Page 23 of Phantom Faceoff
The bed dips beside me, the blanket gets pulled away, and Tessa’s fingers card through my hair.
“It sounds like drunk you might be a little kinky.” Her voice is light and playful, but it immediately triggers a memory of last night.
Malachi’s hard, gray stare and how it set a kaleidoscope of butterflies free in my stomach.
I asked if I could call him Daddy.
I yank the comforter back above my head, and Tessa’s bright laugh fills the room.
“Oh, you sweet, goofy, airhead.”
I blindly smack my hand out from beneath the covers, but that only makes the laughter worse.
“How about I run down to the kitchen and find something you can stomach? Let you marinate in your misery?”
I would glare if I didn’t think it would make me puke.
Left to my own devices, every embarrassing detail of the previous night comes back to me, and I don’t know how I’m ever going to live it down.
Julian is going to be pissed I let it slip that I know about their little joke. Blanchard is going to have ammunition on me for as long as Julian and I are hooking up.
He’ll be insufferable.
When my head clears enough that I feel I can look at my phone and not lose all the acid in my stomach, I feel for it under my pillow and turn the brightness all the way down.
A few messages from Ellis and Asher. A very threatening “shut up and get well” from Micky.
It’s Julian’s name that makes me smile, even if it irritates my headache.
Julian
Mal told me you aren’t feeling well. Take it easy. Maybe if you’re up for it, I’ll stop by after class.
Me
Do I get a magic, feel better kiss?
Julian
Look who’s alive! Idk. Depends on if you’ve been acquainted with a toothbrush.
Me
I’m not contagious. And I’ll empty a whole tube of toothpaste and a pack of gum if it gets me your company.
Julian
Classy. We’ll see. You might have to settle for some cuddles.
Me
Sounds perfect. It’s a date.
“You look like shit,” Micky says when he comes back to the room a couple of hours later.
Tess and I are sitting on my bed, scrolling through TikTok, and I give him my best deadpan expression.
“You left me to the wolves.”
