Cerberus

5. Spiral

    Lydia woke up, slowly. There was a dense fog in her head and the room was lazily spinning, making it impossible for her vision to focus. She'd been here before, in this state of confusion and nausea. She was no stranger to coming down. She just... needed a minute. And water. She needed fucking water, now. As if someone read her mind, a hand gently caressed the back of her head and helped her get up into a sitting position, where they were holding a glass of water up for her. She took it shakily and brought it to her lips. The hand shifted down to the nape her neck to keep her supported. She drank down a few sips then lowered the glass to rest in her lap. She clenched her eyes closed and willed the room to just stop spinning. When she opened them again, her vision slowly focused on her surroundings.
    She was in the Nevada mansion. She recognized the dark, modern biophilic design of the guest room she used when she was here. That meant they were on the third and highest floor. She looked to her left and could make out the floor to ceiling windows that made up the wall over looking the Las Vegas strip in the distance, then slowly panned her head to the right to see who was supporting her. She froze and reality struck her immediately when she locked eyes with Kassidy.
    His eyes were pure ice as he met her gaze and did not look away.
    "You are never doing that again."  He said, his voice low and flat.
    "How did I get here." Was all she could say. Her throat was dry. She tried to lift the glass up to her lips again, Kassidy helped her raise it with his free hand.
    "You were out cold on the jet and you barely woke up when we landed, if you'd even call it waking up. You were incoherent and mumbling to yourself before you blacked out again. An EMT checked you out at the airport and decided it wasn't an overdose. I had a doctor come to the house to check on you anyways."  He continued in the same low voice, although his words became sharper with every breath.
    "I don't understand. If I was blacked out, how did I get up here." She could feel her hands start to shake uncontrollably.
    "I carried you."  Kassidy practically growled the words. Fury raging in his eyes. She just stared at him, willing the treacherous tears from blurring the corners of her still fuzzy vision.
    "I'm sorry."  Her words were a whisper and it was like those softly spoken words wiped the storm from his eyes and his expression immediately softened, the hand on her neck lowering to her back as the tension left his body.
    "My orders are to keep you safe. I can't protect you if you are a threat to yourself. You can't do that again."  There was a note of pleading in his voice and she almost wondered if she was making it up in her head. Something about it caused a tightening sensation in her chest. "You need to rest." He said, more of his usual tone in the words, as he stood up. He placed the glass of water on the night stand beside her phone.
    He softly closed the bedroom door and left her alone in the room. She scrubbed at her eyes, willing the tears to stop but it was too late. Tears streamed down her face and she sat like that for minutes before she could composed herself. Once she had sufficiently dried her eyes, she reached over and picked up her phone. It was still silenced. She braced herself for what was to come, and turned the silence off. A barrage of notifications started pouring in. Texts from "concerned" friends pouring in, all undoubtedly informed of her exile by Alaina. Snakes, all of them. Feeding off of her misfortune. But somehow, she realized, not a word of any incident at the airport or after. Somehow it had been kept under wraps. She quickly scrolled up to her favorites to see if her father had sent anything about it but found that he'd only sent two texts. The first read:
   8:15am "Lydia, dear, I hope you are not too upset with me for this. Please, dear, text me when you land. Safe travels"
The second read:
    11:30am "Mr. Harris informed me you have your phone silenced still, but that you have landed and are headed to the house. This is for your own good. I love you."
    It was now 12:45am. Kassidy hadn't told him. She stared at the texts. Why?  She had expected him to go straight to her father and tattle on her, just like she'd done to him that day at the Westin. She locked her phone and set it down in her lap. It was the middle of the night and he was sitting with her while she came out of her self induced coma and he hadn't told her father what she'd done. What angle was he working?