I continued to take small sips, and by the time I had finished half the bottle, we were pulling into the garage. Kill shut off the engine, and we sat in silence as I finished the rest of the water along with the granola bar. I still felt like hell, but it was an upgrade from the walking death I’d felt minutes before.
“Can you eat more?” Kill asked. I shook my head, and he chuckled lightly. “Let’s get you to bed, lightweight.”
I moved to gather my stuff, but he stopped me. "I'll bring your stuff in later. Let's get you in the house."
I followed him upstairs like a dejected shadow. Jet laughed at me from the couch. "Can't keep up with the rockstars, huh?"
His taunts gave me enough strength to lift my arm and flip him off, making everyone in the living room laugh. Jet said something about taking me up on my invitation, but I shut down my senses with every step closer to my room. Once there, I collapsed on my bed and curled into a ball, happy to have arrived at my destination. My daydreams throughout the day had mainly revolved around climbing into bed.
Kill chuckled as he removed my shoes, not bothering with anything else. I was ready to sleep off this awful feeling. When he began to walk away, I wanted to reach out to him, but my limbs weren't cooperating. I settled for saying his name quietly. He came back over and sat on the edge of the bed, brushing my hair out of my face.
“What is it?” he asked, his voice gentle.
“Stay,” I pleaded. A sense of deja vu twisted around me. Until I had time to sleep this off, one word at a time would be my limit. He was quiet for a long time, and my body begged me to let it fall off the precipice into unconsciousness, but I fought the urge as I waited for his response.
“I can’t. Everyone's downstairs, and they'll wonder why I stayed in your room.” He put his finger on my lips, silencing me, even though my protest sounded more like a mewling kitten.
“Slick, we can’t do that. Not until you're ready to commit to us.”
He took his finger from my lips, and I heard the door close quietly behind him. Tears escaped my eyes and slid silently down my cheeks to land uselessly on my pillow. I didn’t make a sound, too drained to do anything except cry without noise until I fell asleep. Kill’s words echoed through my aching head before everything went black.
The room was dark, and I was discombobulated. I switched on the lamp standing atop my nightstand and blinked rapidly at the blinding light. There was a piece of toast in a sandwich bag, more water, and Advil waiting for me.
I took the medicine and munched on the toast, feeling more human than I had all day. Why did it have to be him? Why couldn't it be a normal guy who wasn't about to skyrocket into stardom?
I retrieved my bag and noticed Trent had sent me a text.
Hey, I wanted to
make sure you
were feeling better
I texted him back as I took a bite of toast.
I'm better. I
almost feel human
again.
He responded right away.
Do you want to
meet me somewhere
to eat?
I replied just as fast.
I'm not up to going out.
I also have a ton of
homework to catch up on
Which technically was a lie. I was already ahead in my assigned reading. I just didn’t want to go out—especially not with Trent.
