Smash!

•F O R T Y O N E•

Jamie's POV

When I come to, I find it hard to stay conscious, and immediately just want to black out again.

"Jamie," I try to see past the spots blurring my vision, the fluorescent lighting stinging my green eyes till they water up. "Jamie." I make out Riley's voice, the urgency in his strained tone catching my disoriented attention.

"Riley?" I try, not recognizing my hoarse voice. It's as if I'm trying to talk through a mouthful of cotton balls. How unbearably dry my mouth is doesn't help at all. I'm parched. The inside my mouth feels like a drought.

"Jamie. Jamie. Jamie. Jamie!" Following the sound of his voice, I find Riley strapped down to a tattoo chair, straining to pull free from his restraints.

"Jamie, are you okay?!" Riley demands, reaching for me despite being tied down at the wrists, his fingers stretch out towards me helplessly at his side.

"Are..." My head starts to pound with a fierce headache as I try to make sense of things. I try to sit up, but like Riley, I'm strapped down into a tattoo chair by the wrists and ankles. "Are we in a tattoo parlor?"

"Nate, that bastard," Riley spits, thrashing against his ropes. "I swear to god, if whatever that goon from the restaurant put in our drinks was addictive, I'm gonna put him in the nearest hospital."

I tug at the ropes, getting nowhere. I'm completely numb, as if every limb was injected with a heavy dosage of novocaine. I feel like a heavy, useless rock against the chair.

"Is Ginger finally awake?" Nate's voice comes from above me. Fingers digging into my scalp, while a bulky ring presses hard against the top of my cranium. Forcing my red head around, Nate comes into focus. The dirty blonde looms over me, his flared nostrils caked in a white substance.

"Morning, sunshine." Nate dips low, his unnaturally pale tongue darting out like a slithering snake is the last thing I see. The tip of his nose piercing feels icy against my skin, as he runs the length of his tongue from my chin to my forehead. His sticky salvia leaves a trail across my skin, though it's nothing compared to Nate's moggy, humid breath fuming against me like the worst day of summer. I try to make myself small against the chair, the flesh under Nate's touch feeling as if it's getting scorched.

"Nate!" Riley lets out an aggravated yell as he thrashes twice as hard against the ropes, that the chair under him rattles. "Let us out of here!"

With an annoyed gleam in his dilated green eyes, Nate wordlessly goes over to Riley's chair. Without warning, Nate's ring cladded rings hammers down against Riley's nose with a god awful crack.

"Fuck," Riley spits out the blood gushing down from his broken nose. "you!"

"You've never had the balls to say that to me before. I'm not sure whether I'm impressed, or angry." Nate scoffs, grabbing a fistful of Riley's matted dark hair. "But since you're my best friend - since we're all such good friends - I'll let it go." I don't like the excited look on Nate's face. The numbness starts to fade away, a sore ache all over my body takes its place as I start to regain motion.

"Nate." I tense up under the rope. "Why are we tied down?" I don't know how I manage my voice to come out so steady, but I just hope I can keep this tone.

"That's easy. It's for your safety." Unable to move from the neck down, I have to settle for following Nate move around the tattoo parlor with my eyes. "People squirm too much when it comes to needles. This is too make sure none of you hurt yourselves." Nate explains with a smug smirk that makes my blood run cold.