Tipsy(22)

My foot paused in midair.

The hall light flipped on.

Blue stood over me with a look of pained frustration on his face. I lay there stunned. He was the last freaking person I expected to see. In fact, if asked to guess who would be more likely to be in my home in the middle of the night, Blue or a burglar, I would not have chosen Blue.

Maybe I was a lot drunker than I thought.

“Blue?” I asked tentatively.

His gaze dropped a little lower than my face, and I realized I still had my foot raised in the air… and I wasn’t wearing pants.

Well, shit.

I jumped to my feet quickly, letting the oversized shirt fall to my knees.

“Is that a razor?” he asked, blinking at the handle clutched in my hand.

I nodded dumbly.

He lifted his hand, which was bleeding freely, and looked at it, then back at me. “You gouged my hand with a pink razor,” he said, almost like he was talking to himself.

Then he blinked his eyes and wiped at his face. “Did you spray me with hairspray?”

“What did you expect?” I said irritably. “You broke into my house.”

He sighed dramatically. “I needed to see you.”

Okay, those five little words completely made my stomach turn over. Butterflies erupted and caused my insides to tremble.

Those feelings coupled with the adrenaline, the alcohol, and the fear were not a good combination.

I slapped a hand over my mouth and rushed back through my room and into the bathroom, where I fell to my knees in front of the toilet and proceeded to hurl.

Gah, throwing up was like the grossest thing ever. And the sounds my body made… It was like a tiny alien was crawling its way out of my body and torturing me in the process.

My back heaved and pain sliced through my sides. My body was so desperate to get rid of everything that was bothering it that my heaves were violent.

I felt someone crouch behind me and sweep my hair off my face. The cool air that brushed over my neck felt blissful.

“It’s okay,” Blue whispered rubbing his palm in slow circles across my back. My body relaxed beneath his touch. I would have been angry at my body’s response if I wasn’t feeling so lousy.

After my stomach emptied its entire contents and a cold sweat had broken out over my skin, I finally stopped heaving. My body was utterly exhausted and I just wanted to collapse. I sat back away from the toilet and my body slid toward the floor.

Blue was there and he lifted me up into his arms and carried me gently into the bedroom and walked toward the bed.

“What the hell happened to your bed?” he asked, eyeballing the heap of covers in the center.

“I was asleep when you broke in,” I muttered.

He shoved the blankets aside and laid me down. “How much did you drink tonight?” he asked, gently pushing a damp strand of hair off my cheek.

I groaned. “One rum and coke and a shot of vodka.”

“That’s it?” he asked skeptically.

“And a couple sips of another rum and coke.”

He was silent for a long time, and I cracked my eyes open and looked at him. Even with only the light from the bathroom, I could see he was frowning and pale.

“What?”

“Jules,” he began, sitting down beside me, causing my body to slide closer to him as the mattress dipped.

He called me Jules.

I liked it.

“Hey,” he said, calling me back from my swooning. “Did he give you anything to drink… anything at all?”

I knew who the “he” was that Blue was talking about. “You mean like drugs?”

He nodded stiffly.

“No. I would never take drugs.”

“Did he buy you a drink?”

I knew he was thinking of the date rape drug.

“No. He didn’t. I wouldn’t have drunk it anyway.”

My words didn’t seem to make him feel better. He gazed down at me with worry lacing his face. I sighed. “I never drink, okay? I didn’t eat dinner so that just made it worse.”

He ran a hand over his head, pulling off the knit cap as he went and tossing it on the floor. Then he stood and paced to the end of the bed. “This is all my fault,” he muttered.

You know… I had imagined a time when Blue was here in my bedroom with me and this was not the scene I was picturing.

Disappointment crackled over me and I sat up, swinging my legs over the bed.

“I think you should lie down,” Blue said, coming over to my side.

“I think you should tell me what the hell a cop is doing breaking and entering.” I glanced at him with narrowed eyes. “You are a cop, aren’t you?”

He barked a laugh. “Yes.”

I stared at him, waiting for the explanation I deserved.

“Your front door was unlocked,” he said sternly. Like it was somehow my fault he invited himself in.