Little Dark One

19 - hangover

Keira

I woke up with a throw blanket draped over my fully dressed body the next morning. I let my eyes adjust to the faint light peeking through the half closed curtains and within seconds of being awake I immediately felt the strong pounding in my head. It felt like an alarm was going off in my head, alerting me to the killer hangover I would have no choice but to endure today. 

I slowly pushed myself into a sitting position, taking inventory of my other symptoms so I could determine how agonizing my day would truly be. My mouth was bone dry, begging for at least a drop of water, I could feel the nausea and shakiness setting in and flopped back down into the soft pillows with a dramatic groan. 

"How are you feeling?" I recognized his husky voice immediately and pushed back up onto my elbows, startled. I scanned the shadowy room for the man turning my life inside out and upside down.

My eyes landed on him lounging casually in an armchair across the room. The shadows covered parts of his face giving the whole scene a creepy vibe. "As bad as I deserve, given the circumstances." I croaked honestly. 

I sat up turning my body towards him and ran my fingers through the nest on my hungover head, smoothing my messy hair down. I hugged a pillow to my chest before meeting his gloomy gaze again. It was impossible to determine what was on his mind, but I got the feeling he was pissed off, then again that was his default. 

"Alright let's get it over with" I groaned, "How badly did I embarrass myself last night?" 

"How much do you remember?" his question came out low, almost apprehensive if I was reading him right. 

I filtered through the hazy memories from last night, the last thing I remembered clearly was dancing in the den after the deep talk I had with Blaze... Tommy throwing the bourbon at the wall and me over his shoulder, I vaguely remember wanting him to do unspeakably dirty things to me... I clenched my eyes shut and shook my head slightly, as if that could erase the regret and humiliation I felt coursing through me. 

I remember begging for his lips, his touch, I especially remember my drunk ass getting rejected and I decided it was better to live in ignorance than acknowledge my actions. "Too much and not enough..." I answered vaguely, avoiding eye contact like the plague. 

"Hmm." I glanced in his direction briefly at the gravelly unimpressed hum radiating from his chest. The sound coupled with his expression stated he clearly didn't like that answer. I need to change the subject before he decided to press on further. I didn't want to remember my embarrassing drunk escapades with his eyes on my disgustingly hungover state. There was no way I looked anything less than a hot mess right now.

"What are you doing in here anyway, don't you have thugs to boss around or something?" I rolled my eyes at the idea and he clenched his strong jaw. 

"I had to check on you before I leave for the rest of the afternoon." his serious tone contrasted my awkward injection of slight humor. I didn't skip over the fact that he wanted to check on me. Could that mean his cold heart was thawing towards me? Impossible. 

"Where are you going?" I don't know why I even cared, but as far as I knew, Tommy rarely left the compound unless it was important. And after everything with Alejandro last night, his sudden departure was suspicious. 

"I have some business to take care of." His tone made it clear he wasn't going to tolerate any more questions.

"Right." I mumbled, absentmindedly pulling at a feather protruding from the pillowcase. I was feeling too shitty to care anyways. "Am I still drunk or did you say it's afternoon?" 

"It's 3pm."

My head snapped in his direction so fast I probably got whiplash. "No way." I breathed

My reaction elicited a faint smirk from his taunting lips. Finally, some emotion! I cheered internally. I needed to find ways to make him smile more, it was a beautifully rare sight that intensified the butterflies he was causing lately. 

"I have to go." he announced, standing from his dark corner and moving to the door. His hand was reaching for the handle and I panicked, craving a larger dose of his presence like an addict.

"Wait" he looked over his shoulder as I rose from the bed shakily, taking a step towards him. The words were out of my mouth before my brain could filter them "Will I see you again before I leave tonight?" I asked in a small voice. 

"You're not going anywhere." he dropped his hand from the door and turned to face me with a hard look in his eyes. 

"You can't be serious. You know I need to go!" 

"We've been over this." He bit out, his mood darkening fast.  

"Oh, when I was blacked out? Great time to have a serious conversation." I scoffed, avoiding his menacing gaze.

He crossed his muscular arms over his even more muscular chest and raised an eyebrow at me. "Maybe you should have taken the situation you put us in seriously enough to stay sober." 

"The situation I put us in?" my voice rose a few octaves in disbelief. "It's not my fault my psychotic ex got ahold of your men and blackmailed you with their lives!" I argued. 

Seconds ago I was basking in his rare smile, now the butterflies went up in flames inside of me as I faced up against this terrifying man. 

My hand flew over my mouth as soon as my unfiltered outburst played back in my head. I hadn't intended on revealing my relationship with Alejandro. At least not yet. 

He took two huge strides towards me, closing the gap between us. "But it is your fault you didn't stay in the fucking car like I told you to." He got right up in my face in an attempt to intimidate me before continuing "Oh and don't worry, you already spilled all your dark secrets when I carried you to bed last night." He spat out. I was at a loss for words when he threw that in my face, his sneer morphed into a humorless smile, like he enjoyed tormenting me. 

Maybe he did, I wouldn't be surprised. This conversation was reminding me exactly why I hated this guy in the first place. My vision was getting cloudy lately with uninvited feelings, but I was going to put a stop to that and keep my distance. As much as my lavish prison would allow. 

He towered over me with dark daggers raining down on my embarrassment. I desperately filtered through my faded memories of last night, trying to remember anything I could have told him. Who knows how many details I gave up in my drunken state, for all I knew I told him everything. I was so stupid to get drunk and lose control like that. So so stupid. 

I was at a loss for words, there was nothing to say now. Until I got my memories back there was no way of knowing how badly I fucked up. I barely registered the door slamming behind Tommy.