His eyebrows pinched together. She must have gotten up already.
He took a slow, steadying breath as he wiped sweat from his brow, letting his muscles recover from the tension of the dream before he went searching for Ava.
After a second, he swung his legs over the side of the bed. His feet hit the icy cold floor, sending a shiver down his spine.
Memories of the dream rushed back to him along with a dawning realization that something was terribly wrong. Something had happened, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
His mind just wasn’t working properly for some reason.
A knock sounded at my door. “Come in!” he called over his shoulder as I tried to piece together the blanks.
Kyle poked his head into the room, what looked like a fake smile plastered on his face. “Hey, Mav, awake already?”
“Yeah,” Alex said as he ran his hands through his shaggy hair. “What are you doing here?”
“I live here, remember?” Kyle asked as he crossed toward Alex.
“Yeah, but…why are you in my bedroom at this hour? And where is Ava?”
The grin slipped from Kyle’s features as he stared at Alex for a second. “How are you feeling right now?”
“Groggy,” Alex said with a shake of his head. “Ugh, I wonder if I’m coming down with something?”
Kyle took his pulse as he shook his head. “No, that’s not it. You’re feeling the effects of the sedative I gave you last night.”
“Thewhat?” Alex asked, narrowing his eyes at the man.
“Sedative. I gave you a sedative because you needed to get some sleep.”
Alex blinked at him, trying to recall what he was saying when his memory slowly started to return. He recalled Kyle jabbing him as Julia and Grant worked to console him.
Why?
They’d been so concerned. And he’d been really upset. Why had he been so upset?
“Sedative,” Alex echoed, the word hanging in the air. Slowly, the fog in his mind began to clear, pieces of the previous night becoming clearer.
“Side effects can be grogginess and confusion. So, I’m not surprised by this at all. What I want you to do, though, is get back in bed because–”
“Where’s Ava?” Alex interrupted, the question escaping his lips before he could stop it. His heart raced, the pieces coming closer together.
Kyle pressed his lips together, heaving a sigh.
“Doc, where is Ava?” he demanded, his voice growing more insistent.
“Okay, I really want you to sit back in the pillows, take a few deep breaths–”
“Where is Ava?” Alex curled his fingers into fists, his stomach dropping as his chest constricted.
“Mav…”
Alex’s features pinched as he let his gaze fall to the floor. His mind searched for context of the memory floating in his mind where Kyle had stabbed him with a needle.
“We were upset…that’s why you gave me the sedative. Everyone was upset. But why?”
He raised a finger in the air as he tried to push hismemory further. “We got bad news. I felt awful. Why did I feel awful?”
Heat washed over him as his features twisted, realization dawning on him. His jaw fell open and tears filled his eyes. “No. No, that can’t…”
