First Sight (The Ivory Series Book 1), Page 4

  4

  My sleep was restless and broken. The image of Brad with Bec up against the wall played over and over in my head. Matt’s voice echoed when he saw me at the mouth of the alley. How different they had been only minutes earlier. It reminded me of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If Ivan, Vaughan and Adrian had shown up a few minutes later, or not at all, it would be a different story. My skin cringed and I tried to push the thought from my mind. Vaughan was my knight in shining armor. He had saved me two weekends in a row from sleazy men; did he think I brought all this attention on myself?

  Eventually I drifted into sleep; the last thing I remember was the faint light around the edge of my curtain. The sound of the phone ringing woke me a few hours later and I could hear Mum’s voice getting higher in pitch. My bedroom door flew open as she threw herself beside me. Her forehead was creased with worry and I could see misty tears welling in her eyes. She took a deep breath to control herself “Beth called to see if you were alright. Nicola, what happened last night?”

  I pushed myself to a sitting position and rubbed the sleep from my eyes and yawned “Someone slipped something into our drinks. But trust me, nothing happened.”

  Mum dropped her face into the covers of my bed and let out a long sigh, then looked back at me “That’s why I tell you to be careful Nicola. You’re both very lucky that someone showed up when they did. You don’t know what could have happened.”

  I shuddered again at this thought and pulled the covers closer to me protectively.

  “I hope you’re going to start being more careful.”

  “I will” I promised.

  “I see too many girls your age in the ED whose drinks have been spiked. The things that have been done to them…” Mum broke off her sentence and shuddered at the mental image she was trying to push from her mind.

  I put my hand reassuringly on Mums “I know.”

  She sat on the side of the bed and hugged me tightly. “I love you Nic.”

  “I love you too, Mum.”

  Bec was lying in her bed, her skin was pale and gaunt, her eyes sunken. She appeared to be suffering from a really bad hang over, just as Vaughn said she would be. Cassie was sitting on the end of the bed, her knees drawn to her chest. “How are you feeling Bec?” I asked as I sat on the floor next to the bed.

  “Like I’m still drunk, and been hit by a train at the same time” she mumbled back “I have the biggest egg on the back of my head, I don’t remember anything that happened last night Nic.”

  Cassie shot me a worried look.

  “I didn’t even think I drank that much.”

  I sat on the floor beside the bed and rested my elbow on the side of the bed and Cassie shifted awkwardly “You didn’t drink that much Bec.”

  “Then what was it?” she yawned, rubbing her eyes wearily.

  “Our drinks were spiked.”

  Bec propped herself up on one elbow and clutched her hand to her forehead to steady herself. Her mind slowly comprehending what she was being told “Was it Brad? Did something happen?” her voice was on the verge of hysteria.

  My eyes shifted to Cassie and back to Bec, I could tell Ivan hadn’t filled her in on all the details. “Don’t panic ok” I tried to sound reassuring.

  “Something did happen?”

  “You left with Brad and Matt while I was in the bathroom.”

  “Left? Where did they take me? What did they do to me?” she was starting to cry now as she sat in bed, her hand over her mouth.

  “What’s the last thing you remember?”

  She thought for a moment “Brad and Matt buying us drinks. Those bastards!”

  “Ok. Brad and Matt,” I shuddered saying the names out loud. They were no longer people to me; they were animals, filthy, low life animals. “wanted to go to the Sportsman’s Club. I went to the bathroom and when I came outside to meet you, you had gone. The guy at the door…”

  “Marcus” Cassie interrupted.

  “Marcus, told me what way you had gone. I started to walk to the Sportsman’s Club and I heard you… scream.”

  “Where was I?”

  “You were down an alley off Montague St. I went to help you and then they showed up and took us back to the bar” I gestured to Cassie. Bec looked between the two of us confused “Who showed up?”

  “Ivan, Vaughan and Adrian” Cassie clarified.

  I watched Bec take all this all in. I knew the question she wanted answered “Nothing happened.” I reassured her, squeezing her hand consolingly.

  “How did I get home?”

  “Vaughan drove us home.”

  Cassie let out a sigh of relief and moved from the end of the bed “I’m going to sleep before I go to work.”

  “Hey Bec, do you mind if we don’t go out tonight?” I asked.

  Bec nodded softly “I think that’s a good idea.”