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“Open your mouth,” she demands.
I do, with a shocked look on my face. Laurel shoves two fingers into my throat, making me gag around them. It’s only a few seconds before I’m spinning around, vomiting into the toilet.
/> When I’m done, Laurel releases my hair that she’d been holding onto and wipes my face with a paper towel.
“This is drugged.” Laurel tells me, holding the glass up before pouring it down the drain.
“How do you know?” I ask.
Her eyes avoid mine for a moment before she shrugs, trying to play off indifference. “It’s not the first time I’ve tasted that,” she says solemnly.
I am quiet at her admission. Putting the pieces together, I can only imagine what happened. What kind of horror she went through.
The whiskey tasted terrible, but I thought that’s just how it tasted. It was the same last year when Edward poured me a glass…
My realization must show on my face because Laurel looks at me with concern. “What?” She asked. “Mikaela, what happened?”
“Edward,” I whisper.
“Edward gave this to you?” she tries to lower her voice but it still comes out high, filled with concern.
My voice won’t work, can’t tell her what just happened. I’m spiraling, the truth hitting me like a ton of bricks to the chest. I thought I was drunk. For a year now, I’ve thought I was black out drunk that night. I couldn't even remember what I drank. My eyes see the crystal tumbler again, all along it wasn’t me.
It was him.
He drugged me and then who knows what happened afterward. Once the drugs were in my system there was no way I would remember a thing that happened.
Bile rises in my throat and I feel my head whip toward the toilet again.
I can’t believe it. Can’t believe I was so naive, so trusting. Can’t believe he would drug me right after my engagement to his son.
I can barely breathe by the time I’m done. I feel like my whole body is burning. I can feel the sweat dripping from my forehead.
“It’s okay,” Laurel murmurs.
But I don’t believe that. And this time, I know I’m right.
I feel better after Laurel forced me to vomit, even though I know the drugs hadn’t even begun to work.
Still, I feel like some sort of weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I’m lighter, keener. Closer to the truth.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asks me quietly as we leave the bathroom.
“I’m good.” I tell her. “Thank you.” It’s the first appreciative remark I’ve given anyone since Auden’s death. Thank you is a word of the past for me, since that night I’ve been nothing but bitter and dark. But I am thankful for Laurel, more than I can even tell her. She prevented me from experiencing another hazy night of lost memories, but she also gave me an explanation, one that I’d been searching for.
With it though, came more questions. At the top of the list, did Noah know?
I can’t imagine he did. I can’t fathom the idea that he allowed me to be drugged. Or allowed what happened afterward… But then I remember his hand gripped around my chin while he growled orders at me last night. I’m not sure if I even know this man anymore or if the one I once loved is even inside that body anymore.
If he did know, my stomach turns at the thought, then he’s worse than I could even imagine. The thought that he would parade me around knowing what happened, what his family did to me. I can’t believe anyone could be so cruel.
I spare a glance at the crowd of faces around me. Each of them claiming a bank account filled with more than a billion dollars. If anyone was going to be cruel, why wouldn’t it be these people?
These people with money and a team of lawyers to hide their indiscretions.
“There you are.” Edward finds me, linking his arm around mine and spinning us to shield Laurel from the conversation. I find myself desperately trying to turn, to find her. “I’ve been looking for you.” Edward’s smile is wide, reaching ear to ear, as he navigates me further from Laurel, further from the party that fills his house.
I try to yank my arm from him, but he pulls harder, pinning me to his side as he continues walking, pushing me with him.
