Page 41 of The Switch: A Friends To Lovers Romance

Wait… if her keys weren’t where she usually kept them did that mean she hadn’t driven home last night?

Ashanti moved to the window and drew the curtain back. Her eyes flickered to the empty driveway where she kept her car. The gravel path and her grandmother’s precious hibiscus bushes were all that met her eye.

Uh-oh.

With no time to spare, she grabbed her purse, locked the house and ran to the bus stop. The bus was already beginning to move off when she turned the curve. Ashanti waved her arms and shouted like a maniac.

The driver, mercifully, slowed down so she could catch a ride. She offered him a smile for his kindness and then ducked her head as all the passengers stared at her. Her feet shuffled along the narrow aisle until she found a seat at the back.

Ashanti plopped down and stared outside the window. Coconut trees stood straight up like soldiers guarding the boulevard. Thick traffic snaked its way over the bridge as people took their children to school or headed to work.

She tapped her forehead against the bus window. As the coolness of the glass pane seeped into her skin, she winced.

What did I do last night?

The thought swirled around like a never-ending carousel.

She wasn’t the type of person who got drunk.

Ashanti had stumbled into the house smelling of liquor once when she was eighteen. Her grandmother had grabbed her and whipped her so hard that she’d avoided alcohol for the next four years.

The bus slowed down to go over a speed bump. She squeezed her fingers and pushed the swell of vomit away with a swallow.

Gosh, being hangover was terrible. How did people go back to drinking after waking up to this?

Ashanti gritted her teeth and tried not to self-bash too much. It wasn’t so much the getting drunk as it was the blacking out that upset her. Anything, literally anything, could have happened last night and she wouldn’t know.

The mystery threatened to drive her crazy. Ashanti pulled out her phone to text Luke and ask for details when the bus stopped to accept more passengers and someone swooped into the seat beside her. She smiled at the young woman and slipped her phone back into her purse.

Ten minutes later, she waved at Byron and headed to the elevator inside the Madalon building. The lift was filled with workers from the other floors and she was squashed in the back for most of the ride.

It was a relief to elbow her way to the front and walk into her office.

All her co-workers were present today and she slipped her sunshades on before greeting them by name. Ruth sent her a funny look, but no one else seemed to question the glasses.

No one… except Tara.

“What are those for?” Her friend tugged on the shades. “We’re inside.”

Ashanti fought her back. “Leave them on.”

“Relax, Ash. There’s nothing you need to hide from me… whoa, you look like crap.”

“Thanks.” Ashanti snatched the glasses from Tara and ran a hand over her face.

Tara pointed. “Did someone bash you with an anchor? Is this a dry run for your Halloween costume? What?”

“I… drank a little too much last night.”

“You? Drank?”

“Yes.”

“Like… alcohol?”

Ashanti nodded.

“You don’t even drink rum popo at the office Christmas party.”

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