Page 170 of There's No Us Without You
Whoops.
Before I can scramble out of his reach, Will launches at me and pins me to the bed, his hands wrapping around my wrists until pain shoots down my arms.
It does nothing to stem my once-again growing arousal.
A growl rumbles from his chest while he runs his nose up my neck, breathing me in. “You keep being a brat, Eden, and you won’t leave this bed for a week.”
With a quick kiss to my lips, he’s gone again, and I’m left panting on the mattress in a starfish position.
Can you die from being aroused for too long?
Will called me a brat. I’ve learned it’s a submissive who likes to push buttons. Hell, I definitely like to push Will’s buttons.
And if it makes him tie me up and make me his sex slave, then I’ll be the biggest brat he’s ever had.
Before I contemplate more ways to make Will angry, I need to shower. I’m not sure how long I spent in my own head just now, but the water in the bathroom is no longer running, which tells me Emerson is finished, so I head in that direction and grab a towel from the linen cupboard on the way.
When I turn the handle to open the door, I’m almost shoved backwards.
“Fuck.” Emerson attempts to push the door closed again. “Don’t you knock?”
“Em, I’m so sorr— What are those?” I blink at the scattered little white pills on the vanity and floor.
Emerson scrambles to pick them up, shoving them back into the small plastic zip-lock bag in his hands. “Nothing,” he says. “Just painkillers.”
I pick one up, recognising the imprint. “Oxy?”
He darts a glance in my direction, not really meeting my eyes. “So?”
“These are hardcore,” I say, placing the pill into Emerson’s waiting palm. “My mum got addicted to these a few years ago.”
“Well, I know what I’m doing, okay? You don’t have to worry.” His tone is off, his annoyance towards me prickling the hairs on the back of my neck.
“Wait.”
It hits me.
How could I have not realised? They don’t look like he got them from a prescription.
I grab his arm, forcing him to look at me. “Is this because of your knee?”
“It’s fine,” he says, then gives me a quick kiss on the top of my head and ducks around me. “Like I said, you don’t need to worry.”
The bathroom door slams shut seconds later, making me jump. I guess it explains his mood swings. And those times when he goes quiet and his eyes get that vacant look.
Emerson telling me not to worry... is making me worry. I’ve seen the damage they can do. My mum almost had to be admitted into a rehab clinic because of them.
She also has a shitty personality. I wish there was something to be done about that.
Maybe I should say something to Will? Or maybe he already knows, and I’d just be sticking my nose into Emerson’s business where it’s not welcome.
Or he doesn’t know. I doubt he’d let Emerson keep taking them if he did. They’re addictive. And can destroy lives.
So where the hell is he getting them?
My shoulders sag, and my stomach sinks as realisation settles in my bones.
There’s only one person I know of close enough to Emerson to supply him with drugs—one who told me he was clean.
