Forever Luminescent

Chapter 46

THE CEILING OF HER room came into view like a slow panning of a camera. Until she dashed out of her covers and into the master bathroom to hunch over her toilet. Her insides threatened to pour out of her mouth as tears stung her eyes. She retched over her toilet bowl, heaving and gagging as puke came out.

Gwenn vaguely noticed her hair being brushed back out of her way as she continued throwing up. She coughed when what seemed like the last of it fell out of her mouth. She clutched at her stomach, wiping at her lips with the back of her hand as she slumped back onto strong, sturdy legs. She took one second to breathe in before dropping the toilet lid and flushing her bad decisions down.

"I am never drinking again," she mumbled, unable to get herself off her bathroom linoleum floors. A deep chuckle came from behind her, and she looked back to find Ronan peering down at her in rumpled clothes and messy hair. "Oh, so I didn't dream you up. You actually were there."

He crouched down beside her. "Not a dream, honey. And please don't ever get drunk again," he said, tugging a strand of her hair behind her ear.

She winced. "That bad?"

"Absolutely horrible, but I'm glad it was me taking care of you and not someone taking advantage." He smiled, and her heart sped up despite her thoughts circling back to her toilet that looked way too welcoming.

"Gosh, I'm sorry," she said, pressing her forehead against the palms of her hands. "I don't remember much."

"I figured you wouldn't," Ronan said, picking himself back up. She squinted to be able to see him from her place on the floor. "Why don't you clean up while I go make breakfast?"

She nodded, watching him trail out and closing the door behind him. Her heart and head pounded in unison.

After a needed shower, she stepped into her kitchen as the smell of sizzling bacon wafted over her apartment. She swept her wet hair behind her shoulders as she plopped herself on her island stools. Ronan looked back from her stove, his hair still a mess on his head, but his clothes looked a bit better on his body.

"Good morning," he said, taking one of her plates and stacking a few strips of bacon beside a pancake and scrambled eggs. He presented it to her before reaching out for the syrup he had taken out of her cabinets. "Food for the lovely lady."

"Thank you." Gwenn tried hard to stop the blush threatening to come through. "You didn't have to do all this."

Ronan turned around to fetch her a glass of water and two aspirins. "I wanted to."

He stood on the other side of the island, eating his own plate of breakfast. She feared to look at him directly after the night they had. She didn't remember anything that had happened, and that made her terrified to even be in his presence. Alcohol was like a truth serum. She could have confessed many things and not know anything that tumbled out of her mouth.

"I've been meaning to reach out," Ronan said, interrupting the silence. "I got the spot at MNTR."

Flashes of Wolf cornering her at the Christmas gala came back, but she swallowed them down as she beamed up at Ronan. "I know. I wanted to congratulate you. I knew you could do it."

His eyebrows furrowed. "How did you-" He searched her face. "Wolf?"

"Yup," she said after a bite of crunchy bacon. "He was quite pissed." A shiver ran down her spine, and she rubbed at her arm unconsciously. "At least we won't be seeing him for a while. Not with what my mom did to his dad two weeks ago."

His expression was blank, but his eyes bored deep into hers. "What happened?"

Gwenn recounted the whole thing for the second time in the last twenty-four hours. Ronan stood in utter silence, listening to the story of the Christmas gala over in Hales Bay. How she bumped into Wolf, spoke with her parents, and then witnessed her mother tear Russell Lawrence to shreds in front of everyone.