Page 61 of Like a Hurricane

“Well, how do you know that? I saw you looking.”

“For Ethan to be mine,” He stops us, pulling me to face him. His face swims in my vision, moving and swirling, making me feel a bit sick. “I would have had to sleep with Vanessa, and I can assure you, I have not been in her bed, nor she in mine.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh, baby,” he affectionately taps my chin with his knuckle.

“But you were looking,” I whisper.

“He reminds me of someone is all, Arryn, he isn’t mine. I didn’t know Vanessa had a child; she’s kept it a secret.”

“Well now I feel silly.”

“Were you jealous, little storm?” I see his three faces smile.

“No,” I pout but then my stomach swirls, “Oh god.”

Rett is quick to move my hair out of the way as I promptly throw up the beer and food I’d consumed in abundance earlier.

So now instead of just feeling stupid because of my assumption, I now feel like shit too.

Chapter Twenty-nine

My head is pounding when I wake the following morning, more sickness swirling in my stomach. Dear god, beer hangovers are worse than wine hangovers.

I have this god-awful taste on my tongue, but I also feel greasy and bloated. Rolling with a groan from the mattress I don’t remember falling on, I clamber to the bathroom, dropping to my knees to retch over the toilet bowl. There wasn’t anything in my stomach to get up, but it didn’t stop my body from trying.

When I’m sure I’m not about to throw up a kidney, I’m finally able to relieve my bladder and groan at the sight of blood.

It really isn’t my morning. Hungover, day one of a period and a headache that made me feel like someone was trying to carve through my skull. I search the bathroom for some sort of pad or tampon I can use, but the drawers are empty and there are no containers on the sides.

“Shit.”

“Princess?” I hear Rett call through the closed bathroom door.

“Uh,” I stutter, pressing on my temple as if to stop the pounding on my skull. I roll up tissue to pad out my underwear, hoping to save it from a stain, I mean we’ve all been there, haven’t we? And pull them up, opening the door to find Rett with a glass of water and a bottle of pills.

I almost forget about the disaster about to happen in favor of that water but then stop abruptly, “What is it?” Rett immediately asks.

“I started my period.”

He softens, “Wait here, princess.” He places the items down and leaves the room, only to return a moment later with both a pad and a tampon in hand. I take both, “Thank you.” I breathe.

“I’ll run to the store to get more, run a bath, and take the pills, I’ll be back in ten.”

I’m in the tub when Rett returns, placing a fresh packet of pads on the side, along with a box of tampons, “Sorry, I didn’t know which ones you preferred.”

“No, this is great, thank you.”

He sits on the toilet lid. I’d taken the pills and downed the water like I hadn’t had hydration in days, and then desperately tried to keep them down while the tub filled with water. Thankfully I managed it and the headache had passed.

The bubbles I put in the tub pop around my ears and my brow sweats from how hot it is, but it was making me feel better so if I had to stew here for another hour, then I would. Anything to get rid of this hangover and delay any period cramps.

“While I like jealousy on you, princess,” Rett leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees, grinning at me playfully, “Next time tell me so I can save you from alcohol poisoning.”

I roll my eyes, “I wasn’t jealous.”

His laugh bounces off the tiles back at me, “If it helps, princess, if I thought you’d slept with a man we were having dinner with, his head would have likely ended up on his plate.”

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