14
Iwoke up to the feeling of something cold pressing against my forehead.
I grunted and batted with my hand to displace whatever the thing was. My flailing arm smacked against flesh.
"Ow," I heard Nathan say wryly.
I peeked my eyes open. Everything was bright. I squeezed them closed then blinked a few times. My eyes finally focused on the man sitting next to me on the sofa holding a damp cloth. Nathan had taken me back to his place.
I struggled to sit up, finding myself fighting with a blanket. It felt soft on my skin. Too much skin. I peeked underneath. I was still only wearing my bikini.
"What happened?" I groaned. "What time is it?"
"It's about two in the morning," Nathan said. "You got trashed, tried to fling yourself off a rooftop and then passed out. I figured you wouldn't want your parents to see me bringing you home half naked and drunk."
"You'd be correct," I murmured as I rubbed at my eyes.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Still a little tipsy," I answered truthfully. "But I'm not completely smashed, if that's what you're worried about."
"I didn't know how much you had to drink," he said. "I was worried about alcohol poisoning."
"I didn't have that much," I said, but it could have been a lie because I honestly couldn't remember how much I'd left in that bottle before things started getting blurry.
I did remember a few things. Climbing up the outside wall of Cameron Thorne's mansion. Getting splashed by his cannonball. Jessie scolding him.
I remembered Jessie saying she didn't want me to get hurt by Nathan.
My chest felt tight. I sat up and tugged the blanket to my shoulders.
"Where are my clothes?" I asked.
Nathan handed me an overly large t-shirt and pair of men's boxers.
"Your stuff got soaked down by the pool. I've put it in the machine to dry, but for now you can borrow some of mine."
I took the clothing and stood to tug them on over my swimsuit. Feeling less exposed now, I finally turned to Nathan.
"You should drink some water," he said.
The concern in his eyes normally would have warmed me, but now it only filled me with a combined sense of dread and despair.
Did he actually care?
Did he care too much?
Or was he just stringing me along?
I looked away and padded over to the kitchen, avoiding his gaze. I took a bottle of water from the fridge and downed half of it in one swig.
Nathan approached me on silent feet. He stopped a few feet away from me, my back to him.
"Is there a reason why you decided to get completely hammered tonight?" he asked.
"I told you I wanted to experience a raging party," I replied with a feigned shrug.
"It has nothing to do with what happened upstairs in that bedroom?" he asked.
