“Charlie!” Her exclamation was muffled. She sounded like she was miles away from me. I shook my head a few times, fighting back the darkness, but eventually I couldn’t any longer. I slumped forward, knowing at least tonight my mom would be there to catch me when I fell. My last thought was about the plump vein throbbing on her neck.
Loud voices broke through the fuzzy static in my head. I groaned, trying to remember what had happened last night. Images filtered through slowly. I’d gone out with Tessa, and … drank a lot. Was that why I had this craptastic static in my head?
“Charlie, can you hear me, sweetheart?”
That voice was familiar. What was Mom doing in my dorm? I tried to pry open my eyes. It took more than one attempt for me to crack them a sliver.
“Mom…” I croaked out. “What’s going on?”
I felt her cool hands on my face, and I groaned as pain shot through me. I felt like I was burning up. I was sick. Sicker than I’d ever remembered being. This was so not a simple hangover.
“I need you to listen to me, Charlene Anne Bennett. I love you more than anything in this world, and it doesn’t matter what anyone says to you in the next few days, that will never change. Do you understand me?” Her voice was strong and didn’t waver.
Holy shit, she was scaring me.
Fear gave me the boost of adrenalin I needed to pry my lids fully open, and my mother’s worried face came into view. She wasn’t the only one either. Standing behind her, one on either side, were two ash. Both of them had those eerie black eyes with the silver rings locked on me. I realized then I wasn’t in my dorm. I was lying on my mother’s kitchen floor. Why was I in my mother’s house? Actually, more importantly, why were ash in my mother’s house?
“Mom…”
I needed to get her out of here. Ash were dangerous, especially in a private residence with no one around to help us.
“I’m so sorry, Charlie. I tried to tell you so many times. But … I didn’t think it could ever happen. You were a girl, so you had to be John’s.”
I struggled to get up, and with assistance from my mom I managed to get into a sitting position. From this angle, I was suddenly mesmerized by the pulsing vein in the side of her neck. I opened and closed my eyes a few times, but still, when I looked again, the vein was definitely pulsing with blood.
One of the ash picked up his phone, and pressing a button lifted it to his ear. He muttered three words:
“We need Ryder.”
And just like that I passed out again.
This time when I awoke my mom wasn’t there, and unlike the fuzziness from before, I had all of my memories and they were crystal clear. Holy shit. There had been ash in my mom’s house. My feet had healed in seconds. The bloody dream. The vein in my mom’s neck. What the actual hell was wrong with me? Was my drink spiked last night with something … some sort of hallucinogen? A human growth hormone that made my body go nuts? There had to be a medical explanation.
I looked down. I was clothed in a starched, white hospital gown. Mom must have brought me here after I spazzed out on her and lost consciousness twice. But a glance around only raised my confusion. This didn’t look like any room I’d ever seen at Legacy Hospital. For one thing, it was way too big and teched out, and it had a huge glass window, like an observation station, dominating the entire right wall. A shadow darted across the window and I jerked my head a little, trying to see what was there. Was it a doctor creeping around? Or was there some awesome stalker in my life?
A throat cleared behind me. Standing three feet from my hospital bed was him, the gorgeous, deadly-looking ash from the club last night. Ryder. Had he been standing there the entire time? What the hell was in my drinks last night?
My focus locked on him again and the air almost sizzled between us. That strange pull was still there, a connection I sure as shit did not want with an ash. Speaking of … what the fuck was he doing in my hospital room?
There was very little expression on his face; his jaw was clenched. I swallowed hard, my tongue swollen. I was so goddamn thirsty it felt like my head was going to explode. I lifted my arm to adjust my position and found that I was chained to the bed.
Oh hell no. It was becoming startlingly clear that my initial instinct had been correct. This wasn’t a freakin’ hospital.
Ryder hadn’t moved. His dark eyes seemed to be locked on mine. Finally, he shook his head. “It can’t be.” His words were low and muttered, not really intended for my ears.
I pulled against the chains. “Where the hell am I? What have you done with my mom? You need to let me go right now. This is all kinds of jacked up and against the law.”