AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Now that I know it’s safe, I sit up in bed and finger comb the tangle of hair out of my face before letting out a groan. Just my luck. I meet an amazing guy and I almost barf in his mouth.
Burying my face in my hands, I wallow in self-pity for a few minutes before my bladder demands I get my sorry butt up.
I vaguely recognize the bathroom from last night. I do my business and then rinse out my mouth several times, cupping handfuls of tap water before I finally just grab some of Jake’s toothpaste. Squeezing some on my finger, I do a quick scrub of my teeth and feel much better.
I’m a horrible person. First, I barf in his kitchen sink and now I can’t resist having a peek in his bathroom cabinet. Nothing too exciting other than some icy hot cream until I come across a big box of tampons tucked behind a stack of towels.
Interesting. Leftovers from an old girlfriend, or are they on hand for a current one?
Knowing I shouldn’t and telling myself I absolutely should not be doing this; I still poke around in his bedroom closet. Finding only men’s clothing in there, in neat piles and all carefully hung up, I let out a huge sigh of relief. Okay, enough being a terrible person, it’s time to get my boots on and go home.
My boots are carefully lined up next to the bedroom door and I find the pills, water bottle, and my phone on the nightstand. Downing the pills, I pull on my boots and leave the bedroom, stopping in the kitchen to look for something plain and quick to eat. While waiting for the toaster, I idly go through my phone, clicking on a message from Blaire from an hour ago.
BLAIRE: so sorry about last night. Give me all the sordid details about hottie trash guy!
I can either swallow my pride and ask Blaire for a ride or call Uber. Knowing I’m going to confess all to her anyway, I call Blaire.
She picks up on the second ring. “Details! I need them all now!”
“Umm…well, I kinda need a ride.”
“A ride? From where? He left you somewhere. Some seedy motel?” Blaire’s voice rises until she’s yelling into the phone.
“No! No! Nothing like that. Listen, I’m at his place and he had to go into work and couldn’t drive me home.”
“Oh,” her voice drops back to her normal volume. “Well, give me the address.”
It takes me a minute to locate where I am using my phone’s GPS, but then I rattle it off and sit to eat my toast while waiting for her to come get me. I behave myself and don’t go snooping through his kitchen or even back to his bedroom to dig through his dresser. But it’s going to take Blaire thirty minutes to get here, so after my toast I look around his living room and pull out a few books from the bookshelf.
A lot of thrillers, mysteries, and Stephen King books. A little thrill shoots through me. I’m a big fan myself. I pull out Gerald’s Game, reading it while I wait. Caught up in the book, I jump when my phone starts buzzing.
It’s Blaire. “I’m here.”
“Okay, be out in a moment.” Without thought, I fold down the corner of the page to mark my spot and return the book to the shelf.
On my way out, I almost miss it. A little yellow sticky note is stuck on the door just above my eye-height. Staring at it, almost afraid to believe what it is, something warm starts building in me, making me smile. It’s a note with Jake’s name and number on it.
Snatching it down, I shove it into my front pocket and leave. It takes me two tries to get Jake’s door to lock behind me and when I turn, Blaire is less than a foot away. With a yelp, I fall backwards against the door, clutching my chest.
“Damn, Vanna, you’re jumpy. I would have thought you’d be all mellowed out after last night.” Blaire drops a fast wink, a smirk pulling up her bright red lips.
I snort. “Not even close. Come on, I need to go home and shower.” I don’t even want to think about how bad I smell. Walking around Blaire, I get into her sleek green Porsche, the scent of leather and her signature perfume wrapping around me like a hug. Sagging back in the buttery soft seat, I close my eyes and try not to think about how I ruined last night.
Blaire gets in and starts up the car, turning off the radio when I let out a pitiful moan at the noise.
We drive in silence for a few minutes, my bestie holding out far longer than I thought she would before she started tossing questions my way. “That good or that bad? Because honestly, you look like hell, girl. But maybe he’s just that rough?”
Thinking about how sweet and gentle Jake was taking care of me makes me want to cry. “No, not rough. Not at all. He was perfect.” I sniff back the tickle in my nose, but it’s a losing battle because tears burn at my eyes and, with a blink, they overflow my eyelashes to run down my cheeks. “Better than perfect,” I say hoarsely, knuckling at the moisture on my face.
“Awww… Vanna!” The car slows and swerves to the shoulder, coming to an abrupt stop. Blaire unbuckles and turns in her seat, grabbing my arms, while her own eyes fill with tears as she looks at me. “If he’s hurt you, I’ll kill him!” she declares. “My uncle knows people. We can make it happen.”
A broken laugh escapes me, and the tears come harder. She’s not kidding. Her Uncle Bruno is like the bogeyman, feared, talked about, and rarely seen. But unlike the bogeyman, he’s very real.
I shake my head. “Jake didn’t hurt me at all. Everything was going great until I barfed in his sink.”
Blaire pulls back, her concern melting into confusion. “Wait, you barfed?”
Swiping at my wet face with my palms, I nod. “Yep. I thought the butterflies in my stomach were because I was making out with him. Turns out it was too much beer and whiskey. Guess I should have eaten more before we left to head to the bar.”
