I swallow, then I walk right past him, almost stumbling, only Cameryn quickly catches me, intercepting perfectly, and when we are a good few feet away, I bury my quivering fingers into the skin of her arm and whisper, “I have to get out of here.”
The door to Cameryn and Tyler’s room slams shut, and I’ve barely made it to the toilet before I’m throwing up all over the marbled black tiles in the bathroom.
My knees crunch on the ground, and I find myself crawling the final distance before another bout completely annihilates me.
Cameryn’s hand is at my back, drifting down my spine with what should feel like comforting pressure, though, right now, her touch only feels like a sharpened blade.
My ears are ringing, my teeth clanging together like their end game is to break their way out of my gums.
This feeling…is excruciating.
“Harms, can you get some towels?” Cameryn asks, her hands brushing through my hair. She pulls the mound away from my face, securing it at the back of my head with a large claw clip she snatches from the drawer beside her.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper over and over again.
“No way, Cherry. We aren’t doing that,” Cameryn states, her hand returning to my spine as she helps me through another round of sickness. The taste of sour bile burns my throat, seeping into my nostrils. It’s fucking revolting.
“Oh god, Cam, it burns.” I weep my words out when the bedroom door opens and closes again, and Harmony presses through the bathroom, cleaning up the mess I left only inches away from the toilet.
I turn over my shoulder and gaze at Harmony, the world-famous singer, on her knees, cleaning up my puke. How fucking embarrassing.
“I’m so sorry,” I breathe out.
Harmony tilts her emerald eyes up to mine, totally unfazed. She’s so far from a diva. “Seriously?” she asks, dark eyebrows furrowing. “What the fuck are you sorry for, Cherry? You’re sick, it’s okay.”
I nod at her.
Sick.
Let’s go with that.
I move away from the toilet, falling onto my ass and resting my weight against the large antique claw bath at my back. I’m shaking through a tumultuous storm when I pull my knees to my chest and cradle myself.
Cameryn’s arms are around me instantly, dragging me across the tiles and into her side.
“I’m just going to throw these in the wash,” Harmony states, holding up the soiled towels and stepping out of the bathroom.
Cam’s hands push over the top of my hair before she places a kiss on my skull and whispers, “He is one of them, isn’t he?”
My body quakes, my lips trembling as terror continues to scrape its talons over my limbs.
I nod, then I stutter my reply, “Ye-s.”
She holds me tighter. “What was it?”
I think she’s asking me how I realized it was him.
Swallowing the grim barbs in my throat, I rasp, “I saw a triangle tattooed on one of their hips once.” I pause for amoment to take a breath. “And I just saw the exact same one now.”
“Fuck.” The word is pained as it falls from her mouth.
I exhale sharply, the trembling in my body only becoming more severe. It matches the intensity of when I was forced to lie on the crimson concrete, praying for death.
“Can you leave with me?” I ask, hoping that she will agree. I can’t be on my own,not again.I’m so tired of being alone.
“Yes,” she says, turning over her shoulder and yelling, “Hey, Harms.”
Harmony appears back through the doorway almost instantly, her bare face scrunched in concern as she walks in and drops to her knees in front of us. She grabs my hand and holds on to me firmly. “Are you feeling a little better now?”
