CHAPTERFOUR
Iwake on a groan, feeling like crap. I don’t know what time it is, but it’s pitch black in the room. I don’t think I drank that much last night, but it feels as though I must have. To top it off, I don’t remember getting home or getting into bed, either. In fact, what did I do last night? How do I even know I went out last night? My head’s fuzzy, so I’m obviously still drunk.
Trying my best to sleep off whatever this is, I turn over, only to groan again as sudden nausea erupts. In a flash, I’m on my feet, running towards the bathroom to throw up in the toilet. I really don’t know how, but it keeps coming and coming until I have absolutely nothing left inside to get out.
That’s when I pass out.
“Kendra! Kendra! Wake up! Kendra! For God’s sake, Kendra, why do you keep doing this to yourself?”
I groan, unable to figure out what’s going on. Am I in a dream? I feel like I’m about to die, and I certainly don’t want to get up right now. I try to open my eyes, but they don’t want to cooperate. I feel something cold and rigid beneath me, but don’t have the energy to see what it could be. Just as I start to shiver, a set of warm arms pulls me up, but I’m way too sleepy to take it all in. I sigh contentedly at the feeling of a warm body pressed against mine. I feel a dip, and then I’m in a bed, sheets surrounding me as I pull them up to my chin.
“I’m going to let you sleep this shit off.”
I let out a soft moan. “Am I dreaming?” I manage to ask, not recognizing my own voice. I must be dreaming.
“No, you’re not dreaming,” the deep voice answers. “More like living a nightmare.”
Strange, but then again, dreams are always weird like that. And for some reason this male voice I can’t see keeps calling me Kendra.
I groan and then I hear a loud sigh, but then I drift back off into a wonderful sleep.
I don’t know how long I’m out for, but I wake with a start, shooting up from my bed. Already that’s a bad move because my head’s pounding like a son of a bitch. I grip my head on a moan and rub my eyes.
“When are you going to give up this crap? I had to call the doctor and he told me if you hadn’t puked your guts out last night you would have died!”
What the…?
I snap my eyes open to find I’m in a room I don’t recognize at all. I’m in a bed that looks bigger than my apartment, expensive looking mahogany furniture that seems as though it would give the Ritz hotel a run for its money, and oh yeah, Eli Prescott is sitting in a chair in the corner of what must be my hotel room, which I can’t remember checking into last night.
“How did I get here?” I ask, my eyes wide with fear.
Eli Prescott glares at me with contempt in his eyes. His lips form a snarl, and his eyes look like they’re weary from lack of sleep. He certainly doesn’t look like the Eli I met… hold on, when did I meet him? How is it I know these things, but I can’t seem to remember? How do I know this hotel room is bigger than my apartment?
Squeezing my eyes shut, I try to focus on all these things. I try to picture my apartment—anything to give me some recollection as to who I am—but no matter how hard I try, nothing comes. In the end, I open my eyes back up again. It’s making my head dizzy as it is anyway.
Eli, shaking his head at my question, leans forward and says, “You got here how you always get here, Kendra. So drunk and high that two bellboys had to practically carry you to bed at four in the morning. Where were you last night?”
In complete bewilderment, I gaze around the room again. I’m definitely in a hotel. Where it is, I have no idea. And why does he keep calling me Kendra? My name is… Oh no, how can I not even remember my own name?!
“I… I was out with family and friends last night…” The sentence slips out, but I have no idea if it’s even true.
“Kendra,” he snaps, interrupting anything else I have to say. “Don’t feed me that crap about being out with family. You and I both know you’ve practically disowned them. You’re nothing but a selfish, spoiled child. We’re not at home, Kendra. We’re here to promote my movie and it’s the opening here tonight. The least you can do is support me for one night. One stinking night. That’s all I ask.”
Oh my God, why is he shouting at me? My head feels like it’s about to explode. “Why do you keep calling me Kendra?”
He frowns. “Are you still high?”
I shake my head. “High? I don’t take drugs.”
A surprisingly bitter belt of laughter leaves his lips as he shakes his head back and forth. “This is not a joke.” He sighs before standing up. He turns his back on me and I watch as he carries on shaking his head. “I don’t know what’s happened to us,” he whispers softly before turning to face me. “Just make sure you’re clean and sober by five o’clock today. I’m going out for a while. I’ll see you when I get back.” He turns, walking towards the door, while I’m stunned into silence. How the hell did I get here?
Eli places his hand on the door handle, but just before he turns it, he glances my way and sighs again, looking softer towards me. “Are you going to be okay?”
There’s the Eli I met, but I can’t comprehend why he’s here, or how I even know this. And why is he being so mean to me?
I quickly nod my head because at this moment, as much as I love the fact Eli Prescott is in my hotel room right now, I need him to leave so I can figure out what the hell’s going on.
Apparently satisfied with my answer, Eli turns the knob and I watch as the door clicks behind him before I throw the covers off me and run towards the bathroom. I throw the switch as quickly as possible and straight away a face—which I know is not my own—stares back at me. I let out a scream, but quickly cover my mouth so that I don’t attract attention. Once my heart stops beating wildly, I walk to the mirror and look at my reflection—or should I say Kendra Banks’s reflection. The same Kendra Banks who is married to Eli Prescott.