“What are you doing here?” I asked again. It was so quiet, and Dani standing there, saying nothing, unnerved me. Her smile grew.
“Can you help me?” I asked, trying to steady my voice. I didn’t know why, but I thought if she knew I was afraid, it was only going to be worse for me. “I don’t—I’m not sure what happened. I need to get a message to Max.”
Abruptly, she turned, and walked back into the black behind her. “The truth will set you free,” she said, her voice echoing.
“What truth?” I asked, stumbling to keep up.
“The One truth.”
“Wait, where are you going?” I called, following her into the dark.
My eyes opened. I was on the floor of the bathroom, and Basile’s face stared into mine. I drew back quickly.
“Cella? Are you alright?”
His face was all smooth, stoic concern, the handsome lick of his hair perfectly placed against his forehead. I swallowed. I felt sick, heat sloshing against the sides of my gut.
My mouth tasted funny. My tongue was fuzzy and thick. A verse echoed in my head.The Devil has been sinning from the beginning.*
My hands flew to my waist. I looked down at my flats, which were still on my feet. My pants were zipped. Shirt was on, underwear, bra, everything felt … fine. Except it didn’t. Something had changed. Something had shifted.
“Did you drug me?”
“What?”
The door was ajar, and three of the others stood back, looking concerned. “You passed out in the bathroom,” a guy said, as if explaining the obvious to a child.
Paul nodded. “We would’ve left you in there, but we’ve only got one shower, and some of us work early shifts.”
Basile reached for me. “Are you alright?”
“You drugged me,” I said, jerking away from his touch.
He leaned back, wounded. He whipped his head back to Alex. “You didn’t warn her about the moonshine?”
“‘I told her this shit would fuck her up.’”
“That’s hardly a warning,” I seethed, and the others shook their heads.
Another of the brothers clutched his stomach. “That stuff is not fit for consumption.”
“So maybe I haven’t got the proportions of it right just yet,” Alex said.
“Yeah, you think?” said one of the others.
I shook my head. “Moonshine doesn’t make you pass out like that.” I shot an accusing glare at Basile. It didn’t make you remember things that didn’t happen. I reached up and felt a lump on my forehead. Must have hit the absolute crap out of my head on the way down.
“It does if you drank too much of it,” Alex said. “I suspect you’ll be feeling like crud for the rest of the day.” He looked at me. “Maybe a couple of days. You’ll be fine by the end of the week. By then I’ll have it sorted and a new batch started.”
“A new batch? You must be joking.” Paul hit him in the arm.
Basile didn’t take his eyes off me. “Look, you’re welcome to question the guys, but most of them are just as hungover as you. If you’re looking for someone who … drugged you, I assure you no one even noticed you were gone until the line for the bathroom started piling up.”
“And what about you? A little convenient, hmm? That I came to look for information on a fraternity that didn’t want me snooping and ended up passed out in their bathroom like some freshman who doesn’t know how to hold their liquor.”
Oops.
The room could’ve frozen over and it wouldn’t have felt colder. “Sorry, I thought you were here to have a couple of drinks and hang out. I didn’t realize you were spying on us.”
