Page 123 of The Lucky One
“Jon is using!” I blurted, bolting up and pressing my hands to my chest. “I need to—” But the girls gently pushed me back down. Natalia and Danielle exchanged glances and stepped back as Kiki took hold of my hand.
“No, he’s sober,” she said, squeezing my hand tightly.
“How do you know that?” I cried out. “Marna told me he’s seeing her again; he has to—”
“She’s blackmailing him, Emily,” Kiki interrupted.
For a moment, I focused on regaining control of my breathing. “What?” I managed to press out.
Kiki sighed and sat beside me, adding her other hand on top of mine.
“They’ve been after Paul for calling an ambulance for Jon. They’re mad because they lost their leader and a lot of money. Jon’s been trying to make it right, and he didn’t want to drag you and Paul or any of us into it.”
Her words felt heavy and thick in my brain. Jon had been working with them for a while? How come I hadn’t noticed? Why did he never tell me?
“He...” I swallowed, attempting to zero in on the most crucial detail. “He didn’t relapse.”
Kiki shook her head reassuringly. “No, Emily. As far as we know, he didn’t.”
“He didn’t relapse,” I whispered over and over until my heart could finally grasp it. Then I sat up straight as a needle.
“Paul was assaulted by Marna’s gang?!”
Too Young
Jon
With a gasp, my eyes shot open.
“You didn’t have to slap him, Natalia!” Kiki’s disapproving voice said.
“He wouldn’t wake up,” Natalia said. “And it’s not like I slapped him hard.”
“Yeah, I would’ve slapped him harder,” Danielle said frostily.
I shook my head. “Fuck, why are you all in my bedroom?” I growled, squinting around the room. My favorite person was nowhere in sight. That made me even more pissed.
“Seriously? You have no idea what’s been happening the last few hours?” Natalia said, way too loud. I guess she was friends with Kiki and Danielle now.
“As you can see,” I said pointedly, “I was sleeping.” I rose from the bed and stumbled over to the closet for a shirt. I hadn’t slept so well in days—ever since I put those pills in the drawer.
My eyes widened in recollection. I had flushed them away, flushed those stupid pills—and I’d been ghosting Marna for a week without a solution.
I spun around, fully awake and ready to make Marna’s life hell. “How’s Paul?”
“He’s fine, buying a suit with his parents,” Kiki assured me, and I sighed in relief as I pulled a black T-shirt over my head.
“But Emily isn’t,” Danielle said.
A surge of panic gripped me. “What do you mean, she isn’t fine?”
“No, Danielle misspoke,” Kiki said quickly. “I checked on her, and so did my mom. She’s okay,” she said.
I released a heavy breath. “Fuck, what happened?”
They explained. I paced around the room in a circle, my fingers linked behind my head. This was my fault again. I hadn’t picked up Marna’s calls, and now they were out for blood.
“Fuck, I didn’t want this to happen.” I turned to Kiki. “What did you tell her?”