Read Being With You (The Redemption Series) for Free Online Page B

last of the booze.
    All that was left on the table was the four shots and one extra nearby, so with his one free hand, Tristan precariously balanced his roommate in his arms and grabbed the five remaining shots, slamming them back in succession. He’d almost dropped Susy in the process because she was dead weight in his arms, but he managed to keep her from falling.
    Tristan backed away from the group and said directly to Shane, “I bet you set this up to get Susy so drunk you could end up in her bed. Even if you deny it, fucktard, I wouldn’t believe you. I don’t ever want to see you near her again. You got it?”
    Shane didn’t even deny the accusations, and flipped Tristan off as he stormed off. The few remaining people who were left in the apartment muttered some apologies to his back as he took Susy to her room. The shots he’d just hammered back were starting to take hold of him, and he was quickly slipping into a darkened haze.
    The last thing he remembered was falling into Susy’s bed and her landing next to his side.

    I’m dying …Tristan thought. That is the only rational explanation for why my head is throbbing and my throat feels like I swallowed a cactus.
    Within moments of his brain functioning again, Tristan remembered why he felt like a mariachi band was playing in his brain and someone pooped in his mouth. It took every ounce of strength he could muster to pull his arms in closer to his body from where they were stretched out and work at sitting up in what he hoped was Susy’s bed.
    Just the tiny movements he’d made were making the room spin and his head throb, and Tristan slammed his eyes shut again to try to keep his head from exploding in pain. His stomach rolled inside him and the poison he’d ingested last night must still be wreaking havoc; it was hard to breathe without adding to the waves of nausea that were bubbling up from his guts.
    Just fucking kill me now …
    As slowly as he could feign, Tristan scooted back down in the bed and almost cried man tears in relief when the vertigo and nausea eased from his body. His prayers for a quick death weren’t answered, but the relief must have been enough to relax him back into sleep.

    “Hey, punk. If you don’t wake up soon, Gabriel’s gonna come over here and kick your ass,” Tristan heard through the fog in his brain. Years must have passed since he’d awoken in a nearly catatonic state and barely made it out of the pain when sleep took over again. Well, not years, but his body certainly felt like he’d been stuck in the same position for far too long. His legs felt like heavy bricks attached to his lower half, his arms were tied down and his head was suddenly way too large for his neck to support. In short, he wasn’t sure if maybe he was in an accident of some kind and was permanently paralyzed.
    “Tristan, honey, I need you to wake up. You’re starting to scare me…”
    That was enough to make Tristan push his protesting muscles until he could move himself toward the voice. He assumed it was Susy, but right now, Tristan wasn’t sure he was even truly awake, or even alive for that matter. Even his scalp hurt, but he could hear the fear in Susy’s voice and made himself move.
    “I’m alright, Susy. How long have I been out?” Tristan answered her and slowly opened his eyes; he was absolutely shocked by what he saw. He was still in Susy’s room, on her bare bed with no sheets or blankets, but he was clad only in his boxer briefs. That wasn’t even what freaked him out the most…what got him was that Susy was sitting on the side of her bed, fully dressed in her work uniform and he could smell the grease odor from her clothes. She’d obviously already been to work and he’d been out for quite some time.
    “What time is it, Sus?”
    “It’s eleven o’clock on Wednesday night. You’ve been out for over twenty-four hours,” she said with a sigh. “Gabriel covered the bar for you tonight, and I told him you had the