After what feels like five minutes, but must be more, I open my eyes. All I see is white. And curtains. I try to move my hands, but I feel a tug. I look down and see that I have an I.V. line, and from the looks of it, it’s just saline. What the fuck happened last night?
“Hey man.” Ryder is sitting on the chair beside my bed. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I drank the entire bar last night.” I run my hands through my hair. “Why am I in the hospital? What happened?”
Ryder’s eyebrows are low over his eyes, and his mouth tenses a little before he speaks. “You don’t remember anything from yesterday?” he finally asks.
I think back over the day. “I remember Devon waking me and Alex up after we’d fallen asleep on the deck. Then we went to the pool house and showered together,” which was so hot I’m getting hard now just thinking about it. “Alex made breakfast for everyone. Then we worked in the studio. Lunch at the diner. Shit!”
“We ate at the diner and the server was looking at us funny. I have an image of her talking to me outside of Rough Mix. Did I go to the bar last night?” I’m mumbling to myself more than I am talking to Ryder. Sifting through my muddy thoughts while he listens.
I go back to the part about lunch at the diner. “The server left, and we had a different server after that. The rest of the afternoon we spent in the studio. I went and got ready for my date with Alex, then walked to the pool house to pick her up. We went for dinner and it turned out her friend was the chef, so he prepared something special for us. We split a bottle of red wine that we didn’t finish. And then… then we… It’s kind of mixed up after that.”
“I see us parking in front of the bar. She went to the bathroom, and I was going to get drinks. I’m burning up, so I go outside. Then… I’m in a car? Then I’m at home, trying to get to my bed so I can lie down, but I’m stumbling so much that someone has to steady me. And that’s it. That’s all I’ve got.”
Ryder swipes his hand down his face. “Fuck dude.”
“Where’s Alex?” I ask with a sinking feeling. Something has to be wrong if she’s not here.
“Ah fuck.” Ryder leans forward in his chair. “I was pretty drunk last night, and I wasn’t exactly beside you for all of it. But I’m going to fill you in on the parts I know. Don’t get pissed at me though. We were all acting on the information we had at the time.”
“What the fuck happened, Ryder? Where is Alex?”
“Ok, so.” He starts. “You and Alex went out, and you came to the bar, to meet the rest of us. You stopped to get drinks, and she went to the bathroom. You were supposed to meet her at our table, only you didn’t show up. Devon talked to Bill, and he said you went outside with some chick.”
“What the fuck?” Alex must be so mad. What the hell was I doing last night?
“We couldn’t find you, and Alex flipped out. Given how her relationships in the past have gone, I couldn’t blame her. So we went back to the house. Devon and I went with her, and Becca was going to meet us there.”
“When we pulled up, there was some car pretty much parked right in the door. Becca came in behind us and gave Alex a baseball bat. That was pretty hot, actually. She was fucking pissed and looking to do some damage.” Ryder chuckles a little at the memory. I bet Alex did look hot, but that’s not what I’m concerned about right now.
“Hurry up, man. What next?”
“Right, so we hear noises from your room and I run ahead and open the door.” He lets out a huge breath before continuing. “You were flat on your back with some chick straddling you, man. I tried to keep Alex out, but she had a bat. She saw you with that chick on you and went nuts.”
“Oh, shit.” I check out my arms and legs. I don’t feel any bruises and nothing seems broken. She didn’t hit me? “Did she kill that chick?”
“Nah,” he laughs. “She did drop her bat and snatch that bitch right off of you, though. Threw her on the floor and started beating the shit out of her. It was impressive. I thought you said she wasn’t much of a fighter, but man…”
I bet itwasimpressive. If I weren’t the cause of it, I would have loved to have seen it. I lean my head back on my pillow and shut my eyes tightly.
“I can’t believe I fucked around on her. Why would I do something like that? I love her, man.”
“I know you do, Connor.” Ryder smiles at me. “But the good news is, we don’t think you actually slept with that chick. Based on how everything went down, the cops actually think that the chick may have drugged you. The doctors are doing some tests and Devon is getting the security footage from Bill.”
“That’s… fucking nuts. She roofied me? So… I was raped?” Holy shit, this is not something I ever thought I’d have to think about. I’m a guy. I didn’t think guys could get raped. At least not by a woman.
“Well, it’s not for sure, but I overheard the chick telling the cops that she didn’t sleep with you. And Devon saw no evidence to the contrary, if you get my meaning. No used to condoms, not wet spots, and the chick seemed to be having issues when we walked in. You even had all your clothes on, for fuck’s sake. Devon said you were pretty much passed out and didn’t appear to be at all, uh, interested.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean much. Maybe she flushed a condom before you guys got there?” I don’t know why I’m trying to convince him I could have slept with this chick. I really don’t want that to be the truth. I need to talk to Alex. She must be going crazy thinking I cheated on her. She really has had the worst luck with relationships. I don’t imagine she struggled with believing that I took that woman home, based on all her past experiences with men who said they cared for her.
“It’s possible, I guess,” he says. “But when we talked to Bill, he said you’d only left about ten minutes before us. For this chick to get you into, and out of, a car, into the house, and then into your bedroom, in the state you were in?” He shrugs, like he’s not sure about it.
“There wasn’t enough time for anything to have happened? Oh, thank god.” A feeling of relief washes over me. I didn’t cheat on Alex. I didn’t really believe that I would have, but I don’t remember much from last night. “I need my phone, I need to call Alex.”
“Yeah, about that. I’ve tried that. Her phone’s off. I’ve texted and left messages so hopefully she calls me when she gets them.”
“Why the fuck would she call you?” Is Ryder trying to move in on Alex already? I’m going to kill him. “Stay away from her. She’s not some slut for you to stick your dick in.”
