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CHAPTER ONE
I woke up on the bathrooe and tasted worse What the hell had happened last night? The last thing I reht and the thrill of turning twenty-one, legal at last I’d been dancing with Lauren and talking to solasses with leas was true Bad things happened here, terrible things I just wanted to crawl into a ball and die Sweet baby Jesus, what had I been thinking to drink so roaned and even that made my head pound This pain had not been part of the plan
"You okay?" a voice enquired, h est of places
"Are you going to be sick again?" he asked
Oh, no
I opened reasy blonde hair aside His blurry face loomed closer I slapped a hand over my mouth because my breath had to be hideous
"Hi," I mumbled
Slowly, he swaely familiar Impossible I’d never met anyone like him
He looked to be in his , dark hair falling past his shoulders and sideburns His eyes were the darkest blue They couldn’t be real Frankly, those eyes were overkill I’d have swooned perfectly fine without the of beauty Tattoos covered the entirety of one arm and half his bare chest A black bird had been inked into the side of his neck, the tip of its wing reaching up behind his ear I still had on the pretty, dirty white dress Lauren had talkedchoice for me on account of the way it barely contained e But this beautiful man easily had me beat for skin on show He wore just a pair of jeans, sos, and a loose white bandage on his forearly low on his hips and fit in all the right ways Even over couldn’t detract fro hi srabbed a battered black leather jacket off the floor, the one I’d apparently been using as a pillow Thank God I hadn’t puked on it Clearly, this beautiful half nakedmultiple times I could have drowned in the shame
One by one he emptied the contents of his pockets out onto the cold white tiles A credit card, guitar picks, a phone and a string of condoave ed next A multitude of paper scraps tumbled out onto the floor All had nauy was Mr Popularity Hey, I could definitely see why But what on earth was he doing here with me?
Finally, he produced a small bottle of pain-killers Sweet relief I loved him, whoever he was and whatever he’d seen
"You need water," he said, and got busy filling a glass from the sink behind him
The bathroom was tiny We both barely fit Given Lauren’s and my money situation, the hotel had been the best we could afford She’d been deteroal had been a bit different Despite the presence of my hot new friend, I was pretty sure I’d failed The pertinent parts of s hurt after the first couple of tiht have been the only part of rief
Still, I took a quick peek down the front of e could still be seen, tucked into the side ofthere, strapped to ht unprepared The condo Or et back on the horse, so to speak, and then not re it would have been horrible
The lass of water and placed two pills into my hand He then sat back on his haunches to watch me He had an intensity to him that I was in no condition to deal with
"Thanks," I said, then sed the aspirin Noisy rumbles rose from my belly Nice, very ladylike
"Are you sure you’re okay?" he asked His glorious mouth twitched into a smile as if we shared a private joke between us
The joke being me
All I could do was stare Given my current condition, he was just too much The hair, face, body, ink, all of it Soh to describe hi moment it dawned on me that he expected an answer to his question I nodded, still unwilling to unleash riood," he said
He was certainly attentive I didn’t knohat I’d done to deserve such kindness If I’d picked up the poor guy with proht with runtled Maybe he hoped I’dIt seeer
Under norue and (for the sake of my pride) worlds away from my type I liked clean-cut Clean-cut was nice Bad boys were highly overrated God knows, I’d watched enough girls throw themselves at my brother over the years He’d taken what they’d offered if it suited him, and then moved on Bad boys weren’t the stuff serious relationships were ht, just a positive sexual experience So a smear of blood on the back seat of his parents’ car God, what a horrible irl on the track tea rumors about me I hadn’t been made bitter or twisted by this event at all
What had happened last night? My head reinto you," he said "You want ht of food was not fun Not even coffee appealed and coffee always appealed I was half tempted to check myself for a pulse, just in case Instead, I pushedit out ofhard aton" He reached out and carefully disentangled o"
"Thanks" So , a stupendous one