Page 154 of Forbidden You

“Fine,” I huff, snapping my head back up. “Oh, no. I’m not.”

Before the last letter leaves my throat, my dinner lands between my feet. My stomach cramps in agony as I keep hurling like I just drank acid. I don’t think I’m still loving Fireball. The bitch is turning on me like everything else in life. I keep hunched forward, my throat gagging until there is no more bile left in my stomach, and I sit up with my eyes closed.

Oh, no. Don’t close your eyes, Bodi.The world spins around like one of those damn carnival rides I hate. And Kayla loves.

“I’m going inside, find a bucket to put beside his bed and make some coffee.” Jason announces, before it’s followed by footsteps moving away.

“Fuck!” I roar, keeping my eyes focused on the stars above me to keep me from falling from my chair. “Fuck!”

“I think I’m going to be sick,” I breathe, blinking to stop the sky from tumbling around me.

“You already are, buddy. Okay, come on. Let’s get you away from the water because you’re freaking me out with your swinging and swaying.”

“I’m not going to fall.” I slap Hunter’s arm away.

“You better not because you’re a grown ass man and I won’t be able to pull you out.”

“You suck,” I blurt.

They all suck. Everyone sucks. Except for Kayla.

Kayla is the best. She’s sweet. She makes me laugh. She makes me better.

“I’m going to let that one slide for now. Get your drunk ass up.”

Jensen pulls me to my feet. I growl at him, but he ignores me, guiding me back to the porch, away from the water. He pushes me to the porch steps and I rest my head against the post.

“Stay here. I’m going to get you some coffee to sober you up. Stay quiet before you wake up your uncle.”

“I’ll go and find him a hoodie or something, he’s shivering,” Hunter says.

Am I shivering? I don’t even know.

I barely acknowledge them, but when they both disappear into the house, Kayla still runs through my mind. Now that I threw up all of the contents in my body, the man with the hammer seems to hit me in the face and the pain rushes back in, my drunk sarcasm replaced by that familiar ache in my chest.

Fuck, yeah I am a little cold.

But this time, I can’t push it back, literally being too drunk to control anything. Impulsive as this Fireball shit makes me, I pull out my phone, dialing the one number I’ve been dying to dial for weeks now.

I close my eyes with my phone pressed against my ear, the dial tone acting like a lullaby as I think about my girl.

I miss her. I miss her so fucking much, it’s unbearable. It’s hell to get up in the morning. My eyes water, but this time my hand feels too heavy to brush away the tears. For weeks, I’d rather be sleeping than be awake, because at least living in my dreams is still tolerable. At least in my dreams she’s still there.

“Bodi?” If I was sober, I’d probably hear how her voice is all sleepy and gruff, but right now I just hear her voice and it’s enough to jolt my heart alive with excitement.

“Hey, baby.”

“Is everything okay? It’s the middle of the night.”

“I miss you.” I stumble over the words and she sighs. “You’re mad at me.”

“Of course, I’m mad at you, Bodi.”

“I know. I screwed up. But I miss you.” My sudden bravery scares me, wanting to shut myself up, but I can’t.Blame the fucking Fireball.

“I’m dying.” I start to sob, holding my forehead in my hand.

“What are you doing?” Before I can turn my head around, Jensen rips my phone out of my hand.

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