Lying in the fetal position was Beau. She’d gotten as far as getting into the cupboard before she’d passed out and had somehow moved, so her hair was under the door. I doubt I’d ever be able to understand precisely how, but seeing as how the hair was still attached to her head, there was no doubt about it.
Flinching when she opened her eyes, she whined, “The world’s on fire.”
“It’s ‘cos we’re at war,” Sadie called back. “Save yourself.”
Turning so her back was to us, Beau curled up even tighter. “Leave me to die.”
Hearing Tate groan, I looked back and saw Ari had sunk to the ground at some point and was now in a similar position to Beau.
Not saying a word, Tate walked past me and back to the bar.
“What are you going to do?” I shouted, keeping my eyes on both women in case one of them threw up and choked on it.
“Hair of the dog, man. And they’re all going to drink it.”
Wincing, I crouched down and took in the beauty that was Ariana Townsend. The woman was an enigma to everyone apart from me. On the outside, people saw a strong, beautiful, confident woman who had a shield around her you had to work on to get through. They didn’t know that on the inside was the most beautiful human to walk the earth. If you were fortunate enough to crack that shield, her loyalty was fierce, and she loved deeply.
But she also hurt deeply and kept it all inside. Her insecurities outweighed her logic and ate away at her.
I’d fought against it for so long until it had become pointless, and I’d wanted to kick myself for hurting her. As the man who wanted to protect her from the hurt, knowing I’d caused her some had eaten away at me. She didn’t trust me now, and I couldn’t blame her for that given how hard I’d pushed away from her, but I was going to earn her trust back.
I was also going to be her shield and protect her from being hurt as much as I could. That’s why I’d moved here.
She was my everything, and it was time she realized that.Twenty-six minutes later…
The sound of three women throwing up reverberated around the walls of the women’s bathroom as Tate and I leaned against the sinks with bottles of water ready for them.
“What did you give them?”
Wincing at one incredibly painful wretch, Tate murmured, “It’s something Gramps gave me when I was seventeen and found a bottle of whiskey. I think I might have fucked up the recipe, though.”
“Stick a fork in me, I’m done,” Sadie croaked.
“I want to die,” Beau whimpered, punctuating it with another round of puking. “Is that blood?”
“Clamato juice,” Tate shouted, making them all start up again.
“What the hell’s Clamato?” Sadie asked, not sounding as bad as the other two now.
Well, that was until Tate filled her in. “Clams and tomato juice.”
This time her puking noises outdid the other two.
“I lost a lung,” Ari gasped mid hurl. “Tate, you’re dead.”
The smug smile on his face faltered slightly, and I knew why. Ariana had put up with her brothers all her life, and they’d tormented her and played pranks on her until she learned a few of her own. Ones that hit harder than anything they’d ever done to her. She was vindictive as fuck.
Finally, after ten minutes of purging their systems, the doors opened one-by-one, and three women who looked like hell stumbled out.
Apparently I’d spent too much time with the Townsends because both Tate and I pulled our phones out at the same time and started taking photos of them.
Pushing Tate out of the way of the sink, Beau mumbled, “You suck.”
“If you’re going to try and kill us, can you at least wait until I have my makeup on?” Sadie rasped as she washed her hands, singing ‘Happy Birthday’ for some reason.
Glancing over at her and frowning, Beau asked, “Girl, did we miss your birthday?”
“Nope. You’re meant to sing it twice while you wash your hands to make sure you washed them long enough to kill all the germy germs,” she replied straight-faced. “And considering I’ve just been holding onto a toilet, I think that’s a good idea.”
Just like that, both Ari and Beau squirted more soap into the palms of their hands and started rasping out the song.
“This is like the strangest moment I think I’ve ever experienced,” Tate said wide-eyed.
Not missing a beat, Ari muttered, “We’re from the same family, so I know you’re lying out of your ass.”
Then, leaning over her sink, she splashed her face and washed her mouth out while Sadie did the same.
“I made coffee,” Tate offered.
Like a switch had been flicked, Sadie’s face turned from pain to ecstatic. “Well, why didn’t you say so? Cheers, mate!” And then she practically skipped out of the bathroom, leaving us with the other two who weren’t quite as happy about it.