Page 34 of Attraction

“Just gone eight…”

She opens her eyes wide in surprise and sitting bolt upright, she leans forward forcing herself to her feet. Then, realizing quickly that was a bad move, she sits back down. Her voice fills with a tone of tense panic. “Shit …I need to get dressed. I can’t believe you let me sleep in like this. Oh God…” She rubs again at her head. “Jackson! He’s going to have a field day with me. How can I have been so stupid?Fuck…!” She’s as much confused as she is panicked by the lateness of the hour.

“Hey, just relax okay! No one’s expectin’ you to go anywhere. But really, you don’t remember what went on?”

“Remember… remember what?” Her question is tinged with a hint of dread and she’s anxious as she tries to imagine how it’s possible that she drank enough to feel the way she does—groggy and hungover with no memory of what went on.

“Do you remember drinkin’ with Munroe?”

“Mmmm… Munroe? Yeah.” She nods. “Yeah um… yeah kinda. I… remember he went to the bar and then… actually, then I don’t know. Sorry.” She sighs, confused; his questions have a surreal weirdness to them.

“It’s okay. The guy’s an asshole. Look don’t worry. But just so you know… well, he slipped you amickey—spikedyour drink. That’s why you’re feelin’ so bad. You really don’t remember any of it? About leavin’ the bar and going outside?”

“God…no!” She gasps, worried. Her mind’s racing, trying to make sense of what might have happened to her. “Wait… what are you sayin’? Did hedosomething to me?” She searches for scraps of memory. Anything that will let her piece together the events of last night and make sense of what happened. “Are you sure? All I remember is him getting me a drink but…” Now she looks down at her clothing and can see she’s wearing one of Ryan’s tee-shirts, but also still wearing her bra underneath. “Did he… I mean… do I…” She swallows nervously. “Do I need to see a doctor?”

“No.” He crouches on his knees in front of her, shaking his head, taking a hold of her hand in his. “No, don’t worry, we got to you before he could do anything,” he says with some air of assurance. “Just don’t worry, it’s all been taken care of.He’sbeen dealt with.”

“Shit…” She gasps. Again her eyes meet with his. She’s filled with questions and her confused discomfort is obvious. He smiles, wrapping his larger hand around hers, stroking his thumb gently over her knuckles—reassuring her.

There’s a creak as the front door opens, and as is usual for the team, Zak lets himself in without knocking. “Hey, so how’re things?”

“Yeah, we’re good.” Digby presses the glass of juice in her hand. He and Zak exchange matching looks of concern. “Just drink some juice, you’re gonna be fine.”

She nods. Quietly sipping at the cold orange, her hands are shaking so much that it’s a struggle to hold it. A gurgling surge of emotions builds in the back of her throat and she feels sick.

Not for the first time this week, her usual sense of control has been taken away. But not being able to remember and losing all track of time is a horrid feeling and not one she’s used to. She hates it. She hates herself for getting into that situation, wondering if she encouraged him? Gave him the wrong signals? Maybe she was being too nice?

Frowning, she sighs, looking to Digby and Zak for the answers she doesn’t have. “Should I report him? I mean to command or someone like Edwards? What do you think?” She looks pitiful and asking them for help, she feels it. This really has not been the positive start to the week she hoped for when she arrived. “I can’t remember anything… it’s gonna be my word against his, right? But I guess maybe I should? I mean, I need to make sure he doesn’t do it again to someone else.”

“I told you, it’s’ all good and that it’s been taken care of.” Digby drops a look to Zak. “We‘handled’it!”

“Handled it?” She frowns, staring at the pair of them. “What does that mean? What did you do?” She waits for a response and she can see his hesitation. “Ryan, I said what did you do? Oh, God, you didn’t…” She gasps. “Please tell me he’s alive?”

“Yeah… yeah, he’s alive. Though, he sure as hell wouldn’t be if it were left to me. Look, Darius just…talkedwith him.” Digby sighs, carefully wording what he says to her. He checks with Zak before he continues, “he’s gonna resign his commission—today, so he’ll be gone, and he won’t be coming near you or anyone else again. You have my word, okay?”

She nods, sipping again at the juice, trying to quell the acidic bile that rushes from her stomach to the back of her throat. Taking long and slow breaths, she hopes to contain the nauseous feeling that’s flooding her mouth.

Her mind’s racing, desperately trying to recall something, anything, of last night, but she can’t. It makes her head spin, and she really is about to vomit. “Sorry I… I need the bathroom.” Clamping her hand to her mouth, she gags and scurrying to her feet, she sways unsteadily. Digby tries to help but she balks at his well-meaning offer, abrasively rejecting him. Needing his help is something she’s unable to accept right now. He’s helped enough. She pushes him away. “Get the hell off me. I’m fine, I can manage by myself.” Pulling away, she closes her eyes and takes a moment to regain her balance.

Apologizing, he lets her go. He and Zak watch, powerless to help, while she unsteadily feels her way along the hall to the bathroom, using the wall for support.

A collective sigh from the pair shows their frustration as all they can do now is helplessly listen to the sound of her retching over and over.

* * *

There’s a lull, and it goes quiet. Then the sound of water flowing—Kat taking a shower.

Digby rakes his fingers through his hair, wishing he had something more to offer—something to undo what happened. “You know, I can’t believe he did this to her. I swear to God if I get my hands on him again…”

“Diggs, she’ll be fine. It’s just the after-effect of themickey. That was some pretty potent stuff, but once it’s outta her system she’ll be back firin’ on all cylinders. For now, she’s just gotta ride it out.” He frowns. Digby’s unusually worried and Zak’s concerned because it’s not like him—not over a woman. “Look man, while she’s in there, there’s somethin’ else we need to talk about.” He looks to the hallway and still hearing the water—her still in the shower—it’s a good thing. “Ozzie picked this up last night.”

Zak hands Digby a cell-phone from the back pocket of his pants. “Whose is this?” He frowns.

“Munroe’s.” He cocks his eyebrow. “I wanna know what you want me to do with it?” Digby frowns, confused by the question. Zak again apprehensively checks the hallway as the sound of water has now stopped. “Look, I managed to… unlock it and, well, he’s… he’s gotphotoson there—a lotof photos!”

“Photos?Photos of what?”

Hushing his voice, Zak frowns, gesturing his hand toward the bathroom.

---