Well unless you counted the times that Asshole Kellar slipped whatever the hell he did into my drink, but that wasn’t voluntary. Panic over the whole situation must have blinded me to the same symptoms, and adrenaline must have kept me going, because now I was crashing. Hard.
“Coby?” Travis shouted. “Get out here.”
He slipped an arm under my back, one under my knees, and lifted me up. Feeling woozy but safe, I huddled into his chest and gratefully closed my eyes. I wanted to be angry, but my energy levels had reached critical flashy red light status and that image of Jared was still stuck on repeat, ensuring I wouldn’t forget the pain.
“What is it?” I dimly heard Coby ask.
Travis sounded grim as he cradled me gently to his chest. “She’s been drugged.”
I tried to lift my head to speak to Coby and tell him I was okay, that I was sorry, but I couldn’t move.
My eyes were slits as I watched Coby slam his fist against the wall in anger, jaw ticking as he struggled for control. At that moment, I hated myself for what my actions had done to him. Our lives had not been easy: Dad taking off, losing Mum, him taking responsibility for me only to watch me slowly self-destruct. Now it appeared to be happening all over again. He pulled out his phone and began dialling, and I closed my eyes again because the agony in his expression was enough to make me want to howl.
After a moment, he spoke. “Jared’s phone is off. Can you get her to the hospital for me, Travis? She needs to be checked over. I want a blood test so we’ve got the means to lay this fucker out.”
I heard him whisper something further in Travis’s ear, but I couldn’t make it out. All I knew was that what he said was cause for Travis to grip me tighter in his arms, and I felt a shudder rip through his body.
He rumbled something, feeling the soothing vibrations against his chest, and next thing I knew I was being placed gently in a car.
Travis climbed in the driver’s seat, started the car, and negotiated his way out of the parking lot.
I stared blankly out the car window as I spoke. “I saw Jared last night. At the stadium,” I whispered. “I never felt anything so right in all my life as what I felt when he was there. I love him so much, Travis. You know that, don’t you?”
I turned to face him, and he shot me a sympathetic glance as he drove.
“Sweetheart, everything will work out. I promise you. I don’t know how you managed to slip out last night without one of us noticing you. We all feel responsible, so don’t place the blame on yourself. You were drugged so I would imagine you didn’t even know you’d left. It’s our fault. This is on us because we were supposed to be looking after you.”
I heard my phone ring, interrupting my intended reply, and I reached for my bag while Travis fumbled in his pocket. He pulled out my phone and handed it over with a shrug.
“We found it on the table at the bar. That’s why it took so long for us to find you. We couldn’t track you through your phone.”
I glanced at the display, noting an unknown number.
“Hello?” I mumbled.
The sinister voice that answered left me reeling. “Hello, Evie.”
I let my breath out in a whoosh and when Travis gave me a questioningly glance, I put the phone on speaker.
“Jimmy? Is that you?”
Travis swore under his breath, yanking the steering wheel hard left and pulling off to the side of the road. He put his finger to his lips, and I nodded to indicate I understood he wanted to listen quietly.
“Yes, you remember me? Good. This must be a nice surprise for you.”
Oh yes, a lovely surprise because remember when I thought my day couldn’t get worse? I was ready to tell him to go dip himself in a pot of boiling oil, and then throw my phone out the window, but Travis rolled his hand to indicate I should keep talking.
I nodded back in reply. “I…ahh…” What does one say to a sinister stalker? How are you? What are you up to today? Any murder plans or kidnapping on the cards? Yes? Oh good, let me know how that works out for you. I decided to keep it simple. “What do you want?”
“I’m so glad you asked me that, Evie. I wanted to welcome you home from your tour. I’ve missed seeing you.”
Thoughts of him seeing me literally had me gagging, and Travis reached out and took my hand, squeezing it tightly in support.
“Have I lost you, Evie? Still there?”
I nodded in response even though he couldn’t see me. “Yes, yes I’m here.” My voice trembled and I hated that Jimmy could hear the fear in it.
“Good. You know, with you being surrounded by your goon squad and the tour and all, I haven’t been able to give you the Christmas gift I promised you.”
“I don’t want anything from you, Jimmy.” I wanted to kick the dash of the car as anger overtook the fear and I glared at the phone.
He let out a shout of laughter. “Well, I’m afraid it’s too late for that.”
I glanced at Travis in panic and his hand gripped mine tighter.
“What do you mean?”
Jimmy gave a loud, dramatic sigh. “Are you saying you don’t remember last night? I’m not surprised.” He chuckled. “I must say, having the drugs slipped into your drinks I was hoping you’d slip out all on your lonesome, and I’d finally get my hands on you, but no,” he snarled, starting to sound angry, “you had to stumble your way out with that pierced, tattooed loser. Tell me, have you moved on from Jared so quickly?”
I sat there in blank shock. “That was you?”
“Of course it was me. Thought it was a nice touch after I read about what happened between you and that James Kellar all those years ago. What would have been nicer was if there was a nice high balcony where you could have had your second chance and finally got it right.”
“James Kellar?” Travis mouthed at me with a questioning glance.
I shook my head at him in reply, and my body, though completely worn down, still managed to shake in anger.
“You stupid asshole,” I shouted. “If you think―”
“Now, now,” he interrupted. “No need to be an ungrateful bitch. I only wanted to make sure you were happy with your present. Now that I know, I can tell you you’ll get the rest of it tonight. I can’t wait, can you?”
He hung up and I threw my phone at the dash, wishing for a quick, effective teleportation to the fluffy white cloud that was my bed. I had a serious urge to bunker down until my next life was upon me.
My phone once again began a mad buzz, and I picked it back up to see it was simply notification of a flood of messages and missed calls which right now seemed like a mountain I was unable to climb. I threw the phone back at the dash and glanced at Travis.
His jaw was clenched and if I had to determine the expression on his face, I would liken it to really fucking unhappy. I placed a gentle hand on his arm as he gripped the steering wheel tightly. “Hey.”
He jolted, as though a million miles away. “Sick of this shit,” he muttered. He pulled out his phone, dialled, and held it to his ear. “Coby,” he said after a moment. “No, we’re not there yet. You need to get Matt down to the hospital too because the drugs were from Jimmy. Yeah, I know, could be he got dosed too.” He paused for a long moment. “No shit? Well he’s promised something else for tonight, so we need to meet with security. No, he didn’t, but it’s their last show of the tour so you’d think he’d―” Another long pause. “Roger that.”
Travis hung up and carelessly tossed his phone to the dash, meeting mine in a joint huddle of rejection. Pulling back out into traffic, he spoke as he concentrated on the road. “Are you okay?”
“Not really.”
“Coby said Matt told him that a tray of shots were the only drinks you two shared so―”
“Ethan!” I blurted out. “He bought the tray of shots.”
Was he somehow in on the whole thing? That didn’t make sense.
“So Matt spoke to Ethan and Ethan told him that a man by the bar handed him the tray of sho
ts, telling him it was your drink order and could he take them over to you.”
“Do you think it was Jimmy that gave him the actual tray?”
Travis nodded as pulled up at a set of red lights, indicating to turn left. “Either him or someone he’s paid off. We’ve got someone heading over there to see about getting footage from the bar’s security cameras.”
We were both quiet for the rest of the drive to the hospital, and twenty minutes later, I was sitting on the edge of a hospital bed in the emergency department. Travis sat in the corner murmuring quietly into the phone that now appeared to have become surgically attached to his ear since we vacated the car.
When the privacy curtain flung open and Matt stalked in, Travis quickly ended his call and stood, slowly unfolding his glowering, six foot four inch intimidating frame out of the chair.
Matt ignored him, instead, focusing on me by looking me over carefully. “I want to talk to, Evie. In private,” he said to Travis without taking his eyes from mine.
Travis didn’t budge and I took a brief moment to appreciate his glaring stance because the take charge Valentine men were always a sight to behold.
“It’s okay, Travis.”
He nodded and slowly closed the distance between himself and Matt. “I’ll be right outside, Evie.” He trained his eyes on Matt in silent warning as he left.
“You okay?” Matt asked.
I cringed at his reddened jaw. “Am I?” I huffed out a brief laugh. “What about you? You’ll be glad to see the back of me. I keep getting you into situations where you come out of it with a punch to the face. Unless, uh, violence is your kinda thing? I mean you don’t seem to possess the natural, inherent capacity for fear like most people do. Fear can be a good thing, you know,” I joked. “Keeps you alive.”
He snickered quietly. “Sorry. I can’t help it. Jared reminds me of someone I used to know.”
“And that makes you antagonistic because?”
Matt did his whole scratch the back of his neck, nervous habit thing and let out a big sigh. “Because the someone I used to know is…was someone I loved and he…” Matt stopped and I saw actual tears form in his eyes. “He…”
Matt sagged against the side of the bed and the most I could manage was a brief shuffle to get close and wrap one arm around his defeated form.
“You don’t need to say any more. I get it now. I’m sorry.”
The silence for a few moments was comforting.
“I’m sorry about last night, Evie. It’s coming back to me little by little. The way you acted straight after the shots immediately had Ethan and I on edge. That’s why I pulled you up for the dance. I wanted to keep an eye on you and also see if I could pinpoint anyone watching you by moving around on the dance floor without being obvious. Honestly, I was only looking out for you, but after we hit fresh air outside, I just felt so out of it. How we got back to my suite, I don’t really know. I vaguely remember peeling off my clothes, crawling into bed, and passing out, so I can assure nothing happened. No offence, but what you’ve got doesn’t do it for me at all. That combined with heavy drinking and drugs, well, I wouldn’t have been able to get it up for anyone.”
“You were looking out for me, Matt, and you have nothing to apologise for. I’m the one who’s sorry. Coby told you about Jimmy?” Matt nodded so I continued. “We can’t seem to shake him off because he keeps going underground. I’ve been starting to think he must be living in the sewers.” I mustered a smile.
Travis came back in. “Talk’s over guys. The nurse will be here in a couple of minutes.”
Matt nodded, gave my shoulder a reassuring pat, and said he’d see me tonight before he left the room.
“Travis―”
Travis held up a palm to cut me off. “Evie, you should know I heard your entire conversation. I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on you so the other side of the curtain was the furthest I was willing to go. Sorry for the lack of privacy but right now that’s the least of our concerns.”
“So you know about Matt then?”
He nodded.
“Well he’s not out to the world, Travis, so please keep that bit of information to yourself.”
Travis looked a bit insulted. “Do you think I’m gonna go to the nearest tabloids, Evie? Relax. I’m telling Jared though.”
“Have you spoken to him yet? I don’t have my phone. I left it on your dash.”
“Fuck, sweetheart.” Travis’s eyes flared irritably. “You need to keep your phone with you at all times okay? We’ve told you that before.”
The curtain whipped open again and this time Coby strode in. Reaching my side, he rubbed my back gently as he asked how I was doing. Telling him I was doing much better, he still ordered me to lie down.
When the nurse came in, she commanded Coby and Travis to leave, not looking the least intimidated when they both folded their arms and didn’t budge.
She eyed the two massive specimens of man and let out a sigh as she turned to me. “How did you get so lucky? Not just one, but two of them. Bit greedy, aren’t you?” she said with a wink.
I chuckled thinking it would probably bring on a stroke if Jared and Casey put in an appearance as well. “You haven’t seen the rest of them.”
She gave me a look of disbelief as she tied a tourniquet around my bicep in preparation to take a blood sample. “There’s more of those? Honey, I am your new best friend.”
“I could always do with more friends,” I offered.
She swabbed the inside of my elbow with an alcoholic wipe. “So what are we testing for today?”
Coby spoke up, sparks firing in his eyes. “She was drugged last night at a bar.”
“What time was that?”
Everyone looked at me as they waited for an answer, and I started to feel light-headed as I racked my brain for the time. “Um…….maybe about one...ish?”
The nurse wrote something down before she came at me with a needle.
“Sweetie,” she said, looking sympathetic. She frowned at both Coby and Travis before she leaned close to my ear, lowering her voice until I strained to hear her. “Do we need to do a rape kit?”
My blood instantly ran cold and then hot as I flushed uncomfortably. “No! No…nothing like that happened.”
She turned to look at Coby and Travis again. “Maybe you should leave,” she asked pointedly, obviously thinking I was unwilling to admit anything with the two of them in the room.
Coby shook his head stubbornly and the nurse sighed.
The curtain shoved open again, and Mitch walked in looking tired and rumpled, his detective badge clipped to the waistband of his worn jeans. His eyes immediately found mine and they softened with concern.
“My God,” the nurse barked out, and everyone jerked at the sound, including her. At her sudden movement, I feared the needle in my arm would snap clean in half and my blood would spurt out in some horror movie parody. “You were right, there is more. How many more? You need to pre-warn unsuspecting females about these types of things.”
This was true and I would have voiced my agreement, however, I was too busy cringing in pain.
She mumbled an apology and began to fill another vial full of blood. How much was she going to take? I wanted to shout for biscuits and orange juice STAT before I started to fade away.
After she finished harassing me with medical devices, and after I’d told Mitch everything I could remember, twice, Coby took me home so I could sleep off the effects of the drugs. I spoke to both Mac and Henry before I dozed off, promising I would be in the best shape of my life to perform the last show of the tour at the Sydney stadium tonight.
In the early afternoon, Peter’s loud snoring woke me, and I could hear rummaging sounds in my wardrobe. Rubbing at my face as I struggled to surface into the real world, I heard a strange muttering that sounded suspiciously like “My God, Mac was right.”
When Tim bustled out of my wardrobe with an arm full of clothes, I flopped back down on my pillow, groaning at
the return of the wrecking ball.
He dropped the clothes all over my bedroom floor and went rushing to the bedside table to hand over some Panadol and water.
“How are you feeling?”
I rubbed at my forehead wearily. “A hundred percent.”
He forced a laugh, peppering me with questions while he fussed for a few moments before disappearing back into my wardrobe, only to return with another load of clothes.
“What are doing?”
“Performing miracles it seems.”
I set the glass of water on the bedside table and sank back into the downy depths of the doona. “Oh?”
“Mac was right. We need to go shopping.”
He plucked a shirt out of the pile with the caricature of a person drinking a beer and held it up as though it was going to bite his face off. “‘Rehab is for Quitters’? That has got to go.” He shuddered with distaste and flung it across the room.
“Hey,” I mumbled. “That was a present from Frog.”
He held out another one and squealed. “'Come to the Nerd Side. We have Pi?' That is just weird! And lame. How many of these vile things do you have?”
“That one was from Hairy Parry. The rest are all from Cooper, so you can’t throw them away, Tim. Trust me, I wear the shirts he buys me around the house all the time. He’ll notice if I suddenly stop. What are you doing anyway?”
“A clean out for the Salvation Army by the looks of all this rubbish.” He eyed the piles distastefully as he made his way back into the wardrobe. “This might work.” He came back out holding a gold coloured silk camisole with shoestring straps. “I’m under orders from Mac to get you dressed and in Rockstar Goddess mode for tonight,” he explained. He laid the camisole on my bed and disappeared again. “Go and get in the shower.”
“We’ve got ages yet,” I whined and bunkered down, Peter snuggling close as he angled for a belly scratch.
Tim emerged long enough to throw me a withering look. “Have you seen yourself? Trust me, we need all the time we can get.”
“Fine,” I growled and whipped back the covers. “But I’m wearing what I choose to wear.”
As I stalked to the bathroom, I was pretty sure I heard him mumble something that sounded like, “Not in this life time.”
Give Me Love Page 29