Page 60 of Endless December (Sleepless November Saga 2)

She reaches forward to grab her phone from my hands. As soon as she sees what text I was looking at, her eyes widen. "Kay, I can explain."

I shake my head. "No. I don't want to hear it. Take your lies and your cocaine addiction, and stay away from me."

As I go to walk out the door, she grabs my hand. "Please, don't leave."

"No! I'm serious. Stay the fuck away from me."

I rip myself from her grip and storm out of the room. I can't believe I let myself believe her. Why wouldn't she lie to me? All she ever did was get me to be like her. She's a black hole, and she pulls everyone down with her. Now I get to tell Holden that, once again, he was right.

THE NEXT DAY, I'M in the middle of making a customer's order when every phone in Dolce goes off at the same time. Everyone looks around suspiciously, including Dawson, as they pull their phones out. A familiar voice come through the speakers in stereo mode and I narrow my eyes as I wonder what’s going on. When I hand the finished coffee to the customer, he looks me up and down.

"Is this you?" He questions, clearly judging me.

He turns his phone around and on the screen, is a video of me from last year. I'm sitting in Jade's dorm room, smiling and laughing just before I snort a line of coke off the desk. Suddenly, every person in the room is looking at me and whispering to each other. The room starts to spin, and Dawson's concerned voice, along with everything else, fades into the darkness.

Chapter 21

Iwake up in Holden's bed with a pounding headache. Thoughts of earlier flood my mind, making me wish the mattress would just swallow me whole. From the panic attack I had at Dolce, to when Holden picked me up and brought me back here – feeding me my anxiety medication like a lifeline. It's like I woke up from a nightmare, but the nightmare is very real.

I wrap the blanket around myself and leave the room in hopes of finding my boyfriend. When I reach the staircase, I can hear him yelling from below.

"I don't care what you have to do. I want that video gone!" He shouts at some poor kid sitting behind a computer.

I step down the stairs quietly. "What's the point?" I ask groggily, causing everyone's heads to turn toward me. "Everybody has already seen it. Erasing it now won't do anything."

"Hey." Holden murmurs, coming over and picking me up to carry me to the couch. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I was hit by a truck." Rubbing my head, I glance at Caleb and Jason. "I'm sorry I lied to you guys."

They both wave me off dismissively, but Caleb is the one to speak. "You don't owe us anything. Everyone is entitled to their secrets."

I smile gratefully and Holden gets my attention. "We've tracked the video to Jade's phone. Apparently, she got ahold of the student directory and sent it to everyone on it."

"Of course, she did." I groan. "I knew she was a bitch, but I never expected her to do something this low."

"If she wasn't a girl, I'd kick her ass." Jason remarks.

"No." Bree's voice from the door catches us all off guard. "That slut is mine."

The sight of one of my best friends instantly has me on high alert. She's one of the few people close to me who didn't already know about my addiction. Judging by the way she's looking at me, I wish I could rewind time now more than ever.

"Bree." I gasp as I stand. "I can explain."

"Explain?!" She scoffs. "Explain what, Kayleigh? That you had this whole alternate life I knew nothing about? Or that you're supposed to be my best friend and I seem to be the only person who didn't know about this?"

Tears well up in my eyes as I try to find the right words. "That's not true. I wanted to tell you, I was just so ashamed. I didn't want you to think differently of me."

She drops her purse and walks straight into me, wrapping me in her arms as I sob on her shoulder. "Kay, I could never. People make mistakes. I just wish you had told me." She rubs her hand up and down my back. "Does this have something to do with you disappearing all summer?"

I nod as I pull my head away from her tear soaked shoulder. "Holden dropped me off at a rehab in May. I didn't get out until July."

"You're a really good boyfriend." She tells him, but then stops. "Wait, is that why you two broke up over the summer?"

As I bite my lip, my boyfriend walks over and wraps his arms around me. "We don't like to talk about that. She came back to me, and that's all that matters."

"Who are you and what have you done with Holden Rivers?" She asks, looking at him as if he's grown a second head.

THE NEXT WEEK CRAWLS by slowly. The days turn into nights as I spend every second holed up in the Kappa house. Refusing to go to any of my classes and calling out of work are the best ways I know to avoid dealing with the backlash of everyone knowing about my previous recreational activities.

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