Page 44 of Unleash You

In one beat Josh was on me, cutting all air to my lungs. Then he wasn’t. He was sprawled on Mom’s Persian rug, unconscious.

12

Since I First Kissed You

Wesley

The small muffled cry coming from the great hall set me off, and my marine training kicked in. I grabbed Josh by the collar of his suit jacket and punched him in the face. To my dissatisfaction, he fell in a heap at my feet. Glaring at him, I took several deep breaths while the anger anchored at the pit of my stomach subsided.

“Wesley?” Anabelle sounded so far away. “Why is he not moving?”

The minute she touched my shoulder, something inside me diffused. I turned to her, surveying her face, searching for injuries or bruises. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just grossed out, really. Are you okay?” She reached for my cheek with a painful look in her eyes.

I wrapped my arms around her. Josh fooled all of us into letting our guards down. What if I had decided to go home instead of staying put and suffering through another hour of his dull conversation?

“What happened?” Rebecca rushed in and halted a few steps away from Josh. She frowned at his lifeless body, but other than that, showed no signs of surprise. “It’d be nice to be wrong once in a while.”

“He was on top of Anabelle when I came in. Jesus Christ, I was gone for only a few minutes. Where were you? Where’s Zack?” I released my hold on Anabelle. Now that my brain was working again, I could see we had a long night ahead of us. We had to get rid of the congressman.

“I was in the kitchen helping your mom.” She bit her lip and released a breath. “Zack carried her home.”

“What?” Anabelle pulled away. Her gaze darted from Josh to Rebecca. “What did you do?”

“After dinner she had a bit of a dazed look in her eyes. I followed her to the kitchen and talked her into sitting down. She fell asleep on the upholstered bench under the window. Zack checked her and said she was fine. It’s just a sleeping tea.”

“Sleeping? You mean unconscious.” I pointed at Josh, who was so still he seemed not to be breathing.

“I would’ve stopped him from drinking it if I thought he was here to help you. The look on his face was all I needed to see to know I’d done the right thing.” She pointed at the tea set on the coffee table. “I spiked your mom’s brew before the congressman got here.”

“What the fuck, Rebecca? That’s not what we agreed on. This was Anabelle’s call.”

Anabelle placed a hand on my chest. “Wesley, it’s okay. Rebecca saved me.”

“I saved you.”

“Well, he was already sort of out when you yanked him off me.” She wiped her mouth and glanced back at the sofa. “I feel so stupid. A part of me wanted to believe he meant well, that he wanted to help. Now we have a lot of explaining to do and no visas.”

“I’m sorry.” I squeezed her fingers.

“Me too.” She furrowed her brows, then strode to Josh and pressed her foot to his shoulder to flip him over. “How long do we have?”

“Someone with his medium build? About four hours. Your mom might be out all night.” She winced. “I’m sorry about that. She didn’t drink much of it. I don’t think.”

“I’m sorry we drugged your mom.” Anabelle met my gaze.

“You can apologize to her in the morning. Right now, this asshole is our priority.” I pointed at Josh.

Rebecca stepped forward, a sheepish look on her face. “Neither one of them will remember anything. I think the best thing to do is to just tell them they had too much to drink and that they went home right after dinner.”

“I’m not even going to ask how you know so much about this special tea.” Zack sauntered into the room, carrying his medical bag.

His job in South Africa required him to make home visits. We were lucky to have him. “How’s Mom?” I asked when he bent over to check Josh’s vitals.

“Heart rate is slow but stable.” He peered at Rebecca. “What exactly is in that tea?”

“Coke leaves and other herbs.” She shrugged.

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