The Lonely Hearts Club

Chapter 55: dazed and confused (Bree)

When I finally wade out of murky unconsciousness and my eyes adjust to the room I'm in, I think I'm hallucinating.

Because how am I in Hades' apartment?

How am I laying in his bed?

Surely that whole running away, motel incident wasn't a dream, right?

I peer into my shirt and see that blue thing I was wearing at the motel. I remember while Hades was showering, I was contemplating my outfit options. I purposefully packed that lingerie set.

So I know it was not all a dream.

But if that wasn't a dream, then why am I in Hades' place? Why am I not tied up somewhere depraved with his rotting corpse next to me?

Where is Hades?

Where's Rowan?

"She's awake! Quick!" Someone yells. In the corner of the room, a blonde guy is sitting on a chair.

It's quite terrifying really, waking up to see someone in a chair watching you in the corner of the room.

It's like something from a horror movie, but I'm too disoriented to react. What the fuck happened in that motel room?

I wasn't aware the shower was running until the water is abruptly cut off. Two seconds later, Hades materializes in his bedroom, still mostly wet, a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Fuck, how do you feel?" He says, now right by the bed, leaning down to look at me closer.

I try to talk but my throat feels like sandpaper.

"Get her some water." Hades instructs and Nicks jumps out of the chair.

"On it sire!" He says extravagantly, raising a hand to his head in salute.

"Hey," he says quietly, pushing my hair out of my face and behind my ear.

"Where's Rowan?" I choke out.

Hades frowns, looking deeply confused.

Before he can say anything, Nicks gallops back into the room.

"Here!" He yells, holding a glass of water out to me.

I shakily sit up and take it, raising the rim to my lips and forcing myself to drink it.

Hades studies me, blue eyes looking me over obsessively, a worried look on his face.

"Rowan?" I repeat and he threads his hand in mine.

"Oh hell nah man, she's got brain damage or some shit, she can't remember who you are!" Nicks wails. "I'm sorry! This is all my fault!"

"Shut up." Hades snaps at him. "Rowan?" He then says.

I nod.

"I'm so sorry man! I'll pay a lot of money to find you a new therapist, I know how much you loved the other one before he died—"

Hades and I both ignore him.

He squints a little and then it's like the pieces click in his brain.

"He didn't find us." He says quietly, while Nicks rants and raves, pacing madly across the room.

"No?" I wince.

"No."

"Then what..." I frown, trying to make sense of everything.

"Rowan wasn't the reason for the vapor shit, it was him." He points at Nicks who finally stops pacing around.

"Huh? What about me?"

So Rowan hasn't found us?

I almost collapse in relief.

But...why did Nicks do that?

"You tell her what you did." Hades says icily.

"Alright, alright, you see Hades is my best bro, you know? And he just packed up and left without saying goodbye which is totally not cool." Nicks swipes his hand through the air as he explains.

"And?"

"And I panicked and wasn't thinking properly so I made something kind of illegal and I'm not gonna say what I made or the materials I used, because I'm convinced the government is listening to me and I don't want them to know that—"

"Nicks."

"Okay, okay, sorry, I basically sedated you and Hades through fumes and kind of abducted you—I mean I say rescue, but whatever, that's the story."

"Sedated?" I ask.

This makes sense and despite the fucked up nature of it all, I'm relieved Rowan wasn't behind this.

"You've been out for a few days." Hades tells me.

"Yeah kinda thought I killed you," Nicks laughs nervously. "You have a different tolerance for the sedative and I was not expecting it to affect you that much, so soz for that."

Soz? Who says soz?

Hades looks so angry, it's a little scary.

"The only reason why you didn't die was because Hades like drenched a washcloth in water and dropped it in your mouth, he did it every—"

"Get out."

"Okay, okay, I'm going—sheesh kebab!"

Hades closes his eyes for a second and when he opens them, he doesn't look like he wants to hurt someone anymore.

"You did that for me?" I ask. I cannot fathom someone staying by my side for days, dripping water in my mouth so I wouldn't die of thirst.

If the Winterville health care system wasn't fucked like everything else, I probably should have been taken to the emergency room.

As it is, you get better medical treatment at home. It's almost like survival of the fittest here, if you get an illness or infection, your body needs to be able to fight it off naturally, and if it can't, you'll just die.

"Of course I did." He says.

"And I've been wearing the same thing for days?" I ask.

"I didn't want you to wake up and feel violated." He says.

That also makes sense.

I was only wearing a bra and underwear when the incident occurred, if I had woken up without it I'd feel incredibly uncomfortable.

I'm not even mad about being back in his apartment, I said I wanted to go home.

All in all, that trip was so fucking pointless.

The only good thing that came out of it was that that opera singer now has the funds he needs to make a career for himself.

Other than that, it was pointless.

We didn't even get to have sex, and if we did, maybe this whole thing wouldn't have been a waste of time.

"Maybe to honor everything I should paint a desert mural." I tease. I'll paint a scene with cactuses and sand and even tumbleweeds.

"Yeah, you should." Hades smiles.

"SAVVY WANTS TO KNOW IF YOU'RE GOING OUT WITH THEM TOMORROW NIGHT!" Nicks yells from the living room.

With the mention of Savvy's name, I feel guilty for suspecting she had ulterior motives. I also feel guilty for thinking the same with Lana and Coco.

Okay, so maybe they're all in on something and I'm not, but at least I have people who want to hang out with me.

When you've been alone for years, that means something.

"Is that a good idea?" Hades asks.

"It'll be fine," I say, voice shaking a little. "We can just pretend this never happened."

Personally, I find that to be the best way to deal with life.

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A/N: I know some of you may think the last few chapters were POINTLESS, but I promise they are actually VERY important for the greater plot 🤞