Page 6 of This Is Love
At Logan’s reassurance, my stomach heaves, and I retch. And the hell of it is, I feel too awful to acknowledge the mortification rolling through me.
“You’re okay. We’ve got you. Take another sip, but this time spit it out.”
Half-confused again, his nickname falls from my lips on a pathetic whisper. “Lo?”
“Yeah. I’m here, baby.”
“We both are, pretty girl.” The voice that is usually so smooth and charming is anything but.
“Ja-Jaxon?”
“Yep,” he whispers roughly from behind me. The mattress shifts as he gets up, and a few seconds later, the sound of running water meets my ears. I’m so tired, I feel myself drifting. It’s not until the bed dips again that my eyes flicker open.
Logan presses his lips to my forehead. “There she is.” He lets out a cautious sigh of relief, his blue eyes studying me.
“Was there an accident or something?” I blink rather heavily before focusing on him again. Words scrape and pull, leaving my throat raw as they try to exit. “I don’t understand. You’re both here. Why? What happened?”
Logan’s jaw is rigid as he slowly nods. “We are.”
“Rya,” Jaxon says hesitantly, “we think you were slipped something at the party.”
I blink as Jaxon’s words hit me in the chest.Slipped something?“Party?” I croak out, my brows drawing together as I unsuccessfully attempt to bring memories to the forefront of my mind. But… there’s nothing.
“Tri-Beta.” Logan’s voice is soothing as he brushes a hand down my arm.
My lip trembles. “I-I don’t remember.”
A breath gusts from Jaxon before he murmurs, “They had us playing another of their fucking stupid games. We weren’t going to go in, but Hazel was already drunk and wouldn’t listen. She ran inside and you went in after her. I followed.”
Fuck, why can’t I remember any of this? I try to put on a brave face, but I’m crumpling fast on the inside. “W-what kind of game?”
Logan’s eyes dart over my shoulder, and while I usually read him well, I don’t understand the look he exchanges with Jaxon. Shifting, I roll to my back so I can see them both, and I check Jaxon’s face for any clue I’m missing. He grips the back of his neck with one hand and tugs a few times. “One of those dumbass games—Seven Minutes in Heaven. Only, they called it Seven Minutes in Tri-Beta Hell.”
When I don’t respond with more than confusion, Logan wets his lips, continuing the explanation. “You know. Stick two people in a closet for seven minutes and see what shenanigans go down? I, uh… I was there, too. With Levi. Trip put his own twist on it, though. Handed out instruction cards for each pair as they went in… and offered money if we admitted to following through with what was on the card when we exited.” He picks up my hand, pressing his lips to the back of it.
I don’t think I’m imagining it when Logan’s eyes flick to Jaxon’s again, and his jaw tenses.
Jaxon shoots me a clenched smile. “You and Hazel were selected, by the way. According to her, you’re a good kisser.”
“We were?” My face heats as I dig around for a nonexistent memory. “Um. I am?”
Shrugging, a grin tugs at Logan’s lips. “You both admitted to doing it”—he cringes—“but now Hazel is the only one who knows if that was the truth or just a way to get Trip to cough up a couple hundred bucks. No one would blame you if that were the case.”
I blink, my eyes widening as I look back and forth between the two of them. Bemused, I huff out a weak laugh. “I have no idea if that happened.” Pulling my bottom lip between my teeth, I wonder what else happened that I’m unaware of. Whatever went down, I guess I’ll hear more about it in the hours anddays to come… And how awkward is that? I fight off a wave of apprehension. I feel it edging ever closer.
As if they both sense the revelation that I’ve been drugged is too much for me, they pull back without even discussing it, choosing to tell me about mostly inconsequential events. There’s no doubt there are things they aren’t telling me. “You’re both being so nice.”
I’m in the process of sucking up the courage to ask them to give me more details when a knock on the door interrupts us, and my still-spinning head registers a nurse coming in. I vaguely remember seeing her earlier.Maybe. She glances at the IV before turning to the computer at the side of the room and picking up some sort of scanner. She turns back to me and smiles. “Can you give me your name and birth date?”
I blink as she scans the code on the wristband I hadn’t noticed I’m wearing. “Um, sorry, my head feels like I’m sludging through mud.”
“Take your time.”
“Rya Lynn Monroe. September 2, 2005.”
She nods. “Excellent. Rya, you took a pretty good hit to your head, and I’m sure your mind isn’t the clearest yet, so I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Jennifer, one of the nurses who has been assisting you since you arrived in the ER.”
Confused, I reach up, for the first time recognizing my head hurts worse on my right side near my hairline. My fingers fumble for a second, grazing a bandage. I squeeze my eyes shut and exhale hard.
