Still puzzling over Shep’s unusual behavior, Mike had to rag on him a bit. He pointed a finger and spoke in an accusing tone. “You aided and abetted.”
“Don’t worry. They won’t remember a thing in the morning. I’ll take her home”—Shep nodded his head to Tammy—“put her in bed and leave. I won’t even undress her.” Shep slapped him on the back. “You’ve landed a school teacher. She has to be something special.”
“So is her friend.”
“I saw that right away. I figured if the girls wanted to cut loose, let them. Better with us than some other guys that could have happened along. At least with us, they were safe. I’ll take care of Tammy.”
Chapter 15
Cassie wished someone would just shoot her. Put her out of her self-induced misery. Her temples pounded. Her eyes hurt. She didn’t dare move.
“Is Sleeping Beauty awake?”
She flinched, and wished she hadn’t. Pain exploded in her brain.
Mike?
The evening might have been a blur, but she knew Mike had brought her home. She was too miserable to worry about her actions. And now she must surely look like death warmed over.
She took slow even breaths.
“Don’t you dare laugh,” she struggled to say, which only set off the drums to pounding again.
“Come on. Sit up. I brought you some aspirin. And a little special tonic for the morning after.”
She cracked one eye open. He looked so devastatingly handsome, she hated him.
“Come on. I’ll help you.”
Mike arranged pillows against the headboard and gathered her in his strong arms, helping her up. Within a millisecond, she felt better. Soothed, comforted, and then he opened his palm revealing two aspirin. She hoped the tablets didn’t upset her stomach. Thank God, she hadn’t gotten sick.
At least she didn’t remember getting sick. Just how bad had she humiliated herself?
“Bottoms up.” Then the rat chuckled.
“You’re partly responsible for this,” she told him.
“Me? How am I at fault?” His brows arched but his expression was not so innocent.
“You kept giving me drinks.”
His face relaxed with a mocking grin. “Oh, and I guess I poured them down your throat.”
She scrunched up her face in a hateful glare, but the pain in her head made her quickly regret her action.
Mike eased onto the bed beside her. “Here. Drink this.” How could he sound so sexy when she felt so bad?
Good grief, what was in that glass? It looked a little like tomato juice, only more brown in color. She took a sniff and tried not to gag. It smelled a little sweet. But how was she going to get it down? Squinting her eyes, she asked, “What is it?”
“Trust me. It will help.”
Never trust a man who says “trust me”.
She took a sip. Not so bad. She held her nose and drank the rest.
Mike eased her back against the pillows.
“I’ll never drink again,” she groaned.