She sat upright and grabbed his hand as Newman returned to the bed with one of his shirts for her.
“Who didn’t want you? Who ruined you?”
He wrestled his shirt onto her over the towel. Her underwear was wet, but he wasn’t going there.
“That sssnake, Jay Herald.”
Dismissing her ramblings as those of a crazed drunk woman, he laid her back on the bed.
“You want to be sick again, you do it on this.” He spread out a towel because there was nothing else, then pulled up the duvet as she was shivering.
“C-cold.”
“Take off your underwear, it’s wet.”
He watched as she fumbled around for several seconds, then with a sigh that was totally wasted on her, he stuck his hands under the shirt and stripped her shorts and bra off. He then tucked her in.
“Now be quiet and sleep, you’ve caused me enough trouble.”
He called room service for ice, coffee, and food. His eye was pounding. He could only imagine the fun his friends were going to have at his expense when he got back to Lake Howling, his hometown.
“N-Newman?”
He came back to the bed. She looked pretty pathetic. Eyes bloodshot, hair a tangled mess, covers up to her chin. Pathetic, but there was something there. Good bones, his friend Willow would say.
“What?”
“I-I thought he loved me.”
She’d whispered the words, and he wanted to dismiss them as dramatic drunk-girl speak, but he looked down into her eyes and saw the sadness. Plus, Hope was many things, but dramatic had never been one of them.
“Who? This Jay Herald?” Newman dragged a chair closer so he could sit and look at her. “Guy’s probably got a small pecker, forget him.”
“He lied to me… and then r-ruined me.”
“In what way did he ruin you?” Newman took the hand she held out to him. Another first. Hope never touched or reached for people. She’d been raised by a mother most of Howling called Militant and who could double as Medusa. The woman was about as warm as a frozen Twinkie.
“H-he set me up. He incriminations me!”
Newman watched her grapple with the words. “Incriminated?”
She nodded.
“He took my job, money, and ruined my reputation.”
Leaning closer, he pushed her hair off her face.
“What did he do?”
She had her eyes closed and he could see she was falling asleep. He’d have to wait till morning for the answers.
“D-don’t do dr... drinks or drugs.”
“Oh now, I beg to differ,” Newman said, backing off as she puffed out an alcohol-laden breath.
“H-he lied about everything.”
She whispered the words and then a tear rolled down her cheek, and the sight affected him way more than it should.
