River slid her arm through mine on one side and Juniper on the other. “Come on.” They led me to a bunco table and River handed me some dice while Juniper poured me a shot of Patron.
I took a deep breath. I could do this.
CHAPTERSIX
Isat at a table with Esther and Tabi and was quickly getting to know them as people, not just town enigmas. Esther was the more direct and intimidating of the two. Well, intimidating to me, anyway. She was definitely an alpha female—confident, sure of what she wanted and went after it, and always in control. She had a way of speaking that made people take note, listen, and obey.
Tabi was a little chatty, especially after she had a few drinks in her, and highly competitive. She was also smart and great with numbers.
“Last year, the darnedest thing happened to me.” Esther smiled at me as she rolled her dice. “I was running along the lake road and a dog ran out of the bushes and bit me.” She cocked her head at me. “Anything like that ever happened to you, Bethany?”
Not only was it an odd question, but her expression suggested she already knew the answer. Of course, I wasn’t about to tell anyone that a mystery rabbit had sneaked into my house and treated my hand like a carrot. “Um, no.” I tucked the still-bandaged finger into my lap.
On any other occasion, I could tell a convincing lie with the best of them. But right now, I could’ve sworn they were all looking at me, listening to me lie, doubting me because I was such a horrible liar. How in the world could they know?
Plus, the temperature in the room had to be at least a good ten degrees hotter since I walked in, and then another ten degrees hotter since she asked the question. A sheen of sweat coated my skin, and I fanned myself again. I was losing the game and needed a breath of air. Or something.
Between the nerves and the alcohol—I liked a bottle of wine as much as the next gal, but not when combined with shots of tequila—I was shaky and overheated. And by overheated, I meant hotter by the second. And more unnerved. Or over-nerved. If that was even a word. I couldn’t remember what unnerved meant. And while I wasn’t quite a wordsmith, I could play Scrabble like there was no tomorrow.
And why was I rambling inside my own head. Because I was going insane, that was why.
Nausea rolled up from my belly, and the last thing I wanted to do was hurl in front of all my new besties. “Excuse me. I need to tinkle.”
Had I seriously just said tinkle? Like a twelve-year-old? But it was too late to take it back and there wasn’t room in my gut for another explanation, so I stood and pushed my chair back, trying not to just completely bolt from the room like diarrhea was roaring through me, desperately seeking an exit.
My goal was to walk out into the hallway from whence I’d come. But the second I left the room, I just stared around in confusion. Was this where I’d come from? I was in another part of the house. Where to go, where to go?
My stomach churned now, the desire to hurl almost impossible to stop. I was running out of time. I took the stairs a couple at a time and turned into the first door on the left. Not a bathroom because, of course, it wasn’t. It was a bedroom. With arched windows and a balcony.
A balcony!No time to rethink it, I ran to the double doors that led outside, flipped the latch, pushed them open, and stepped out in time to throw up over the rail into the bushes below.
Holy crap. I felt…odd. Off. Sick. And it was getting worse. But at least I wasn’t nauseated anymore. Although I smelled a bit like tequila. And the second taste of those shots wasn’t nearly as pleasant on my tongue as the first, either.
Darn it. I was done with drinking for the evening. That sucked, but as long as the ladies hadn’t realized I’d hurled, it should be okay. Nottooembarrassing.
I hoped.
But a place like this had security cameras, almost definitely. And the guard was probably already laughing his butt off at the puking dumb lady in the mansion. Okay, deep breath, that was okay. I could still look like a classy lady after puking off a balcony. Twenty-year-olds did it all the time.
I walked back downstairs and was about to head back to the game room when I heard voices. Specifically, Esther and Eden. “She’s here and that’s enough for now.”
“We have to convince Bethany.”
Convince me of what?
“Yes, that’s the most important thing. Then, we can stop this charade.” Esther sounded tired and frustrated.
Charade?My eyes stung. Having me here was a charade?
“Do you think she’s caught on? I mean, invites to bunco night don’t just come out of nowhere,” Eden said, her voice almost a whisper.
Of course not. Of course, this wasn’t just that these women finally saw me as someone they wanted to be friends with. They didn’t invite me because they wanted me to be part of their group. They were using me for something.
That hurt. And maybe that too was because of the tequila, but I wanted to get out of here. Pronto. They’d tarnished my happiness at being invited. Ruined it.
Maybe I was being sensitive. But I didn’t feel well, and now, I felt even worse. My stomach started rolling again. Crap. What if I’d caught whatever Tilly had?
I breezed past the room—stumbled, more accurately—and went for the door. For being so damned big, it opened surprisingly easily, quietly. Too bad I wasn’t easy or quiet. I stumbled, stepped onto the porch, then tripped over an imaginary crack in the brick, careening toward a bush at the bottom of the stairs. I landed one way, my left shoe went another way and a branch poked me in the right boob.
