SEVEN 

MAGGIE

A sledgehammer pounded directly at my temples. 

My throat was as dry as a bone.

My eyes felt glued shut but I forced them open. 

The first object I could make sense of was a glass of water on a nightstand. I drained it greedily, desperate to quench my parched throat. 

It took me another few moments to realize this was not my room or my bed. 

In the next moment, I realized I was completely naked. 

Naked?? Wait, fuck! 

I slapped my hands to my pounding forehead, searching my foggy memory in a panic. 

This had to be Kaine's house. Kaine's bed. Angie and I came over last night and started drinking. I was feeling good and flirty. At some point I thought I was sitting in Kaine's lap. 

I remembered the weight of his hand on my knee, the feeling of his rough palm and how it made my skin tingle up my thighs to my clit. 

And then... nothing. I couldn't remember anything after that. 

I looked to my right. His bed was massive and I was the only person in it. 

Why was I naked?

Did we do... it? Or anything? Would I even be able to tell? 

I peeked down at my body under the sheet that covered me. Nothing looked amiss, not that I even knew what to look for. Physically, I felt fine except for my raging headache. 

I brought my gaze up to the ceiling while my pulse hammered with the throbbing in my head, trying to gather my thoughts through the pain. 

If I really did lose my virginity, I at least wanted to remember it. Especially if it was with Kaine. I wanted to savor every touch and feeling. I wanted to feel him fully and completely. Was I really blacked out for all of it?

Disappointment fell over me. I really didn't want to get shitfaced drunk but I had no frame of reference for how much I should've had. I hazily remembered Kaine telling me to slow down but I might have already passed my limit at that point. 

I turned and dropped my bare feet to the floor. Sitting up with the sheet still covering me, I saw my clothes in a single pile on the floor directly next to the bed. It looked just like my pile of dirty clothes at home. Was it possible my muscle memory just acted as though I was going to bed at home? 

As if moving through a fog, I pulled my clothes on and stood from the bed. The apartment was quiet as I listened. I wondered if Angie was awake and if she had any better clue than I did as to what happened.

When I opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the living room, I knew exactly why it was called the walk of shame. 

Kaine and Angie, both wide awake, looked over at me. 

"Bout time you got up," Angie muttered from the loveseat, where she spent the night. She sat up against the armrest, a blanket over her legs with a cup of coffee in one hand and her phone in the other.

"How are you feeling?" asked Kaine in a much warmer tone. He was at the kitchen sink, dressed in cotton lounge pants, bare feet, and a T-shirt that hugged his biceps, chest, and trim waist. I must have visibly drooled. Saturday morning never looked so goddamn sexy. 

"My head is killing me," I whined, struggling to not stare at him. A tightening sensation gripped my heart. It would be a crime if I lost my virginity to a body like that and didn't remember a damn thing. 

"I have some ibuprofen here." He set down the coffee cup he was holding and pulled a white bottle out of a cabinet. "So how does it feel to lose your virginity?" 

I froze, my eyes wide. 

"What?"

Glancing over at Angie, she was wide-eyed too and staring straight at me.

" You popped your alcohol cherry, right?" Kaine twisted open the pill bottle with a smirk. "Was it everything you expected it to be?" 

Was he talking about alcohol but teasing me about that? 

Did he know he was my first? Did it even happen at all?

“Some things were… unexpected, I guess,” I mumbled awkwardly and looked down at my feet. I had no idea what to feel, but embarrassment seemed like a pretty good idea for the occasion. 

Kaine filled a fresh glass of water from the faucet and placed two ibuprofen tablets on a napkin next to the sink. I stood awkwardly, waiting for him to come over and hand them to me but he curled a finger, beckoning me toward him instead. 

My face growing hot under his burning, intense gaze, I shuffled toward him into the kitchen and muttered my thanks. When I reached out to take the tablets, he took a gentle hold of my wrist. 

“Nothing happened,” he whispered. “I can tell that’s what you’re wondering and I promise you. I’d never take advantage of a drunk girl.” His eyes were serious and pleading. He didn’t want me to think he would do something like that. 

I gave him a small smile and a reassuring nod. Relief swept through me but also the smallest inkling of disappointment.

“I know. Thanks for watching out for me.” 

Kaine smiled back, relief etched on his handsome face as well. The kitchen cabinets provided a bit of privacy from Angie, who was trying to eavesdrop in no uncertain terms while pretending to be glued to her phone. 

“Just wait until you’re my age,” Kaine said in a slightly louder voice as he watched me take the tablets and water. “Hangovers will be your worst nightmare. Be grateful you can bounce back from them now.”

I merely chuckled as I sipped the water slowly, my eyes drifting over where his T-shirt pulled tightly against his broad muscles. Through the thin fabric, I thought I could make out a tattoo on his chest. 

We were both trying to stall for time. He didn’t want me to leave and my fingers itched to uncover that ink on his chest, to uncover more of him. The little I learned of him only kicked my curiosity into overdrive. Learning the fact that he never touched me while inebriated only made me yearn for it more.

Was this what mornings after one-night stands were like if the two people had a connection they couldn’t ignore? Or was my body just buzzing like a beehive again because it ached to feel him on top of me and inside me, now that I knew I didn’t miss anything in my drunken state?

“Ahem.” 

We both looked over at Angie who had risen from the couch and tapped her foot impatiently. 

“We should get going, Maggie,” she said pointedly. 

“Yeah,” I reluctantly agreed, setting down the water glass on the counter and removing my eyes from Kaine, despite how much I hated to. 

“Well here’s hoping I don’t see you girls trying to get into any bars soon,” he said. I looked up and his smile was no longer genuine, but forced. “Hope you got it out of your system.” 

“Thanks again for letting us crash,” I said stiffly as I meandered out of the kitchen. “For everything, really.” 

“Don’t mention it,” he replied, shuffling across the carpet with us to the front door. “Just glad you girls were safe.” 

“Yeah.” 

Should I offer him my number? Or just let this die right here and now, before it even gets a chance to truly live?

Like a gentleman, he held the door open for Angie and me. 

“Take care of yourself, Magdalene,” he said to me in place of goodbye. 

“You too, Kaine,” I replied, forcing a smile of my own while my whole body yearned to be melted against his again. I remembered his hands on my knee and my back like they just happened. 

“I hope you find your solid ground again.”