The organ in my chest that had been beating funny since I first met this girl seized like a tourniquet tightening. I held the door open for her, too stunned to respond. A sad smile curled the corners of her mouth. Her hand reached up, toying with the strands of my hair at the base of my neck before she exhaled. ‘Too nice,’ she murmured and dropped into the passenger seat.
Two words had never sounded as heart-wrenching and painful as those did. By the time I closed the door, circled the hood of my truck and got in the other side, she was asleep.
4
A cacophonyof buzzsaws blared to life inside my head. They had no compassion for the fact that I was seconds away from my head, splitting in two.
My eyelids peeled open and I winced at the sliver of sunlight assaulting me through the crack in the curtains, casting a strip of light directly over my face. I burrowed my face into the pillow, needing the darkness to stop the noise in my head. For a moment, blissful silence reigned, only started up again moments later. But this time, it wasn’t in my head.
My hand shuffled under the mound of blankets, I flapped it around until my fingers hit my bedside table. I seized my phone just as the vibrating stopped, before immediately starting again.
I didn’t need to look at the screen to know who was calling so incessantly.
Fallon.
My best friend, love of my life, soulmate, and right now, pain in my fucking arse. Pulling my head out from under the pillow, I pressed the phone to my ear.
‘Hey,’ I rasped, voicelike sandpaper.
A long pause on the other end, then the familiar, high-pitched tone of my friend cried out, ‘Hey? Seriously? That’s what you’re giving me.’
I winced. ‘Head. Pain. Noise.’
She scoffed, unsympathetic to my plight. ‘Good. You deserve that headache. It would serve you right if I talk about greasy bacon and runny eggs.’
‘Oh God, I never thought you were a cruel woman. I stand corrected.’ I rolled onto my back; the phone still pressed to my ear. My perfectly curled hair from last night was now a knotted mess around my head. I pulled the duvet to my chest, feeling the material slide silkily over my body.Wait.I froze. I wasn’t wearing pyjamas. Lifting the blanket confirmed I was naked apart from my black underwear. Easing my head off the pillow slightly, I scanned the room. Draped over my armchair in the corner was my silver mini dress, my shoes standing neatly next to it.Odd.Not that I was half naked—although since I usually slept fully naked, that was a little unusual—but more the fact that the dress was hung up and not in a ball on the floor. Maybe Drunk Rosie suddenly decided to be tidy for once.
‘Do you want to go over the events of last night yourself, or should I just jump straight in and start yelling at you?’
I sighed, sinking back down. ‘Since I’m struggling to recall everything that happened last night, I’m choosing option B, but could you yell at a lower volume?’
‘I’ll try.’
‘Thank y?—’
‘What the fuck were you thinking!?’ she screeched.
The phone slipped from my grasp in my haste to yank it away from my ear to avoid getting my eardrum blown out. I picked it up again, stifling an irritated noise. ‘I see my wishes were ignored.’
‘Oh, don’t give me that.’ Fallon said, at thankfully a lowervolume. ‘I was halfway across the country when I got your call. There was fuck all I could do about it. The only reason I didn’t get in a car and drive through the night was because Oliver told me George was on his way to pick you up. Since you’re still alive, I assume he did.’
The gasp that left my mouth echoed around my bedroom. I sat bolt upright, regretting it immediately when a slice of white-hot pain slashed down my temple. Pressing the back of my hand against my head, I tried to wrack my brain for the memory of last night.
I’d called him.
Slowly, in pieces so fragmented I struggled to piece it all together, I recalled last night.
‘Lemme down.’ I kicked my legs—a useless attempt to get down when his grip was iron clad.
‘Just let me put you in bed,’ he said, tightening his hold.
When my only response was to continue to struggle, he sighed and gently set me on my feet. ‘You’re gonna fall over.’ The` subtle northern lilt sounded in his words.
When my sober brain returned, I’d have to remember to inform her we didn’t find his accent sexy. Nope. Not at all.
I might be drunk and dealing with a heavy dose of shame right now, but that didn’t impede my ability to walk. At least, it usually wouldn’t have. Taking one tentative step out of George’s hold, my high heels betrayed me.
Before I pitched head first onto the wooden floor, George surged forward, scooping me up into his arms again.
