Page 11 of Fall Hard

“Hey!” I sat bolt upright and scrambled for them, trying to tug them back out of her hands. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I tried being gentle. You need to get up and get drunk with me.”

“What if I’d been naked under there?”

For the first time I caught a glimpse of her blue eyes in the light making its way in through my open door. “Nothing I didn’t already see a few nights ago.”

It felt like the air between us became weighted at her words and I frowned. “Well, you didn’t have to look.”

“Trust me, I did my best.”

I snorted, but relinquished the covers and let her drag me out into the hall where the light from the living room made me feel slightly nauseous. “Why are we drinking tequila again? Do you think I’ll let you get in bed with me like last time?”

Bryn laughed as she rummaged in the kitchen and I flopped down onto the couch, pulling the soft blanket I’d used to cover Bryn earlier up and over my legs. Well, I’d thought it was earlier, but apparently not.A full day.How was my bladder not fit to burst right now?

As soon as I had the thought I realized it actually was and I had just been tuning it out while I disassociated or whatever had been happening. It wasn’t something I’d experienced before, but the overwhelming feeling of both nothingness and hopelessness had been paralyzing. I ran to the bathroom and felt a lot more relaxed by the time I sat back down on the sofa and accepted the glass Bryn passed me.

“Talk,” she said and I raised an eyebrow as I sipped my drink. It probably wasn’t wise for alcohol to be the first thing hitting my stomach after I’d checked out, but there we were.

“About what?”

“Whatever made you stay in your room for nearly twenty-four hours straight.”

“Seriously?” She shook her head and I sipped my drink again while I let my thoughts roam. “My dad tried to call me.”

“Tried? You didn’t answer?”

“I missed it, I was in a meeting. But I guess just seeing his name brought up a lot of stuff for me on an already semi-shitty day.”

Bryn reached over and took my drink from me, taking a long swallow before passing it back and I shook my head at her bemusedly. I guess being my roommate automatically made her the kind of friend I shared my drink with. “What happened?”

I reached for the controller for the TV Jamie and Ryan had recently mounted on the wall and scrolled aimlessly through my music for some background noise. “In my meeting? They might kick me off my course for not attending. And for not submitting my assignments.”

Bryn nodded slowly as she stood and walked back into the kitchen, returning with the whole tequila bottle. “Sounds like we’re going to need a little more alcohol for this.”

I snorted but didn’t deny it. She took a swig and winced before passing it to me.

“So why did you skip?”

“I just didn’t want to go.” When she raised an eyebrow at me dubiously I shrugged. “It feels like a waste of time. The only reason I’m here instead of St Agatha’s is because they, and my parents, wanted to get rid of me. Not because I chose to be here.”

“I’m sure they didn’t—”

“They made sure I had access to my inheritance and essentially told me to have a nice life,” I interrupted and she bit her lip. “What, you don’t believe me?”

Her head snapped up and her blue eyes flashed with some unreadable emotion. “No. Of course I believe you. I’m justpissedthat anyone would do that to you, let alone your parents.”

I blinked, not expecting for her to seem so… Well, mad. “It’s okay.”

“No.” Bryn shook her head, her blonde hair swaying so that the smell of her shampoo wafted toward me. “No, it’s not okay, Liv. You deserve so much better than that.”

I wasn’t sure what to say, so I sipped some more tequila from the bottle and looked away. “Thanks?”

Quiet settled between us, not uncomfortably, and we passed the bottle back and forth without a word until we both tried to speak at the same time.

“I just feel like everything I touch turns to shit, like all my decisions are the wrong ones—”

“I’m sorry if I made things weird when I moved in—”

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