Hushed voices pulled me from sleep. I cringed at the rising nausea and clutched my belly. God, why do I feel so sick?
My eyes moved back and forth behind my eyelids. The movement was making me more nauseated, and before I knew it, I was falling onto the floor and trying to make it to the bathroom.
Strong arms embraced me, and the toilet appeared a moment later. My back ached as I emptied my stomach and sweat trickled down my cheek. Once the room stopped spinning, I took a deep breath and realized that I was in Aasher’s bathroom.
“Here, baby.” A blue Gatorade was placed in front of my face, and I took it with a shaky hand. I felt dizzy and confused.
After taking a small sip, Aasher took the drink back and put the cap on. My head fell against the wall, and I stared up at the ceiling, breathing in and out of my nose.
“Are you okay?” he asked gingerly, sinking down beside me so our arms brushed.
“I just puked in front of you. Again.” A short laugh left me. “I’ve been better.”
Aasher didn’t laugh. His chest didn’t tumble with a chuckle. Nothing. Curiosity pulled my attention to him, and his lips were pulled into a frown. “Aasher?”
My cheek pressed into his warm hand when he cupped my face. His finger brushed against my skin gently, and warmth flew through me. “Do you remember anything from last night?”
I thought long and hard—so hard it made my head pound.
Shit, that’s a killer headache.
My first worry was if I was going to be ready for tryouts tomorrow, and then I quickly moved past that thought and worried over Aasher’s tightly drawn face and worried gaze. “Um…” I shrugged, hugging my stomach tighter. “I remember going up the stairs and…” My cheeks instantly felt hot.
He cleared his throat. “After that.”
“Dancing.” I tried to piece together the rest of the night. My chest grew tight, and my stomach rolled. “Wait.” My heart raced when things started to come back to me. The broken thoughts were sharp enough to cut me.
“Hey.” Aasher’s fingers softly brushed my cheek again. “Take a breath. You’re okay.”
“Why can’t I remember everything, though?” My bottom lip trembled. I frantically scratched at my throat because it felt tight. For someone that likes to be in control, I felt completely unstable and out of control.
“Baby, calm down.” Aasher pulled me into his lap, and he pressed my head into his neck. I inhaled his scent and focused on the way he was rubbing my lower back. “Please.” A few long seconds passed, and I breathed in and out of my nose, focusing on his warm skin against my cheek. “There you go.”
I was teary-eyed, and I knew, with the little memory I had, what had happened.
“How could I be so irresponsible?”
“No.” Aasher pulled my face up and wiped my tears with his thumbs. His green eyes hardened to stone. “This is not your fault. Don’t you dare.”
I couldn’t fathom it. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that someone else, someone I couldn’t even put a face to, took my control away. Again. I was upset, but I leaned more toward anger than anything.
“Did anything happen?”
It was a girl’s worst nightmare.
“Nothing.” Aasher’s fingers dug into my hair. “I had my eye on you the entire time. We’re still not even sure who could have slipped something into your drink.”
“Sully?”
“He left before we came downstairs.”
I was confused, and my head hurt. I vaguely remembered coming home—if I thought really hard—but the more I tried to unblur my memory, the more my head pounded. “Was Gray there?” I asked, trying to think of anyone who would want to get back at me for something.
“No.” He was just as confused as I was.
“One of the guys who was involved in the bet?” That made the most sense, but would they seriously stoop that low?
“That’s what we’ve been trying to figure out.” We turned toward Ford lingering in the doorway of Aasher’s bathroom. Berkley and Efrain weren’t too far behind him, listening. “Do you remember who gave you the drink?”
The drink.
What drink?
Aasher unscrewed the Gatorade for me again as I sat and thought. I sipped on it before handing it back. “I only remember getting some of the punch because someone in the kitchen said they were out of beer.”
It was rule number one in the college girl handbook: Don’t drink anything you didn’t pour yourself.
“I’m sorry,” I blabbed. “I’m so stupid.”
I let my guard down, and although Aasher was there, and I knew that nothing more had happened, it could have been so much worse.
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Ford snapped before storming away.
Efrain and Berkley followed after him, and I was alone with Aasher again.
His long legs were out in front of him, and that was when I realized he was in the same dark jeans and Henley from last night. “Did you sleep at all?”
I looked at the dark bags beneath his eyes, and he shrugged. “I was afraid you’d need me.”
“I do need you,” I whispered, grabbing his hand.
I shut my eyes when they blurred. My thoughts were messy, and my emotions were all over the place, but the one thing I was certain of was my need to keep someone like Aasher in my life—no matter what.
“Ry.” He swallowed so loud I glanced over at him. “We have to tell your dad.”
I sprung up quickly, knocking the Gatorade bottle halfway across the tiled floor. “No.”
Aasher was behind me faster than I wanted. He caught me around the waist and spun me around, pressing our bodies together. My ear pressed against his chest, and his ramming heart stopped me from wiggling free. “Riley. Someone fucking drugged you, and even though Sully wasn’t there, I am almost positive he had something to do with it.”
“Why would he do that?”
I leaned back and peered into his eyes.
“Sully and I have had it out for each other since high school. When I found out about the bet, I made sure to play my cards right. I didn’t want him to know that I was aware because I knew it would egg him on, and now he knows that you and I are…”
“Did you tell him about us? How could you do that? He is gonna be the first to run to my dad, and who knows what he’ll tell him. My dad is going to kill yo—” Aasher’s finger fell to my mouth, silencing me.
“I don’t give a damn if your dad finds out about us. You were drugged, Riley. I refuse to let that go, so please don’t ask me to.”
This was a mess.
“Is that why you have been hiding me? Not because you think my dad will disapprove but because of Sully?” That is ridiculous.
Aasher darted his attention to the left.
“You’re lying about something.”
“I’m not lying about anything.”
I pulled myself away and sat on his bed. I wasn’t going to let the spinning room stop this conversation from happening. “Then answer my question.”
Aasher pulled on the ends of his hair in frustration. “Riley.”
“I will walk out of this room right now.”
He snapped to attention, dropping his arms by his sides. He didn’t bat an eyelash when the truth fell from his mouth. “Your dad said he’d ruin my chances at the NHL if I broke his trust. It was after he had asked me to watch out for you, to make sure you stayed safe.”
My mouth parted.
“I’d already broken his trust by not telling him about the bet. I thought I could handle things on my own and keep you away from the team, but with doing that, I fell for you. I’ve broken his trust a million times over again, and I wanted to wait until I signed with the Hops before doing anything rash, but I won’t play on a team with someone who is capable of this. You’re not a toy, Riley. I won’t stand for it.” Aasher pushed off the edge of his dresser and flung his bedroom door open.
“Where are you going?!” I asked, jumping up from the bed before wobbling and nearly falling. Aasher was right there to catch me, pushing me down to sit.
“Sit.” He turned to walk away. “I’m going to go fix this.”
“Don’t tell him, Aasher.”
“I’m done hiding you, and I’d rather die by the hands of your father than let Graham Sullivan or his little following have even one tiny goddamn impure thought about you. They made a mistake with that bet, and it’s time they knew it.”
“Wait!” I shouted. “Just wait.”
He paused before shaking his head. “Riley, I’m not playing on a team with someone like him.”
“I don’t expect you to. I’m just as angry, Aasher.”
“But?” he asked, waiting for me to continue.
I dropped my hand. “Just get the facts straight first. Don’t tear apart the team because you think he had something to do with this. It means too much to you and my dad to throw it all away because of me.”
Aasher laughed, but it was edged with sarcasm. He dropped to a knee in front of me. “Riley, don’t you get it? Nothing means more to me than you.”
I was speechless after he walked away and left his apartment.
My hand flew to my mouth and then to my chest as I rubbed the spot my heart was slamming against. His confession was full of truth, but I hated knowing that he was about to throw a wedge into everything he’d worked for.
Because of me.
I stayed on the end of his bed and realized that the apartment was empty. In the midst of trying to figure out a way to find out who was responsible for last night, my phone vibrated. I grabbed it, hoping it was Aasher to let me know he’d changed his mind, but when I saw who it was, my heart sank. Three missed calls and a text from Assistant Coach Davis.
She was informing me that tryouts had been rescheduled.
For today.
I popped up, ignoring the roll of my stomach, and rushed across the hall to my apartment.
Sutton was sipping on a cup of coffee with her phone in her hand when I flew through the door. “I was just about to text you.” She placed the mug down and followed me into the bathroom as I quickly turned the sink on to wash my face. “Are you okay? How are you feeling?”
I turned to her with wide eyes. “Nervous.”
I couldn’t even think about what had happened last night or how I wanted to rush after Aasher and plead my case again. “My tryouts got rescheduled.”
Her brows fell. “For when?”
“Right now.”
