Animalistic (Tiger in Her Bed)

Arielle giggled at him and pinched his face, pulling at his cheeks and squishing his nose.

“Hey, you’re not furry. Where did the kitty go?”

“I don’t know what they gave you, but you’re tripping,” said Trent.

“I’m not,” she argued.

“You are. I can see you’re high as a kite.”

“Boo! I want kitty back.”

“She’s a funny drunk,” said John. “See you guys at home.”

~~~

When she finally came out of her stupor, Arielle felt like she hadn’t slept in weeks. It was hard to keep her eyes open. She drifted in and out from her pleasant little slumbers while she noticed people visited her bed. At one point, she was sure a doctor examined her. She finally forced herself to stay awake and found Trent was sitting at the foot of her bed.

“Trent?” she called.

He startled. “Babe, finally. You want some water?”

Her palate was extremely parched. She let out a tiny nod.

Trent poured some water from a carafe into a glass and helped her drink. The cold, clean-tasting liquid soothed her throat.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“How do you feel?” Trent helped her sit up.

“Sleepy.” Then she noticed her arm was hooked into an IV line. “What’s this?”

“Doctor’s orders. To keep you hydrated and to flush the drugs out of your system.”

“Doctor?” She looked around. It didn’t seem like she was in a hospital room. The bedroom she was in was tastefully decorated by a high end interior designer. “Where am I?”

“Quinn’s place. We called our private physician to take a look at you. Darbo had drugged you.”

“Ah, yeah, that piece of shit. He wanted to take embarrassing pictures of me and blackmail me.”

“We gathered that. Quinn questioned Darbo yesterday. Darbo’s plan was backfiring though. You were too zonked out to even stand up. You had a low tolerance to the drug he gave you.”

“Is that so? I rarely take medication even when I’m sick. What happen to Darbo? How did you find me?”

Trent took her hand and kissed it. He looked as if he’d just taken a shower. His hair was damp and his shirt smelled like fresh laundry. Suddenly, she was overcome with the urge to hug him and bury her face in his chest. Damn, she missed him so much and they were only apart for a few hours.

Wait… did he say Quinn questioned Darbo yesterday?

“How long have I been out?” she added.

“About two days. Vanessa helped me locate the pay phone you used to call me. Then, I tracked your scent. It brought us to Darbo’s club. Darbo is in Riker’s now, facing kidnapping and false imprisonment charges. His men, the same. Some were in the hospital. I was a bit too rough on them. Quinn used his connections to keep them from making bail or talking. Darbo will stay locked up until his trial.”

“That’s good news.”

“Now that you’re up, everybody wants to see you. Especially mom. She’s been driving me nuts for not being able to protect you.”

“But that’s not your fault.”

“Tell that to her.” Trent started to get up when she stopped him.