Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,150

some sort of dressing. Christ, she must have really made a night of it.

This time when she managed to get her eyes open, she found herself looking into a familiar pair of chocolate brown eyes and she instantly recognised them. Cole. Her best friend in the whole wide world was here taking care of her – she had clearly imagined that she had seen Vaughn when she had opened her eyes the first time.

Knowing that Cole was here with her made her want to smile although when she tried, the pain that seared across her face was unbelievable. Instantly she frowned and nearly cried out in agony as further pain cascaded down the back of her head. Shit! What the hell had she been drinking last night?

“Elise? Elise, can you hear me?”

It was Cole. Her wonderful, beautiful Cole. Come to save the day.

“Elise. You don’t need to say anything - just lift up your hand or something. Do anything that tells me you can hear me.”

Of course I can hear you, Cole. Hang on – did she say that out loud or not? Her eyes had drifted shut again and the army were doing a final march past as her head began to clear a little. A short nap sounded like a good idea now that the army had finished so she allowed herself to start to drift back into a land of total peace and contentment.

“Elise. Elise. Elise. Come on. Open your eyes. Can you hear me? Elise.”

Cole. He was getting annoying now – she wished he would just go away.

Hang on a minute. If Cole was here, then Dale must be out otherwise Cole would not still be standing there alive. Odd. Why would Dale abandon her when she clearly needed him?

Then something else filtered into her brain and she opened her eyes again to take in the unfamiliar wallpaper. She was not at home and she was not in her bedroom. Had she drunk so much that she’d ended up in some random house? If so, how the hell did Cole know where to find her?

“Elise – it’s me, Cole. Please – look at me. I need to know if you can hear me.”

Her eyes began roaming the room, looking for clues, objects, familiar items – and Cole’s eyes - but things had begun to spin and so she abruptly closed her eyes again.

Another sound – this time from her right-hand side. Someone running into the room. She felt the whoosh of air as they ran past her to stand on her left.

“Shit, Andrews. Is she still not responding?” Vaughn?

“No, nothing. She keeps opening her eyes but then closes them again. I don’t think she has a clue where she is.”

“That fucking bastard....” Definitely Vaughn. What the hell was he doing here? Last she could remember she was talking to him at his sister’s house and she was sure it was still Christmas holidays. And who the hell was he talking about?

Too much to process and the army had decided on one last hurrah. She kept her eyes closed and allowed her mind to drift and empty, permitting slumber to claim her once more.

The next time Elise woke up it was dark in the room and she was aware of a gaggle of noise coming from outside. Chattering – it was people chattering but they were too far away for her to make any sense of it.

This time the army had definitely gone home and her head felt a lot clearer, so much so that she chanced turning her head from side to side, relieved to realise that much of the sharp pain had now gone and she only had a dull ache to contend with.

She lifted both her hands and rubbed her eyes, stopping when her palms came into contact with her face, which was alarmingly sore and stinging. Her left arm had a bandage on just above the wrist and she vaguely remembered noticing that, the first time she had awoken.

She tried to move her legs, only to realise that they felt raw and tender against the softness of the quilt and she once again tried to piece things together. She was definitely not in her house or any house that she knew, and she had never been in a situation where she had drunk so much that she had ended up with a complete stranger.

The fact that her whole body felt like it had been through a blender also wasn’t right; she couldn’t begin