“Hello?” she said.
Spence’s voice came over the speaker. “What’s up, Des?”
“You gave my mother an edible, and I just want to let the record show that you fucked up.”
His soft chuckle made me smile. “He even laughs sexy,” I murmured.
“What?” Spence said.
“Huh?” Des muttered a curse and handed me a bottle of water. “Drink this and be quiet.”
I tried to pull the top off, but it wouldn’t budge. Shaking the bottle, I complained, “This isn’t working.”
“Mr. Spence, we’re fine but I thought you should know.”
“Where are you?” he asked.
I giggled. “Waiting for you.”
“Anyway,” Des cut in, “you owe me.”
“Let me know if you need anything,” he said. “Get some sleep, Laiya.”
“I am sleepy,” I told him. “So sleepy. And hungry. And sad. And happy. And floating.”
“See what you did,” Des announced. “This is a hot mess. I gotta go.”
Once we made it home, Des helped me inside, just in time for my legs to give out. I crawled to the family room.
She tried to help me up. “Hold on, mom. Let me?—”
“I’m fine. Just need to go to sleep.”
After pulling myself up on the couch, I rolled on my back. The room was spinning, my nose was still gone, but my ears worked just fine because I heard everything. Des’ footsteps echoed in the hallway, her voice piercing my ears as she talked to someone on the phone. The ice machine clanged in my brain and the television volume was too high to focus.
“Turn it off,” I grumbled.
Des placed a blanket over me. “Sleep, Mom. When you wake up, everything will be okay.”
“Stop yelling at me.”
She laughed. “I’m not yelling, but okay. I’ll leave you alone. Check on you in a bit.”
My eyes fluttered closed, then there was nothing.
I jumped up with a start,frantically looking around at my surroundings. Frowning, I glanced at my watch.Six o’clock? It was just noon. I’d lost six hours. “Oh my God,” I whispered. “My head is heavy.”
“You probably need to sleep more.”
The low, very male, very raspy voice caught me off guard and I yelped, sliding off the couch onto the floor. I spun toward the sound. “What are you doing here?”
Spence crossed the room to me, held out his hand, and helped me up. “I stopped by to check on you.”
I tugged on my bunched-up shirt. “This is your fault.”
He laughed softly. “I’ll take full responsibility.”
Sitting down on the couch again, I spotted a full glass of water. “Is this mine?”
