“I mind. Nobody that has watched while I did…other things needs to watch me do this.”
I laughed as she crawled back over, and I handed her the bottle of water I had grabbed from the kitchen as I leaned back against the wall.
“I can handle seeing you throw up.”
“Oh, that’s right, you see guts for a living. This should be nothing for you.”
“Honestly, guts and vomit. A lot of people vomit when you cut into body parts.” She gagged, leaning back over like she might puke again. “I’ll assume you’re not a big drinker, then?”
“Yeah. Also not big on cutting off body parts, so could we keep that out of the conversation?”
I smirked, kicking my legs out before pulling her across the floor until she was leaning back against me between them. She groaned and her head rolled to the side to look at me. “Why are you being so nice? You’re always being so nice. Are you always this nice to people you’re trying to sleep with?” she asked with a quiet laugh.
I smiled against her hair, my lips pressing against her head. “No. I usually don’t spend more than a few hours with people I sleep with.”
“Oh.” The word was barely a hiccup. “What are all your friends doing downstairs?”
“Why is a drunk girl asking so many questions? Doesn’t that brain shut off at some point?”
“Not when there are so many things going on. I spend enough time alone with no one to answer my questions.”
“I think I would kill to have more time alone.”
She laughed again. “Bad choice of words. I have too much alone time, and too many questions.”
“I can always try to answer any of your questions, but you might not always like the truth.”
She gave an exasperated sigh and grabbed my hands, pulling them to rest them on top of hers, apparently inspecting the tattoos.
“But it’s the truth, so I do like it. I get left in the dark with so many questions unanswered. I would rather know an ugly truth than be completely naïve.”
I stayed quiet, thinking about how little she must be told. How little her dad wanted to involve her. Before I could find anything to say, she went heavy in my arms, nearly on top of me as she fell asleep.
But instead of getting her into bed or moving, I stayed right there. From in here, the house was quiet. I felt an unexpected sense of comfort holding her, something I hadn’t felt in a long time. I could hear her soft, steady breaths, feel the rise and fall of her chest against mine.
Every part of me wanted to stay in that moment, so I held her tighter, my thoughts slowing down. The troubles of the outside world seemed to fade away. I found myself sinking into a calmness I didn’t know I needed, and before I knew it, I had drifted off to sleep, too, holding her close.
Twenty-Two
Regan
My tongue grated against the roof of my mouth like sandpaper.
I blinked, trying to get my bearings before I realized I was back in my bed, but more importantly, I wasn’t alone.
I rolled over, not expecting who was next to me.
“Harper? Where did Rook go?”
Her head popped up, looking around in a daze. “I think he left after he dumped you into bed with me.”
“Last night?”
“I came in around two in the morning, so after that? I don’t know. I wasn’t looking at the clock.”
It was eight now, so he had stayed with me most of the night. I hadn’t heard the bikes, so I slipped out of the room. Each of the rooms I checked in was empty, but the beds were all a mess. Obviously, his friends had stayed the night.
The back patio was empty of bikes, but trash from the party had been thrown everywhere. I groaned. I should never throw another party simply because I didn’t want to be alone here. Or because I was mad at my dad for always leaving, no matter how much I needed him.
