Kat

"Kat," the voice at my ear is warm and familiar, as are the hands gently pressed on my shoulders, shaking me. "Kat, can you hear me? Kat, wake up, Sweetheart."

I roll over moaning. The light streaming in the room tells me it's probably noon or later. I alternate wincing and blinking. My vision was blurry. I try to focus on the owner of the voice. For a second I can't remember where I am, but I have the feeling the voice and its owner don't belong here.

My head is pounding and I feel like I haven't slept in days, but yet I just woke up. This is a hangover like I've never had. The owner of the voice pulls me to a sitting position, and I start to cry. I think it's because I know the familiar clean-soap scent and bulk of the guy whose kneeling beside me, and it's not him. It's not Trace. It's never going to be Trace, again.

Colin sits on the bed beside me and pulls me to him gently, and I let him. I'm just too limp with sadness to stop him. I sob and sob and Colin holds me, letting me cry over Trace like I never cried over him.

"Kat, I think you need a doctor."

"No." I sob some more.

"At least let me call my dad. He's an ER doctor, he's seen everything. No judgment. Do you know what kind of drugs you took?" he asks gently.

"Nothing." I lie. I don't want to admit to my perfect, straight-laced ex-boyfriend that it only took three days being a rock star's girlfriend before I was clubbing and drugging. I take a deep shaky breath and try to calm down.

"Kat," his voice is gentle but disbelieving. "You were out of your mind when you called me last night."

Now, I am able to stop sobbing, mostly because I am surprised. "I called you?"

"You don't remember?"

I shake my head.

"Yeah, you called me," he said, "but only because I sent you a five alarm fire text."

"You did?" I ask confused, pulling away from him. Five fire emoji's was always our text code for a serious situation. Colin's whole family uses that code, and he extended it to me, too. We only ever used it twice—once when I had a fender-bender and once when he was sent to the ER with a concussion during a practice. "What's wrong?"

He shakes his head, smoothing my hair. "It can wait. Kat, what you said on the phone last night. You don't remember what you told me, do you?"

I swallow. My mouth feels like sandpaper and my throat aches, and saying the words is almost impossible but it has nothing to do with my throat and everything to do with the fact that I don't want them to be real. "I can guess. Did I tell you that Trace is married?"

He nods. "That's what you said. Are you...sure? I googled...there's nothing about him being married."

I laugh. "Well, since he got tripped up in his own lies and admitted it himself, yeah, I'm sure." I cover my face with my hands, trying to control the contortions of pain going on there.

Colin rubs my back. "Jesus, Kat. I'm sorry." I start to cry, because I know Colin means it. He's sorry that I'm hurting. I stomped all over his heart, and he still cares about, and that makes me feel like a complete bitch, on top of being a complete idiot.

"Colin, you shouldn't be here. This is not your problem," I gasp between sobs.

"I know," he says gently. "But I can't help that I still care about you. Just let me help you. Are you sure you don't have any idea what you took?"

I sigh. "Ecstasy."

Colin's jaw goes tense, like it does when he's annoyed, but he nods and says, his voice very even. "Do you remember how much?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. It was in a drink. I didn't even know I was taking it."

Colin blinks. "He fucking roofied you?" His eyes travel down my body now. I'm barely clothed...I passed out in a bra and panties. I instinctively pull the covers up against me. I know what he's thinking.

"It wasn't like that, Colin," I say, but I start to cry again, "Some girl we were partying with dosed an order of drinks. Everybody knew what they were but me. Trace told me not to drink them, but later we weren't together and I was thirsty..." I break off the explanation, because sobs wrack me again, at a new realization.

Trace isn't here. There's no way Colin would be in this bedroom with me nearly naked if Trace were in this suite.

Suddenly, as if my awareness of things beyond this bed summons the outside world, Ben bursts into the room. There's a loud jumble of voices that push in, but they are quickly muffled as the door closes behind him.

"Sorry, Ms. Ballard, he slipped in here while I was...detained." He looks calmly at Colin. "I'm gonna ask you one time to stand up and leave this room. You definitely want to comply. Quickly."

Colin tenses but I grab his arm, before he can push up on an ex-military security guard that will probably take him down in three seconds flat. "It's okay, Ben. Colin is a friend. He's just worried about me." I tug on Colin's arm harder, and he turns his attention to me. "Hey, I'm ok."

"Kat, you are so not okay. That jerk-off made you do all this stuff you wouldn't normally do..."

"I feel like absolute shit from last night and I can't stop crying because I'm pissed off and Trace..."I force myself to keep going, "Trace is...delusional, damaged and possibly has the world's worst savior complex, but he didn't make me do anything." Except love him, which is the worst thing he could have made me do, because he's married. To my sister.

Colin's brown eyes crease in concern. "You've been drugged. You said last night he..." he shoots a furious look at Ben, "wouldn't let you leave."

"Jesus," Ben rolls his eyes. "She's not a prisoner, new guy. She and Mr. Gallant had a misunderstanding. She was altered and upset and trying to leave on her own. He gave her the suite because continuing their altercation was obviously a bad idea, but he asked me to keep her safe. She never once attempted to leave while I was on watch. She just drank a lot of vodka and slammed a lot of doors and heaped a lot of abuse on me."

"I did?"

Ben turns to me, smirking "Yeah, you have a real foul mouth, Ms. Gallant, but the most offensive things you said weren't even profane. You called me a male chauvinist mercenary and said I was nothing but a flunkie to a Machiavellian asshole."

Colin looks doubtful. "That doesn't sound like Kat."

"It kinda does," I concede. "I'm just...nicer to you than most people, Col." And by nicer, I mean, not myself.

"I was an Army Ranger, you know," Ben says casually, "I have a code. It doesn't include forcing women to do things against their will. It's true that Trace placed you in my care, but I would not have used physical force to keep you in this room.I would have tried to reason with you, but I would have escorted you anywhere you insisted on going."

"Really?" I challenge. "If I wanted to go to the airport?"

Ben grins. "Sure. They would have never let you get on a plane, high like you were."

Colin makes a noise that almost sounds like agreement.

I glare at him. He glares back. "What, Kat? You were obviously out of control when you called me. Your boyfriend probably was just as high. At least he left you in the care of someone sober." Colin gives Ben a nod. "Thanks for watching out for her. Thank you for your service to our country, too."

Ben nods at him. "It's my honor, new guy, but I don't know you and I'm still not leaving you in here alone with Ms. Ballard. She's not high anymore but she's not exactly in command of herself either."

He's right, my eyes are still leaking tears and it's taking everything I have not to sob. I honestly don't know if it's from the molly or because Trace and Ashlynn are legally wed. "Where is he?" I ask Ben. He knows I mean Trace.

Ben's expression becomes unreadable. "Gone. I don't know where. You'll want to wash your face and get dressed now, Ms. Ballard. What's happening out there," he nods his head to the jumble of angry voices outside the door, "you'll want to face it with your big girl pants on."

I look to Colin immediately. He rubs a hand on the back of his neck and pulls uncomfortably at this pastel Southern Tide t-shirt. "That's the five alarm fire. Your parents. They flew home as soon as they got your email. They called me, Laurel, Maddie, trying to find out where you were staying. I was calling to give you a heads up that they were freaked, and looking for you. But when you called back and you were so upset and obviously high on something and saying crazy stuff...Kat you scared me. You don't remember, but I got you to tell me where you staying. I had to tell them. They are here, too."

I nod, woodenly. Suddenly I don't feel like crying anymore, I just feel...resigned. I should have known, how they would respond. They feel like Trace already cost them one daughter, though I'm not sure why their blame is so absolutely placed upon him. But knowing they feel that way, I should have expected they would freak out to know I had left town with him the first opportunity I haven't been on lockdown in two and half years.

Ben is right. It's time to act like a grown-up. There's about to be a helluh bad storm.

Wow. What's going to happen when Kat sees her parents? Stay tuned...

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