Page 75

Chapter Twenty

Krystina

There was a stabbing pain piercing through my right eye. I tried to blink to rid myself of it, only to find myself blinded by the bright sunlight coming through the blinds of my bedroom window. I brought my hands up to my head and squeezed my temples. I moved to sit up and my stomach pitched. I felt like a bus had run me over. I slowly opened my eyes and allowed them to adjust to the light.

When my vision finally came into focus, I remembered the amount of wine I had consumed the night before.

I’m such an idiot—why did I drink so much?

I glanced over at my nightstand clock to check the time and saw a bottle of aspirin and a note propped up by a mug. I groaned out loud as the rest of the memories from the previous night came flooding back.

Please, let it be just a dream.

A nightmare was probably more accurate. But I knew it was neither as I reached for the note on the nightstand.

Take two aspirin and drink this. There is more in your refrigerator if you need it. Dry toast will help you, too. No coffee. It will make you feel worse, and I want you better for later.

Looking forward to tonight.

Affectionately,

The Devil on Your Shoulder

“Oh, no!” I said to myself and threw myself back onto the pillows. The action didn’t exactly help the roiling in my stomach, but nothing could be more terrible than the mortification I felt at that moment. I could only imagine what he thought of me.

Did I have to tell him about that? The angel and the devil? The stupid, childlike subconscious that had been ruling me lately?

I couldn’t think of a time when I’d ever felt more foolish in my life.

I looked over at the ceramic mug on the nightstand and peered inside at its contents. It was an amber-colored liquid with a lemon floating in it. I picked up the mug and took a whiff. It smelled like herbal tea. I slowly took a hesitant sip and had to force back a gag at the sickly-sweet taste.

What the hell is this stuff?

It certainly wasn’t anything I kept in the house.

However, after a moment, my parched taste buds recognized it was, in fact, something from my kitchen. It was brewed chamomile tea with a ridiculous amount of honey. The lemon was probably to help me detox. Having finally realized what I was drinking, I greedily threw back the entire mug, my mouth and body desperately screaming to be hydrated.

Surprisingly, my stomach settled after only a few moments, allowing me the strength to climb out of bed. I grabbed the bottle of aspirin and went to the kitchen to get more of Alexander’s miracle elixir.

When I entered the kitchen, I found a loaf of bread waiting for me on the counter.

Dry toast.

Alexander must have left the bread out for me. And, as promised, there was more tea waiting for me in the refrigerator. I smiled at his thoughtfulness, but his actions made me feel even more ridiculous.

I thought about how I should handle the events of the previous night as I put two pieces of bread in the toaster. My brain felt fuzzy, and putting my thoughts in order was a struggle.

I owe him an apology for sure, but I definitely don’t want to call him.

There was no way I could have an actual conversation with Alexander after my irresponsible drunken behavior. After the way I had acted, I was sure he’d want to cancel our plans for this evening, however tentative they may have been. I had to come up with a way to give him an out, as he was probably just trying to be nice in his note.

I needed to be realistic.

Why would the sophisticated Alexander Stone want anything to do with a boozing twit like me?

I wanted to send him a text, but that seemed too impersonal for some reason. Then I remembered he had programmed his email address into my phone. Maybe an email would be better. I could say a bit more and perhaps even make a joke about my embarrassing angel and devil revelation. Then I could give him the opportunity to bow out gracefully.

The bread popped from the toaster, and the smell of it provoked a hungry growl from my stomach. Skipping the butter as Alexander had suggested, I placed the dry toast on a plate and went back to my room. Once there, I sat at my desk and fired up the laptop. On the screen was the agreement I had written up the night before.