Charming by Haig Moses (1st Draft)

Chapter Eighteen

WHERE IS THE BRIDE

Incessant honking and sirens of cars just outside my windows interrupted my dreams of being carried off my a man on a black stead. We had ridden through the city and into the wilderness before her locked me in a tower and told me it was for my own protection.

Banging on walls and doors, I had cried until I opened my eyes and the sun's light burned my irises. My body slid against smooth sheets as my limbs stretched and the high ceilings of the room cleared. "Tati?" I called slowly untangling myself from the sheets and looking around. The room was larger than expected, but what made my heart plummet was the fact that it was no hotel.

Navy blue walls were adorned with abstract art, awards and plaques. In the far corner a dresser was left with its drawers open, clothes spilling out and all around the floor. Among them my little black dress and heels.

I looked down at my body to see I had been put into a pair of ill fitted pajamas and for a moment my heart stopped. Mind reeling to last night, but the only thing I could remember was getting into the limo with the girls. Everything after was drowned out in flashes of bright lights and champagne.

Flying off the bed I quickly grabbed my clothes before peeling myself from what had been put on me by God knows who after doing Gods knows what to my body. I tried not to put too much thought into it, but my shaking hands couldn't even begin to undo my buttons. The frustration getting the better of me to the point where I just ripped myself free. A couple of the buttons flying across the room. Walter and Tatiana had told me to have fun and let loose, but not this much, I thought as my pants fell to my ankles and I pulled my dress back onto my body.

Grabbing my jacket from the desk chair and phone from the end table I saw it was already after seven in the morning. That along with the twenty missed calls I had from Tatiana, my heart was about to burst. How was I going to explain what happened to me to her. How the hell was I going to get back to the Hamptons? Surely a car would be way too expensive and the bus would take more time than I had.

I grunted falling to my knees as all my options came flooding through into my brain. What did you do? What did you do? What did you do?

I remembered music and Madison crying—or had she been laughing—I went out to get air and... "Are you okay?" Who had that been?

His voice was so...

"What are you doing on the floor?" My body spun around to see Elliot holding two mugs against his bear chest. Pajama pants low on his lips and golden hair tousled for the first time in what seemed like eternity I felt relief. Relief because I was with Elliot. Relief because I was safe and not in some strangers place. There was somebody here that I knew and as my eyes took in my surroundings again I started to spot the little framed photos each containing a photo of Elliot inside.

Jumping to my feet, relief quickly turned into annoyance as I turned on Elliot slapping his chest. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Making me wake up in this strange room alone," I snapped. "I thought I'd been kidnapped, or something. Do you know how terrifying it is to wake up in a strange place by yourself with no recollection of how you got there?"

"Jesus, I thought you'd want some space," he said handing me a mug of coffee. "You were barely aware of what was happening when you called me. Fought me hard enough though, I have the scars to prove it." Turning his left shoulder I saw the nice scratch mark I'd made in my drunken stupor. "Who knew you were so violent when intoxicated."

I rolled my eyes, I wasn't violent, I thought. You probably did something to provoke me. "Did you change me as well?"

At my question Elliot face burned a shade of red I'd only seen once. My throat clenched at the thought of that night.