Page 47 of Wild Card
“I…I was just–”
“What thefuckare you doing here? You know the kind of girls that hang around places like this.” He turns his anger on her, and it makes my blood turn red fuckin’ hot.
“It’s not that kind of party. We were just hanging out; Esmé really wanted to come.”
“Oh well, if Esmé wanted to come, then that makes it okay.” He laughs at her sarcastically, and she looks at the floor. “Go get in the car, I’ll get her,” he orders, and when I see her starting to obey, I grab her by her elbow and yank her back.
“Don’t listen to him… Stay,” I tell her, not surprised by the confusion on her face; it was barely five minutes ago I was telling her to leave. I’ll just add hypocrite to my list of fuckin’ toxic traits.
“Stay out of this,” Ruby warns me, and when Brett sniggers, I grip him by the front of his crisp white shirt, ready to drop my forehead on him.
“Esmé!” Ruby shrieks, and when I follow her eyes, I see that Esmé has dropped to the floor and is shaking like she’s having a seizure. I quickly release Brett and scramble onto my knees.
“Esmé…Ash, do something.” Ruby is screaming at me, and while I quickly put the girl into the recovery position, I yell out for someone to call an ambulance.
“Ash, is she okay?” Ruby needs me to tell her everything's gonna be okay, but I can’t offer her anything right now, not with her friend convulsing and choking up froth while I hold her in position.
“Ambulance is on its way,” Cass calls out, and I look to Brett, who’s just standing and watching his sister like he’s in some kinda trance.
“Did she take anythin’?” I ask Ruby.
“Esmé? No…don’t be stupid. She’d never take anything like that.” She shakes her head. “Please do something!” she screams at me, starting to panic.
“Does she have epilepsy or is she allergic to anythin’?” I look to her brother, who just shakes his head and stays silent.
“Ruby, you sure she didn’t take anythin’? She was lookin’ pretty buzzed when you arrived.”
“Ash, I know my best friend. She wouldn’t do drugs,” she tells me sternly, crouching beside her friend and taking her hand.
“Are you sure about that?” I look up and see Moby holding a baggy of pills in one hand, and what I’m assuming is Esmé’s purse in the other. Her body jerks are starting to subside, and when I call out for a blanket, Cass rushes off to find one.
“No.” Ruby’s head shakes. “Esmé wouldn’t, she’s not stupid. She knows what's been happening.” She bursts into tears, and since her fiancé ain’t seeming to do fuck all about it, I lean over her friend and put my arm around her, showing her the comfort she needs.
“We’ll fix it, she’ll be okay,” I whisper, looking down at Esmé and saying a silent prayer that Ruby won’t have to lose another person she cares about.
“You didn’t have to come here.” Ruby looks across at me from the visitors’ room. Doctors have been working on Esmé for two hours, and I’m not liking the fact we haven't had an update yet.
“I wanna speak to her when she comes round, find out who she got those drugs from,” I tell her half the truth, and when Brett steps back inside the waiting room, I can see how pissed off he is. He’s treating what happened tonight as an inconvenience.
“This is why I don’t want you going to those fucking club parties.” He kicks one of the chairs across the room and makes her flinch.
“Hey! Your sister didn’t get those drugs from anyone at the club. I can assure you of that.” I don’t care how fuckin’ worried he is about his sister, I won’t have him badmouth the club;we’re the only ones who seem to be doing anything about this problem.
“And how do you know? You've been in this town five god damn minutes," he snarls at me.
“I’ve been here long enough to see that every member of that charter loves this town and wants nothin’ but good for it. Can your daddy say the same?” I question him, knowing that Derek Porter only ever sees dollar signs. He don’t care about the folk in this town.
“Did you get hold of your dad?” Ruby asks him, trying to calm the mood.
“No, he’s not picking up, and I don’t know how I’m gonna stop this from getting out; there were a whole lot of people at that party.” He fists his hair and starts to pace.
“Is that what you're worried about?” I question him as Ruby sinks back into her chair, rubbing at her forehead like I’m causing her some kind of headache. “Your sister could have died tonight, and you’re worried about your reputation?” I look at the guy as if he’s got something loose in his head.
I still beat myself up every fuckin’ day for the fact that I wasn’t there when my mom and sister died. This cunt has no idea how lucky he is.
“Why are you here anyway? This has nothing to do with you,” Brett snaps back at me.
“It’s a good job I am, because while you’ve been off trying to handle damage control, I’ve been making sure yourfinancée’sokay. Can’t you see how fuckin’ scared she is?” I yell, and when the door opens and Hack rushes in, he’s looking fuckin’ wild.
