Page 78 of Misery and Ecstasy

He’s not asking.

The problem isn’t that I don’twantto go. It’s that I’m soterrifiedof what they might find if they look hard enough, I can barely move. I know something is wrong. I can feel it in my bones. It’s more than the migraines I’ve had throughout my life. It feels like something has invaded my body.

“Jesus, you’re worse than my mother.”

That pisses him off, and he breaks out the big guns.

“If you don’t get your sexy ass outside and in my carnow, I’ll call your mother and tell her everything.”

Narrowing his eyes at me, he hits me with the one threat that he knows will make me fold. When I spoke to my mother earlier this week, I told her I’d had a migraine and gotten medicine from the doctor. It wasn’t a lie, and it was as close to the full truth as she was going to get.

Before I’m able to properly yell at him for fighting dirty, even at the risk of making my pain worse, a reprieve in the form of my best friend comes waltzing into my house.

“Hello? McK?”

Draven’s shoulders drop, sighing heavily at the sound of Olivia’s voice coming from downstairs.

“Hey, Liv! Come on up!”

Draven mutters something under his breath, but I can’t make out what it is.

“What’s going on? Oh. Hi, Draven.” Lips pursed like she just sucked on a lemon, she does nothing to hide her irritation upon seeing him. He crinkles his nose at hersurprise,as if she wouldn’t have seen his car outside.

“Nothing. What are you doing here?” I can feel the anger floating off Draven and in my direction the longer I ignore him.

“I was passing through and thought I’d surprise you. See how you were doing this morning.”

Olivia is not the type to pop in unexpectedly. Between her demanding jobandthe fact that she knows how much I hate unscheduled visits, I’d bet any amount of money she came by to check on me. Despite my countlessall goodtexts I’ve been sending her.

“She’s not good.” Olivia’s eyes cut to Draven as he throws me under the bus. “Maybe you can talk some fucking sense into her.”

“What do you mean?” She questions Draven before turning her attention back to me. “What is he talking about?”

Before I can answer, my vision blurs. It only lasts for a second before clearing again. I blink a few times to make sure it’s truly gone before I answer her.

“Well, Iwasfeeling a little better…” I look away from her before I finish. “But not anymore.”

“Yeah,andshe refuses to fucking listen to me and let me take her back to the ER.” Draven meets Olivia’s gaze, trying to lure her onto his side.

“Well, what do you expect when that’s how you talk to her?”

My eyes dart between the two of them, knowing this is about to erupt into something more. Whatever, they can go at one another. Anything to take the spotlight off of me.

“What the hell does that mean?” Draven rounds on Olivia, one hand flying to his hip, holding the other up in question.

“First of all, you can’t just order her to doanything. That’s something you’d realize if you’d known her for more than five god damn minutes.”

“I’ll order her to doanythingthat’s necessary for her health!”

“You guys, stop arguing.Please.” Neither of them hear me, my words coming out as weak as my body is beginning to feel.

Something isn’t right.

“That’s something you could stand to learn aboutme.” Draven huffs then grows quiet.

Olivia, on the other hand, isn’t finished with her tirade.

“Second of all, you need to learn how to talktopeople, notatthem.”

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