“I wanna tattoo,” I announced. A laugh to my left had me turning that way with a frown. “What? I do.”
“Nah, sugar,” Ryan drawled. “You don’t. Not really.”
“I do!” I insisted, indignant. “Annie’s is totally badass.”
Annie blushed and snorted. “Hardly.”
I waved her off. “Whatever. I want one just like yours.”
Annie shook her head. “It hurt like a bitch. Especially around the spine.”
I frowned, not expecting that. She’d finally shown me her tattoo after being badgered for the better part of the night. It was a whole back piece of intertwined branches of cherry blossoms. They snaked from one hip, up and over her back, to end on her opposite shoulder. Worked into it were the words ‘Life heals one moment at a time…’
It was awesome.
“Aislinn, you don’t want a tattoo. Trust me,” Ryan said once again.
“How do you know? You don’t know me,” I argued. I stood up from the couch we were all sitting on and had to sit right back down when the room started to spin. “Whoa…! What the…?”
“That,” Ryan said as he pointed at me, “is precisely why you don’t want a tattoo.”
I looked at him, befuddled and confused. “Huh?”
He chuckled. “Aislinn, sweetheart, everyone wants a tattoo when they’re drunk.”
I shot him a glare. “One, I am not drunk. And two…” I frowned as I forgot what I had been about to say and dropped my head back to rest on the couch. “You know what? Forget about two. It’s not important.”
Annie busted out laughing. “Ash, he’s right, hon.”
“Ugh,” I rolled my head to the right to look at her. “Not you too?” I asked in disgust.
“How do you think I ended up with mine?” She pointed to her back. “It didn’t start out like this.”
I shook my head, then promptly wished I hadn’t. The room spun again and I planted my feet firmly on the ground to try to make it stop. My stomach protested and I swallowed hard against the tickle in the back of my throat.
Ryan touched my shoulder. “You okay, sweetheart?” he asked with concern. “You’re looking a little green.”
I wanted to answer, but the suspicion that I’d throw up all over him kept me silent. A shrug was my reply instead.
“I think it’s time we get you home,” Ryan announced after watching me closely for a moment. I made a sound of agreement, but made no effort to move. He stood up and held a hand out to me. I took it and he helped me stand gingerly. My knees felt weak and I would have fallen over had he and Annie not grabbed me in time.
“Hey, now. Easy,” Ryan warned. I took a wobbly step forward and almost fell again.
“Part of the problem is her shoes,” I heard Annie say. I frowned over at her.
“What’s wrong with my shoes?” I demanded. “They’re awesome!” I lifted a foot to show off the neglected boot. “See? Awe-some.” I then promptly teetered over. The sound of choking had me whipping my head in Annie’s direction. She wasn’t quick enough to hide the grin. “What?”
“Nothing, other than you just proved my point about the shoes.” She led me back over to the couch and helped me sit. “These are some great shoes, hon. But, they need to come off.”
“But why?” I whined, leaning down to see my lovely boots and almost falling over.
“Because,” Annie explained patiently, “you will break your neck in them. So, off.” When I didn’t move, she sighed. “Ash, the shoes either come off or Ryan has to carry you home.”
I glanced up at Ryan and was surprised to see he had a twin. “Hey,” I pointed at him, “when did your brother get here?”
“Oh, Lord, save us,” Annie murmured. She squatted down and lifted one of my feet to take a shoe off. I blinked down at her.
“What are you doing?” I tried to pull my foot away.
“Aislinn, sweetheart.”
I turned my attention back to the twin Ryans. I squinted at him in an attempt to make him stop moving. “Yeah?”
“The shoes have to come off. Otherwise, I have to carry you.”
I frowned. Carrying me was a bad idea. Why it was a bad idea, I couldn’t be sure. But the knowledge that it was had me shaking my head. “No, no carrying.” I held my foot out to Annie who laughed as she started taking off my boots. She glanced up at Ryan.
“We need to take her to Teeg,” she told him in a low voice.
He swore softly as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Aldridge is gonna kill me,” he muttered. He looked down at me and shrugged. “All right. Let’s get her home.”
***
Dear God, why wasn’t I dead?
That was my first thought when I woke up. Because surely I’d had a brain aneurysm. It was the only explanation for the excruciating headache. I turned my head and groaned when the impossible happened. The pounding in my head got worse.
With a whimper, I slowly pulled the blanket up over my head then froze. Oh God, no. Please. Anything but that—never mind!
Pain forgotten, I leapt from the bed and raced to the bathroom as nausea rolled over me. I slid to my knees in front of the toilet without a moment to spare. Before I could prepare myself, I violently emptied everything that had been in my stomach for the past two years. Repeatedly, which led to my favorite part. When I threw up, I got emotional.
So there I was, head throbbing, stomach churning, and combined with the lovely bout of toenail hurling, I was bawling like a two-year-old. My humiliation was complete. Or so I thought, until I felt a cool, damp washcloth gently swiping across my face.
Nope, now my humiliation was complete.
“You okay?” Teagan asked in a soft voice.
I answered with a grunt as I slid into a heap on the floor beside the toilet. Real words were beyond me at the moment. Besides, I was pretty sure opening my mouth would result in more epic vomiting. That was something I’d prefer to avoid at all costs. I did want to throat punch him when he laughed at me, however. I managed to lift my head up from my spot on to the lovely cool tile floor and glared at him.
“Don’t be like that,” he scolded. He rinsed the washcloth and wrung it out before kneeling down beside me. “How do you feel?” he asked as he held the cloth to my forehead.
I closed my eyes so I could fully savor the bliss the little bit of coolness provided. The nausea began to settle a bit and I sighed as my muscles started to relax. Just as sleep was about to come, Teagan’s voice broke the silence again.
“You can’t stay here on the bathroom floor, baby.”
I cracked open an eye and gave him a dirty look. “Yes, I can,” I managed to croak out. Then I nestled my cheek more firmly on the cool—and not spinning—tiled floor.
He sighed and then chuckled softly before he settled down beside me. He braced his back against the wall and carefully maneuvered me until my head rested in his lap. The momentary dizziness that movement caused quickly went away as he placed the cool cloth back on my forehead. He began to run his fingers through my hair with a gentle touch and I sighed as I felt myself begin to drift back to sleep.
From what seemed a great distance I heard him warn, “You better not throw up on me.”
“I make no promises,” I muttered, half asleep.
“It’s all right. I’ll still love you anyway,” he whispered.
“I love you too.” Then I allowed the darkness to take over, sinking deep into it.
***
“Wake up, squirt!”
I groaned at the overly loud voice and burrowed deeper into the blankets piled up on me. I frowned as it occurred to me something wasn’t quite right about that fact. The basis of it escaped me at the moment. What didn’t escape me were the annoyingly loud orders barked at me when I felt like death warmed over.
“Aislinn Margaret. Up!”
I snapped the covers down so I could glare at my brother. “Jesus! What?” I snapped.
“Time to get up,” he stated, undaunted by my fury. “You’ve slept all day.”
“Go away.” I pulled the covers back up over my head. “I feel like shit,” I muttered.
“You feel like shit,” he said as he yanked the blankets down, “because you have a class-A hangover.”
I scrambled for the covers while I shot him a look that should have made him keel over. “Dammit, Connor. Stop it!” The sudden movement had my head pounding again, though not as bad as before. That was when it dawned on me what was wrong. “How’d I end up at your place?”
Connor gave me a level look and crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you serious?”
I looked at him standing at the foot of the bed, Teagan’s bed, in confusion. “Um…yes?”
“Caldwell brought you here,” he stated flatly.
Uh oh. Red alert. Not good. “Wait. What?”
“Seems you decided to get drunk at a frat party.”
His tone had me narrowing my eyes at him. There was no way he was really—
“A frat party, Aislinn. Christ! Do you know what could happen to you at one of those?” He scowled. “And let’s not even talk about the fact that you got shitfaced while you were at it. God, you’re only eighteen!”
Yup, he was going to go there.
“Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.”
His brow furrowed in confusion. “Huh?”
“You were drinking when you were still in high school, hello?” I reminded him.
“So?” His confused expression only deepened.
“At least I waited until I got to college.” When he still didn’t seem to get it, I threw my hand up in the air. “Never mind,” I mumbled. I pushed a hand through my tangled hair and grimaced. The amount of snarls I encountered guaranteed my hair closely resembled a rat’s nest. Nice.
I swallowed and looked back at my brother. I could tell by the look on his face that he was far from finished. I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. “What? Just get it over with.”
He uncrossed his arms and set his hands on his hips. “Okay…let’s start with the fact that you were even at the party.” He gave me a hard look. “You were supposed to be here.”
“What the—? Wait just a second,” I spluttered in shock. “I was supposed to be here with Teagan. He went to work. So I went out.” I saw him get ready to say something and continued before he could start. “So, what? Now I’m just supposed to sit around every night with nothing to do? I did that plenty back home. No, thank you.” I sat back with a fixed and level gaze, daring him to argue.
He stared at me for a moment and it was obvious he was carefully considering his words. Finally, he took a deep breath. “No, Ash. I don’t expect you to just sit around here and do nothing.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “But it was a frat party,” he explained patiently. Like I was a child.
“Look,” I said as I sat back against the headboard, “I was invited. I had nothing else to do. I called Annie and went. It’s not like I committed a crime, Conn.”
His look and silence said more than words ever could.
“Okay, underage drinking aside, all right?” Flushing hotly, I acknowledged his point.
“It’s not that, Ash. It’s just…” He trailed off and frowned. “This just isn’t like you. What’s going on?”
My jaw dropped in shock. I stared at him dumbfounded for a moment before the humor hit me and I started to laugh. “Nothing’s wrong!” I gasped. “I just went to a party. It’s not a cry for help.”
“You do know that Teeg was home when Caldwell brought you here, right?”
That sobered up my amusement.
“Yeah, I thought that might get your attention,” he said with a smirk.
“I’d hoped that had all been a dream,” I muttered.
Connor’s smirk morphed into an evil grin. “Nope. It wasn’t.” His glee was evident. I gave him a dirty look.
“You’re getting way too much enjoyment out of this.”
“Oh, there’s more to be had.” He cocked his head and pointed down at the floor. “I just heard Teeg pull up.”
A moment of panic washed over me before I remembered the rest of what I’d hoped was a dream. I’d been sick as a dog last night and Teagan had taken care of me. The humiliation was stifling and I crawled back down into the bed with a groan. The pillow pulled over my head served two purposes; it shielded me from the light and hid me from embarrassment. Upon hearing the front door open, shut, and then the sound of heavy feet on the steps, I accepted my fate. I would die from suffocation while hiding in shame.
“Later, Ash,” Connor chirped before he shuffled away. I could hear him talking to Teagan in the hallway, but the pillow muffled their low voices. Despite straining hard, I couldn’t make out what was being said. I knew beyond a shadow of doubt that it was about me. Call it a hunch.
The voices stopped and the sound of footsteps approached. I quickly huddled under the covers in an attempt to avoid what was coming. My head pounded and my heart thudded heavily while I waited. All too soon I heard the sound of his steps come to a halt at the foot of the bed. I tensed in anticipation.
The quiet settled and bordered on unbearable. Just when I was about to break, I heard him heave a deep sigh. The image of him running a hand through his hair with a frown flashed through my mind. There was no need to see him when I knew him so well. Before I could brace myself, he broke the tense silence with the one sentence that almost sent me running.
“We need to talk.”