazel wasn’t blackout drunk the way I’d imagined it, I had given the idea of her in my bed more thought than I’d ever admit aloud. Her little spitfire personality and smart mouth—whether I acted like it pissed me off or not—made her even more desirable.

I pulled her top up slightly until at least her bra was covered before I laid the comforter over her. It had been ages since I had taken care of a drunk woman, and I would’ve preferred to never think about the time before, so it took me a minute to remember what else I needed to do.

I retrieved the trash can from the bathroom and placed the bottle of pain reliever and a cup of water on the nightstand. Content with my setup, I whispered for Sadie to follow me out of the room. I figured I’d grab the couch, although the thought of kicking Josh out of his bed since he’d left a big-ass mess on the guest room bed was enough to make me chuckle.

Sadie eyed me and gave me a look that said she wasn’t leaving, so dejected and kind of interested that my dog picked Hazel over me, I cracked the door and headed to the living room.

It was well past midnight when my head finally hit the pillow. I was pissed that something happened to make Hazel drink herself into oblivion, but a part of me was also at peace knowing that at least for one night, she was under my roof where I knew nothing bad would happen to her.

TWELVE

Hazel

I’m dead,was my first thought when I woke up the next morning—on my birthday, no less—with the worst, world-shattering headache I’d ever had. But then I realized death would have been peaceful with (hopefully) no pain and would have been a million times better than the torture I was being subjected to in that moment.

These were all my thoughts before I even opened my eyes, which I realized was going to be much more difficult than usual when I tried to peel my eyelids apart and my stomach rolled with nausea.

With the option of opening my eyes to puke up the entire contents of my stomachorkeep them closed in the soft, comfortable bed, the choice was easy as I snuggled back in.

I lay as still as I could manage while I tried to force my headache to go away. I was able to lay there for a couple of minutes and compose myself, believing I could manage to move when something licked my face. Right up my cheek, from my jaw to my hairline, leaving behind a wet mess.

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