Page 12 of Fury

Forget waiting.

“Looks like we’re going to Abu Dhabi.”

* * *

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Her head was splitting in two. Alcohol intolerance was no joke.

“You sure you’re okay?” Leila asked, swaying to the left as the limo transporting them turned the corner to Hollyn’s home.

“Here.” Archie leaned forward and rested a hand on the seat, too close to Hollyn’s thigh. He gave her a tissue before sitting back, and she blew her nose.

It felt like the five hundredth time. She didn’t even want to see what her face looked like right now. Likely something akin to a firetruck. “I’m good. It’s just going to take a while to wear off.”

She’d been through this once before. On her twenty-first birthday, she’d had a brandy with Dad. An extreme reaction and hospital trip later, she’d found out she was allergic to any and allspirits, as Dad liked to refer to them.

She’d never had another drink in her life. Till now. In the chaos of Leila’s friends and their drink orders on the private jet back to Abu Dhabi, there’d been a mix-up. The glass Hollyn had been given had had no Shirley anddefinitelyno Temple. She should have caught that it was a different drink, but sleep deprivation from the long night before had already been playing tricks on her mind. All she’d wanted was her bed and about twelve hours of sleep.

“So sorry, girl.” Leila’s velvety tone was sincere. “Things were just nuts up there.”

Hollyn waved off her friend’s concern. Blew her nose again. Her head swam and stomach twisted. She considered telling the driver to pull over because she was about to be sick, but they were less than a block from her parents’ villa—and her attached apartment.

Hold on, stomach.

She couldnotget sick in Leila’s limo.

“You look a little green,” Archie observed with a slight wince.

Oh good. Red and green. She was just ten months early for Christmas.

Her stomach coiled and heartbeat picked up as Leila’s driver slowed to a stop in front of the modern, two-story mansion she’d called home for the last handful of years. White, with several tall windows, a four-car garage, and a small, highly manicured lawn, it was expansive. Contemporary. Much more stark than the log home back in America, where she’d spent her formative years.

Hollyn gripped the door handle. Told herself all she had to do was get inside and lie down. With probably one stop before the lying down part to visit the porcelain throne. She stepped outside, followed by Leila and Archie, and the driver removed her recently purchased bag of clothes.

Archie gave her a hug. For someone with such a thin frame, he constantly surprised her with his strength. “If you need anything, just call me, okay?”

“Will do.” Hollyn gave him a weak smile. Turned. She was about two seconds from losing control over her stomach but didn’t want to be rude. “Thanks for a fun weekend, Lei.” She went to hug her friend, but Leila was staring at the front porch, mouth agape.

“Who isthattall glass of water?” Her friend slid her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose, making no effort to hide her interest.

Hollyn frowned. Looked to see who Leila was talking about. Froze.

Tall. Dark. Handsome as ever. Was that . . .

It was. Here. At her home. But why?

“Davis?” Maybe she was hallucinating. Was that a sign of an alcohol allergy and sleepiness too? She felt the world sway and wasn’t sure it had anything to do with her bad reaction to alcohol.

He pushed his broad shoulder off the smooth plaster wall he’d been leaning against. A scowl clouded his handsome features beneath his baseball cap. Tree-like arms folded across his chest as he stood next to a huge duffel bag. And—she squinted, stumbled forward—was that adog?

Definitely had to be hallucinating.

Holograph Davis started to talk to her, but the words came out like something from a Charlie Brown movie. Her stomach had had enough waiting. She felt the contents rising and lurched forward, throwing up in the bushes lining the stone path.

Mid retch, two thoughts sloshed around her mind. When was the ground going to stop swaying? Andwhyhad Davis chosen the most humiliating of moments to come waltzing back into her life?

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