Deciding I needed to wear one of Bash’s shirts, and how we giggled on our way to the laundry room.
“Fuck,” I whisper, refusing to open my eye and face the new wave of headache the light will undoubtedly stir to life. I reach for the edge of the bed and the water bottle I keep stored there, but my hand thunks into more mattress.
Confused, I crack my eye open and find my face smooshed into a fluffy pillow in a large, clean room. Bookshelves line thewall, and a familiar stack of comic books rests on the shelf directly in front of me.
My heart races as I take a deep breath, breathing in his scent.
“How are you feeling this morning?” Bash asks from behind me, his voice gentle.
I roll to find him sitting in a chair beside the bed.
His smile is heavy as he leans in and pushes the hair from my face. “Do you have a headache?”
“A little,” I manage to rasp through my confusion.
He breathes a laugh, and I wonder where this tenderness is coming from.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” he says, “considering how much of my good rum you polished off last night.”
I open my mouth, but words fail me again.
“Drink this.” He hands me a cold water before he stands and walks through a doorway across the room. Water runs from inside, and as I’m greedily finishing my drink, Bash returns with a toothbrush and another glass to rinse my mouth.
“Thank you,” I mutter, thankful for the care even if I don’t understand its source.
He takes everything back when I’m finished, and I’m still watching him carefully as he walks it to the bathroom then returns.
“Why are you being nice to me?” I ask.
Try as he might to hide it, I don’t miss the sorrow in his eyes. Bash sits back in his chair and drags his thumb across his mouth like he does when he’s deep in thought, and I take another long sip of water to distract myself from the loaded silence.
“How much do you remember about last night?” he asks after a long stretch.
I duck my head as my cheeks flush. “Um, I remember most of it at the beginning. I was… mad.”
“Mad?” he repeats.
When I glance up, his brow is lifted, and the barbell reflects the light. It accentuates the motion, but he seems more curious than angry.
I nod. “You were ignoring me.”
“Yeah, you never did well with that,” he mutters.
Despite the tension, I huff a quiet laugh. “That’s putting it mildly.”
“So, you were mad, and…?” he presses.
I shift uncomfortably as I sit taller and recline against the headboard. “And I made Talia release me. We, uh, got into the liquor cabinet…”
“Uh huh,” he drawls.
My lips twitch in a tiny grin. “Then I, um, stole your shirt and… well…”
“Barged into my meeting half naked?”
“Yeah,” I say with a cringe. “Yep. That’s the gist of it.”
“What do you remember after that?”
