just in time to hurl all the Doritos and the cucumber sandwich I’d eaten hours earlier into the porcelain bowl.
I could hear Everett muttering to himself, and I took a moment to make sure my stomach had settled before rinsing out my mouth and splashing some water onto my face.
He was going to need a shower, so I grabbed a spare towel and one of his shirts from my room and set them on the vanity.
When I returned to the living room, he was on his stomach, but otherwise, he was exactly where I’d left him. In his own vomit.
I shook him, poked him, and tried to gently slap his cheeks, but he wouldn’t stir.
Panic sliced sharp, and I gripped his arm in both hands, tugging him up with every bit of strength I possessed. “Everett, shit. Help me out here.” I tried to joke to stop the barrage of tears strangling my throat.
He groaned and moved to sit up. “Clover?” He stared down at the floor. “Fuck. What the hell?”
“You vomited, and now you need a shower.”
He stared at it for a moment, then started gagging.
Jesus Christ.
Finally, after throwing up one more time, he crawled toward the hall, slapping a puke-covered hand onto the wall to help himself up.
I was right there, my arm going around his waist to help support him.
We made it to the bathroom before I felt him teeter, and I glanced up to find his eyes were shut. “Everett,” I screamed as we both went down.
Pain radiated up my side and through my elbow, and he grumbled out a string of curse words, rubbing at his forehead, which I think smacked into the toilet seat.
Wincing at the pang in my elbow, I crawled over to him and undid his jeans.
“Do you need me, Clover?” he slurred out.
I ignored him. Sex was the absolute last thing on my mind as I yanked at his fly, then tugged.
When I had his pants down to his ankles, I pulled off the sock he hadn’t managed to remove earlier. Then I pulled the pants from his body, almost flying back into the bathtub.
And he was passed out again.
Sighing and feeling a tightening in my stomach, I left him there in his briefs, black T-shirt, and with his head slumped against the wall. I needed some help.
Adela didn’t answer, and though I considered it, it was too late to call Gloria and Sabrina. Not only that, but they’d only just started warming to Everett. He didn’t need their judgment right now.
With the band staying near the studio, at least an hour’s drive away, that left only one other person.
After staring at the screen of my phone for a few minutes, I unlocked the door for him, then returned to Everett. I turned on the shower, hoping the steam would help rouse him. Maybe sober him up a little.
“You okay?” I heard from the door not even five minutes after I’d called, explained, then hung up.
I met his dark gaze and swallowed over the knot constricting my throat, making it hard to breathe. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “I’ve got this. Go sit down.”
I hesitated as Aiden walked over and hauled Everett from the ground.
Everett woke up, limbs flailing, as Aiden carefully maneuvered him into the bathtub.
“What the shit?” Everett shot confused eyes from Aiden to me, but the confusion wasn’t enough to hide the betrayal. “Don’t touch me.”
Aiden backed off, and Everett slid into the tub, his shirt clinging to his chest as he wiped his hands over his face and let the water rain down on him.
“I’ll get him some water.”
Aiden followed. “You’re bleeding.”
The glass almost slipped from my hand as I turned the tap off. “What?”
Aiden grabbed the water from me, then, with eyes full of fear, he gestured to my ass.
I reached behind me, no room for shame as fear invaded, and felt it. “No.”
Aiden took the water to the bathroom, and I heard more cursing, followed by the shower shutting off.
He returned with my purse and a towel, but I couldn’t move. “Let’s go.” Shifting me to the sink, he rinsed the blood from my fingers.
“But Everett…”
“Fuck that.” He turned off the tap. “Something isn’t right, Stevie. Forget him and think about you for a minute.” Then he led me out of the apartment, closing the door behind us.
I’d thought I was doing okay with the idea of becoming a mother, but it had been a lie. A carefully constructed lie to not only put on