Page 150 of What Goes Around

Nick.

Why was he calling? It was late.

My first thought was Payton. A flash of another life, another call, bad news arriving out of nowhere. I slowed the treadmill, pulse thudding in my ears.

I hesitated, then answered.

The moment the call connected, I heard rapid breathing, followed by a woman’s ecstatic moans.

“Nick, harder… you’re amazing… I’m coming…Aaaahhhh “

My stomach lurched violently.

I barely managed to hit the emergency stop before bile surged up my throat. I clamped a hand over my mouth and stumbled off the treadmill, gagging, just making it to the trash can by the wall.

My phone slipped from my hand and hit the floor with a sharp crack.

Chapter 48: I Don’t Remember

Nick POV

I woke up sick.

Not just tired or hungover. Sick in a way that made my skull throb and my stomach twist violently before I even opened my eyes. My mouth tasted wrong, metallic, bitter. My heart raced, cold sweat clinging to my skin.

When I opened my eyes, I didn’t know where I was.

This wasn’t my bedroom. The ceiling was unfamiliar. The light was too bright. My vision swam as I blinked, trying to focus. The bed beneath me wasn’t mine. The sheets smelled wrong.

Panic crept in, slow at first, then all at once.

Where the hell am I?

I turned my head.

That was enough.

My stomach flipped so hard I gagged.

I scrambled out of the bed, naked, disoriented, barely upright. My legs felt weak, unsteady, like they didn’t belong to me. I stumbled toward the first door I could see, praying it was the bathroom.

It was.

I didn’t make it to the toilet.

I barely made it to the sink before I vomited violently, bile burning my throat, my body folding over itself as wave after wave came up. My hands gripped the porcelain as if it were the only thing anchoring me to the room. I gagged, retched, spat, my vision blurring.

I turned the faucet on, desperate to drown the smell, the sound, the reality of it.

It didn’t help.

The second I thought about the bed behind me, about who was still in it, another wave hit. Harder.

I dropped to my knees in front of the toilet and retched again. And again. Nothing left to bring up, just dry heaves tearing through my body, my stomach cramping painfully as my throat burned.

What the hell happened?

How did I get here?