Page 11 of Pick Your Poison

Five

Lilith

I’m cold.

That’s immediately apparent as I start to shift from a deep sleep to wakefulness.

I move my fingers, then my arms. My entire body is heavy and tired. I blink open my eyes as a rush of memories from last night ricochet off my subconscious and into the forefront of my mind; and I bolt upright, looking around quickly, unsure if I’m even in my bed.

It takes a moment to comprehend, but the soft, purple comforter and gentle hum of my radio in the corner confirms that I am home.

How the hell did I get here?

I scrub my hand over my face then pull my cell phone from the nightstand. It’s plugged in and fully charged. I push the blankets off my lap and I’m no longer dressed in the tight, body con dress from last night. I’m in a pair of sweats and a tank top.

I am just rising from my bed when my cell rings in my hands; the loud ring startles me so much I nearly drop the phone.

I slide my thumb over the screen, answering the call without even looking to see who it is.

“Hello?”

“Oh my god! I was thirty seconds from beating that door down over there. Are you okay?” Callie says, with obvious worry in her voice.

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” I cradle the phone between my shoulder and my ear and make my way out to the kitchen.

“I’ve been calling you all morning to check on you. I needed to make sure you didn’t get murdered last night.”

I look around, again, then I mumble to myself, “Carter must have brought me home.”

“Carter? Who’s Carter?” she tests his name a little. “Wait, hang on… You don’t remember getting home last night? How much did you drink?”

“That’s the thing, I only had three drinks then a glass of champange.”

“Did he give you anything? Water or food?”

“No, nothing at all. I mean, he gave me the champagne but I watched him get it from a passing waitress.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” she asks, and it’s certainly the question of the morning.

I lay my head back on the cushion of my sofa, and try to think back on the night once I stepped through the large wooden doors with Carter.

It doesn’t take long before the sordid, hedonistic memories come in flashes, but jumbled a bit, not making much sense.

Bodies writhing, sweat, sex, biting, and pain. Pleasure like I’ve never felt before from his hands on me, but with a searing sting when his lips would leave my skin.

“Did you have sex with him?” she asks.

“I… honestly… I don’t think we had sex, but I think we… hooked up in a way. I’m just having a hard time putting the pieces together.”

“I don’t like that, babe. That makes me worried that he did something.”

“But I feel okay, and I don’t feel like anything bad happened to me, I just… I’m missing pieces, that’s all. It’s confusing.”

“I’m just glad you’re okay. If something had happened to you, I’d make whoever hurt you beg for their life.”

A shrill, terrified scream followed by begging whimpers that I hadn’t remembered hearing last night—until right now—ignites in my memory like an electric shock.

“Callie, I’m going to have to call you back.”

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