Dream Walker

Chapter 31 | Consequences

Bang, bang, bang!

The pounding seemed far off, the noise muffled like it came from underwater. Callie's consciousness, briefly roused by the sound, succumbed again to the heavy darkness pressing down on it. After a few more seconds of rest, the pounding resumed.

Callie groaned, rolling onto her back and throwing her legs over the edge of the bed. She opened her eyes to narrow slits and stood up, then immediately regretted the movement. The blood rushed away from her head and her legs felt weak. She sat back down on the bed quickly in a controlled fall before she could pass out.

Bang, bang, bang!

Who the hell was banging on her door? They needed to go away so she could sleep more. There was no light peeking in around the curtains, so she assumed it was way too early for guests. Her head was too foggy to ponder the issue more than that.

She pushed herself off the bed again more slowly, keeping her eyes squeezed nearly shut. Reaching out one hand to brace against the wall, Callie shuffled toward the front door. She noticed the cold in her stiff feet first, but, as her awareness returned, she realized her whole body felt chilled. There was no congestion in her nose, but otherwise she felt ill.

The rest of the apartment was just as dark as her room, confirming her thought that the sun wasn't even up yet. Neither of her roommates was supposed to return that soon. Besides, they both had keys. The pounding started again, more insistently, just as she reached the door. It stopped when she turned the lock.

She didn't feel any strong emotion other than confusion at the sight of Alex when the door swung open. Callie simply stared at him, mind unfocused and struggling to catch up. His expression was a mess of frantic concern, but his face was just as beautiful as always.

She was too tired to feel a rush of attraction or suggest another round of adult fun, so she just continued to stare. There was a faint red mark on his neck above the collar of his shirt. A proud smirk spread on her lips at the sight, but she winced when it made her head hurt worse.

His eyes scanned her, full of worry rather than desire. "Are you okay?"

"Just fine." Between the thumping in her head and the dryness of her tongue, the response took too long to form to sound sincere. The two words were enough to make the nausea swirl faster in her gut.

He hesitated, clearly unsure what to say next. "I tried calling a couple times. Then I thought maybe you were avoiding me after yesterday, but I decided to check to make sure you were okay. I knocked so many times and you still weren't answering, so I got worried. Your downstairs neighbor keeps looking at me like I'm crazy." He stopped rambling and cleared his throat.

Callie was slightly miffed, even though he seemed genuinely worried about her. Maybe it had been insensitive of her to leave his place right after sex, but she didn't feel like doing the morning after routine. She preferred to sleep in her own bed, and she had been exhausted when the magical feeling heating her blood had disappeared.

"I'm not avoiding you. Why were you calling me so early in the morning? I'm really fucking tired, and I was finally getting some good sleep," she complained.

Alex hesitated again, then asked gently, "Have you been asleep all day?"

She continued to look at him like he'd grown an extra head. Nothing coming out of his mouth made any sense. "What do you mean? I fell asleep after I came back from your place, and it's still dark. Ergo, I need to go back to bed at least until the sun rises."

He shook his head adamantly. "No, Callie, it's Friday night. You slept all day."

Reaching one hand into his pocket, Alex pulled out his phone. He tapped on the screen to make the display light up, then turned it for her to see. He used 24-hour time, so the display read 19:29.