Page 14 of Scoreless Nights

“You heard me,sis.” He may have been drunk, but he still snarled when he spoke.

“Goodnight,” I snapped and started walking toward my door. I had no way of dealing with him while he was inebriated.

“Wait!” Cruz yelled. “Can you help me?”

I raised an eyebrow at him and crossed my arms, annoyed, and wishing he would just go to bed. “What?”

He waved me closer and I shuffled my feet in his direction. When I was only an arm length away, he reached out and pulled me against his chest and wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. For just a few seconds, I forgot he was drunk, and was tempted to wrap my arms around him as well. It felt like a peace offering, or starting over.

Then he spoke.

“Can you help me find my room?”

ChapterEight

Cruz

The first rule in my nightlife was to never go out and have more than two drinks. Any more than that was just asking for trouble. But the second I stepped into Rosa Sky, I threw all my rules over the edge of the high rise building we were on, and ordered three shots.

The headache I had, and my lack of memory, told me that I didn’t stop after three.No one ever does.Placing that order was the equivalent of me saying, “Fuck it,” and I didn’t want to even speculate how much I ended up having.

I was curious how I got home, though.

Without moving, I reached for my phone on my nightstand where I always left it, but I came up empty after patting around a few times. Then I checked my jeans, hoping I found it in my pocket. Still, I came up empty.

“Fuck,” I sighed, knowing I had to actually get up so I could start investigating how my night went. That would involve finding my phone, checking my bank account, looking at my camera roll, and then texting Tripp to fill in the hazy gaps.

Sitting up, I turned to hang my legs off the edge of my bed, but my right arm didn’t come with me. I tried pulling it around, but it felt like it was numb, and had no feeling. Panic started to sink in and I turned around to see if I could wake my arm up. But when I did, I realized that not only was my arm asleep, but it was also attached to Lillian.

“What the fuck?” My words were so loud that her eyes popped open and she started moving, looking around my room like she was lost. When it finally sank in, she sat up and tried pulling her left arm away from me only to find out the same thing I just had.

“Take these handcuffs off,” she croaked, almost in tears.

“How the hell did we get in handcuffs?”

She shook her head, disappointment radiating off her. “You came in drunk, and when Tripp left, you came out of your room and asked me to help you find your room.”

Oh no.

“I walked you in here and you fell trying to take off your shirt.”

I looked down and my shirt was still on, so I looked back to her and hoped she kept telling me the story–no matter how mortified I was.

“I told you to leave the shirt on and lay down so you did, but you held my hand and I fell down with you. When I started to get up, you handcuffed me and told me I wasn't allowed to go to my friend’s house.”

“Oh no,” I groaned out loud that time. “Please God no.”

“I looked for the key, but you passed out, and I gave up. Please Cruz, please, take them off of menow.”

Wiping my freehand down my face, I groaned before reaching over to our joined wrists. I grabbed the cuff wrapped around her and pushed the release button on the side. It slid right open and her jaw dropped when she realized that no key was needed.

“These are from my Halloween costume two years ago,” I confessed. “Not real.”

“You mean I could have gotten out of here without a key?” Her voice was high as she climbed onto her knees. She had on a thin tank top that showed her nipples, and I had to lay back onto the bed and put both hands over my eyes to keep from embarrassing myself further.

“Just, go,” I moaned.

She scrambled off the bed, then I heard the slamming of my bedroom door. Taking my hands to my temples, I watched as my fan circled on my ceiling, and hoped it was a sign that I was in a dream–or a nightmare. But vague memories started coming back to me, and I knew exactly why I ended up handcuffed to Lillian. I was scared to death she would leave. Whether I wanted her here, or not, I needed her to stay, and I knew I needed to apologize big time for the ass I turned into the night before.

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