of her friend’s arms and into my own.
“I... she... I don’t know. God.” Her voice quivered. “This is such a mess.” Felicity wept as I slid my hands under Hailee’s thighs and scooped her up, cradling her against me. She moaned, her head rolling to the side.
“F- Flick?” It was a garbled murmur.
“Ssh, I got you,” I said, my voice thick. Glancing over at the house, it was obvious the party was still raging on inside.
“Cameron, we need to go. She needs—”
“Yeah.” My eyes snapped back to Felicity. “Okay.”
Coming around to open the back door of my truck, Felicity helped me get Hailee inside, and we laid her out across the seats. I went around the driver’s side and climbed in, my hands gripping the steering wheel as I watched her through the rear-view mirror. She looked like a rag doll, her hair hanging loose around her face, makeup smeared around her eyes. The rise and fall of her chest labored.
Felicity slid in next to me and let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know who else to call.”
“Tell me what happened.” I still hadn’t turned the key in the ignition, restless energy coursing through my veins.
“Drive, and I’ll tell you.” Felicity levelled me with a look that told me she knew exactly what I was thinking. “Cameron...” she added after a beat. “We need to go before someone sees you here.”
“Fine,” I ground out. “Fine.”
Gunning the engine, I backed out of the driveway and pulled onto the street. “Okay, talk,” I said as the house shrunk in the rear-view mirror.
“Toby texted her when we were at Homecoming, inviting us to another party. I got the impression Hailee was pissed at you, so we left.”
Pissed… at me?
It wasn’t a first, but I hadn’t even spoken to her at Homecoming.
“Did he...?” The words lodged in my throat, anger rising in my chest.
“What? God, no. Toby is a good guy, Cameron. I swear. But something did happen. We were drinking the same thing and I was fine, but Hailee started acting really strange. I wanted us to come home, but she said she wanted to stay and have fun. Next thing I know, she disappears. We looked everywhere for her.”
“We?”
“Yeah me, Jude, and Toby.”
Toby.
I was already sick of hearing that fucker’s name.
“What happened?”
“We couldn’t find her anywhere but then someone said they’d seen her go into the pool house, the pool house everyone said was off-limits....” her voice trailed off.
“And...”
“And we found her like this, almost passed out on the couch. She was completely out of it. Toby and Jude went to get her some water and to find out what happened, so I called you and managed to drag her out of there.”
“Why didn’t you just wait for them to come back?”
“I guess I panicked. I mean, look at her. That isn’t Hails, she doesn’t get trashed like that. What if someone...?”
I glanced over at Felicity and her gaze darted away. “What if someone what, Felicity?” It came out raw.
She inhaled a harsh breath. “What if someone gave her something?”
My eyes went back to the rear-view mirror. She was right, Hailee wasn’t drunk, she was completely wasted. “You think she was roofied?”
“Or something, yeah.”
“Fuck.” My back straightened, anger rippling up my spine. I wanted to turn the truck around, go back to the party, and beat the shit out of someone until I found out exactly what happened tonight. But I knew that wouldn’t help the situation. And right now, it wouldn’t help Hailee.
“Should we take her to the hospital?”
“I think she’ll be okay,” I said, checking on her again. “She just needs to sleep it off.”
“She’s supposed to be staying at my house, but if my mom and dad see her like this, they’ll—”
“It’s cool, she can stay with me.” The words spilled out before I could stop them. I kept my eyes on the road but felt Hailee’s friend watching me.
“You like her, don’t you?”
I don’t know why, but the fact it wasn’t a question irritated me.
“I’m not doing this,” I said, coolly.
“Okay.” Felicity smothered a smile. “I won’t say another word.”
“Good.” It was barely a grunt, but I didn’t want to talk about this, not here. Not with her.
The ride across the river was quick enough and before I knew it, I was pulling up outside Felicity’s house. “Are you sure you’ll look after her?” she asked quietly. I huffed annoyed, and she swallowed, adding, “She’s my best friend and you haven’t exactly always