“Oh.” She curses a few times, and I hear a thump like she’s trying to catch me. Did I fall? I don’t feel anything. “Hey. Is there someone I can call for you?” she asks urgently as I point at my purse.
I murmur my phone passcode. “Gabriel.” I get out before I fade out again.
The next time I open my eyes it’s because my brother is in the bathroom stall of the restaurant next to the woman and he’s helping me stand.
“Thank you,” I hear him say. “Is the guy she was with still here?”
Blonde girl laughs nervously. “No, I saw him duck out earlier.”
I can’t tell whether she’s lying or sparing me a scene, but either way I’m thankful as I rest against my brother’s chest, feeling like I’ve let him and the people I love most down again.
Chapter 30 – Rhiannon
“Blech.”
I bend forward at the waist and unload the contents of my stomach into a doubled up, brown paper bag that’s somehow gotten into my hands. My eyes flutter open as I look down into the mess I’ve made and realize I’m moving.?
My stomach rolls instantly.
How did I get on the train?
And where did this bag come from?
I glance downward, noting the droplets of vomit that are dotting the bottom of my dress and hands before looking to the other side of the aisle.
Gabriel is seated there, absorbed in a magazine, shaking his head without meeting my gaze. I can’t remember how I ended uphere, or why Gabriel and I are on the train together. The entire night feels like a distant blur, slipping through my fingers.
I try to claw my way through the haze, desperate to say something, anything, to my brother who looks as defeated as I feel. But my mouth refuses to cooperate and the words are stuck somewhere deep inside me.
Giving up, I sink into the darkness, my head resting against the seat as I surrender once more to a deep, heavy rest.
Five hours later, I awake again. This time I’m not moving, and the glow of the train car is no longer surrounding me.
I spread my arms out, trying to feel around and instantly meet my comforter. My eyes flutter open, and I’m surrounded by pitch darkness. As my vision adjusts, it slowly dawns on me that I’m back home, lying in my bed, tucked beneath the sheets with the old, cracked metal bowl we used to eat popcorn out of as kids perched next to me.
I raise my arms to rub my eyes but pause when I feel a tug at my neck. I’m still wearing the dress I put on earlier today.
What happened?
Fragments of the night begin to stitch themselves together as the fog in my mind lifts.
I remember dinner with Rebel, then him running into someone he knew. I recall receiving a text from Cain and starting to reply, but something felt off, so I decided to go to the bathroom instead.
A flash of memory cuts through the haze—the blonde woman I met in there. She’d said something about Rebel dropping something in my drink.
Rage surges through me like wildfire. I sit up abruptly, but the sudden motion sends a fresh wave of dizziness crashing over me.
I gently lower myself back down, my head spinning, but my mind racing, fueled by fury now.
He fucking roofied me!
I want to scream as memories flash. Gabriel showing up at the restaurant, carrying me from the bathroom, then onto the train where I threw up a dozen times until the drugs were out of my system. He must have carried me from the train station to his car and then upstairs before tucking me in.
Tears fill my eyes as the weight of it all crashes over me.
How badly did I disappoint him this time? How angry is he with my carelessness? How worried was he?
I sit up carefully, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed to realize he slipped on my favorite, fleece covered socks before tucking me in. The clock on the bedside table reads two in the morning, confirming it’s been over eight hours since I left the restaurant.
