The Victim (Book #1)

Chapter 61

The next day brought with it a monster of a headache. It felt like someone had placed an ice pick behind my eye and was pounding on it with a hammer every couple of seconds. I was parched, but I woke up to a water bottle on my nightstand. I downed the bottle in seconds.

I remembered more of last night than I thought I would.

We went to a party, I became friends with Asher, I got his number, I danced, and then... we came home.

It was like something out of a princess movie. A beautiful glittering night that made me feel like I might be normal, and it might be okay... and then I switched back into a broken girl in the blink of an eye.

I felt my heart squeeze in pain. Unwanted. He wouldn't want me as a friend, not once he really knew me. Nobody really knew me.

Heat flushed across my face and body suddenly, and I threw my blanket off of myself, needing air. My stomach constricted a couple times and I let out a groan. What was happening?

I got out of bed and ran to the bathroom, acting entirely on instinct, before throwing up in the toilet. I sat on the cold tile floor and shivered until I threw up again, and then once more a little bit. Tears tumbled over my cheeks without my control at the sheer odiousness of the moment. I was never going to drink again.

I waited by the toilet for another minute, but I was already beginning to feel better. I stood up and turned on the sink faucet before swishing some water in my mouth and then spitting. Disgusting.

Surprisingly, the heat had abated, and the constricting had stopped. Was it just the alcohol? I was just glad to have it out of my system. I paused in my room to make sure it wasn't coming back, and then I went downstairs. I heard whispers in the kitchen, but I turned to go into the living room instead. I wasn't exactly hungry after the morning I had.

"Hi, Damon." I said as I walked into the living room and saw him watching a football game.

"Hey, sweetheart." He said in that distinctly Damon way of his. "You doing alright?" he asked as I sat on the couch beside him.

"I'm fine." I replied, stretching out the word as I wrapped my arms around my knees. I wasn't feeling good, but I wasn't going to tell him I was feeling awful. As it turned out, I didn't have to.

"What's wrong?" he asked, giving me a knowing look.

I contemplated lying or brushing his concern off, but then it struck me that Damon was concerned. Or at least, acting like he was. He gave me his full attention as I thought about answering. Silence abruptly filled the room and I turned, perplexed, to the now muted TV. 

"Okay." I croaked in a small voice. "I made you mad at me last night. And Dominic, too. And I threw up this morning but that's a whole other thing."

"Well, throwing up should have helped, huh?" he asked in a gentle way that I hadn't really seen in him before.

I nodded. It really had.

"And as for Dominic, I can't know what he's feeling, but I'm sure he'll get over it." He explained, rubbing his stubbled chin with one hand.

"And you?" I asked, playing with my hands. 

It was quiet for a second, so I looked up to see little crinkles around his eyes. He was happy?

"I'm sorry I got angry last night, baby. I saw you and a boy, and you were very clearly drunk. I assumed he gave you something to drink and you accepted, not knowing what it was. I didn't know where Asher was or what had happened. I was just scared." He said, icy eyes clear like glass. He shrugged his shoulders as if embarrassed.