Heartstrings - Forbidden Hearts Series Prequel

15| Playing With Fire

"Aspirin, aspirin, aspirin. Where the hell is the aspirin..."

Being bent over while I rummaged through the bottom drawer of the bathroom sink was not helping my migraine. But I was in a hurry. I had roughly thirty minutes to get down to the beach before Lanie would come looking for me.

With all the weirdness that has been this morning, I really didn't need this right now. What I needed was a normal day on the beach with my girls. I just wanted to lay out under the sun and go swimming. I wanted to relax. Maybe the three of us could go somewhere tonight. Maybe we could see an actual movie.

That sounded nice. Being in the darkness of a theater while we stuffed our faces with candy and popcorn. Sign me up. But first I needed to find that damn aspirin. Otherwise the rest of the day was not going to be spent relaxing. 

"Well, well. Isn't this a sight."

My cheeks heated instantly and I straightened. Squeezing my eyes shut, I mentally cursed myself. Why didn't I close the bathroom door when I came in here? That would have been the smart thing to do, wouldn't it? But no. I had to leave it wide open so that the one person I was avoiding could catch me in this position and stare at my ass.

When I finally turned around, I mentally cursed myself. Again. Why did he have to look so damn attractive right now?

"You just going to stare at me, gorgeous?"

"I'm not staring at you," I lied, crossing my arms over my chest. "And don't call me gorgeous. I was looking for aspirin. I have a migraine."

Nathan leaned against the door frame. "Not surprising. You were pretty out of it last night."

Don't fall for it, Karma. He was baiting me. He wanted me to ask him about what happened. Well, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"I'm fine, Nathan. Is there something you wanted? I'm kinda in a hurry."

It came out bitchy, but I didn't care right now. All I cared about was putting distance between me and a certain Jenkins. And finding that damn Aspirin bottle.

"I found this on my bed. Wanna tell me why?"

He held that folded black t-shirt in his hand. The same one I woke up in. The one I returned to his room before starting my search.

"I returned your shirt."

He cocked his head to the side curiously. "Didn't you get my note? I told you to keep it. I want you to keep it."

Mayday. Mayday.

"Thanks, but I don't need or want it."

Nathan scoffed and shook his head at me. "I knew this would happen. To be honest, I thought I was the one who was going to be giving the cold shoulder and freaking out." He took a step back to leave. "God, I fucking knew I should have said no to you last night."

"Wait," I called when he started to leave. "Said no about what?"

Realization dawned on him. "You don't remember, do you?"

I shifted on my feet, dropping my gaze and tucking a hair behind my ear. "I remember the club..."

"But not after?"

"The rest of the night is kind of a blur," I muttered.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Well, shit. I guess it's my lucky day then, isn't it?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I snapped, assuming he meant that since I didn't remember that he was off the hook for dealing with it and free to move on to some random bimbo.