Page 121 of Fake Game

It takes them a second to remove them before they shine the light again. The entire time it feels like there’s a hundred elephants stampeding all over my chest, crushing me over and over again.

“Has she taken any drugs today?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

I mean, I wasn’t with her all day, so no, I wasn’t one hundred percent sure. But I’ve known Deer for years. She doesn’t even smoke weed, as far as I know.

“Sir? You won’t get into any trouble. I just need you to tell me the truth so I can help her.”

“She doesn’t take drugs.”

The two responders give each other a look.

“What? What’s wrong?”

The second responder keeps monitoring her, but the first one comes closer to the grate, using a voice that would almost be soothing if it didn’t feel like I was about to jump out of my skin. “Is there any chance someone could have slipped her drugs?”

“What?”

Ice rains down on me, causing every nerve to go haywire.

“I’m just trying to check each possibility. It could have been in a drink or maybe even food? Can you think of anything?”

“I—I wasn’t with her all day, I don’t know.”

“Okay.” She nods her head and returns to her colleague, with a hushed tone. “Call ahead and get them to prep for a tox screen. This stuff metabolizes fast.”

***

Positive.

The toxicology screen tests positive.

It takes six hours before Parker is coherent again, although the effects are still wreaking havoc on his body.

“This is the worst bloody hangover I’ve had in my life,” he groans.

Deer, however, is still asleep in the bed opposite him. Because of how much smaller she is, they think it’s going to be another couple of hours until the drug flushes from her bloodstream enough for her to come to. Lee is also out cold, sleeping in the armchair as it’s well past 1 a.m.

I continue rubbing my thumb over Deer’s knuckles, needing to remind myself that she’s here, that she’s not in danger anymore.

“Here, drink some more water.” Syd pours Parker what has to be his fourth cup in the last hour.

“No, I feel sick.”

“You need to stay hydrated.”

“That’s what the IV is for, love.”

I watch her hand grip tightly around the glass, and Parker reaches out to steady her.

“Come on, join me on the bed.”

She puts the glass down on the side table and crawls onto the bed.

“You know, this is quite the déjà vu. Two emergency hospital visits in less than six months. Maybe I should see about the family buying up one of them so we’re not giving all our money to the Harts.”

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