Page 79 of Trigger

“Whathas gotten into you?” she said, staring at me in disbelief. “You never behavedlike this before.”

“I’msorry,” I murmured, rubbing the back of my neck. “I’m… I wasn’t thinking.”

“Whathappened?”

“I hadan awful fucking night.”

It wasan understatement. We missed the chance to catch Luz, and then I got kissedsenseless by a lunatic in a pink shirt and ripped jeans.

“I’msorry, Carter, but I need to rest,” Vic said with an apologetic look on herface. “It’s an important day for me tomorrow, and I need my beauty sleep. Youunderstand, don’t you?”

Ireprimanded myself for being an ass. “Of course. I’m sorry. I’ll go.”

Shegiggled, looking down at my crotch. “Do you want me to take care of Mr. Naughtybefore you go?”

Ifollowed her gaze, only to realize that my pants were tented. Lately, it seemedas if I had a perpetual hard-on and half the time I didn’t even notice.Honestly, what was wrong with me?

“Noneed,” I replied, trying to salvage some of my pride. “Talk to you tomorrow,yeah?”

“Ofcourse. Oh, by the way... Was Tyewith you tonight? Was he the one who gotyou so upset?”

Iforced a smile. “No. I was alone. It had nothing to do with him.”

Chapter 16

Hungover

Thorsen

Afterthe most annoying sound in the universe woke me up, I opened my eyes, blinkingagainst the sunlight streaming through the window.

Whatthe fuck was that? A car crash? An alien invasion? A nuclear detonation?

Itturned out it was only my phone.

“What?”I answered, rubbing my eyes.

“Tye?”

“Whatdo you want, Bazooka?”

“Areyou okay? Your voice sounds funny.”

“Ithink I’m in glove.”

“What?”

Thewet spot on the pillow told me I was drooling all night long. And the nausea Ifelt indicated I drank way too much last night.

“Ithink I’m in love,” I repeated, because who was I kidding?

Bazookachuckled. “Are you by any chance drunk, Tye?”

“Yeah,I probably still am, although it doesn’t make it any less true.”

AfterCarter left last night, I returned to Nirvana. I asked around for a blue-hairedguy, but no one knew a person by that description. Surprise? Not really. Peopleweren’t exactly chatty in this town. After that wild goose chase, I got drunk,drowning my sorrows in the cheap scotch until I ended up hugging a toilet bowl.

“So,what’s the problem, lover boy?” Levi said, sounding amused.

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