Love's Charade

seven - taylor

tw: vomit in the first part of the chapter

I knew I shouldn't have done it. I'd been so good for almost six months, never once touching a drink. But I'd caved tonight, hadn't wanted to seem anything but normal in front of Blake and Ryan. They'd never known about my problems with alcohol, and I never planned to tell them. I'd told myself one drink wouldn't hurt.

But I hadn't just had one. I'd got back to the hotel room, Travis had left, and I'd felt so shit that I'd had a drink from the mini-bar. And another. And another. Until I was totally out of it, completely wasted, and then it was too late.

Travis looked at me expectantly, and I hated the way his eyes gazed across the room at me. Like I was a child that he wasn't surprised to see acting out. Like I was below him. 

"Don't look at me like that!" I insisted, my words slurring together like my brain was moving faster than my mouth.

"You're drunk Blondie."

"So?" I rolled my eyes dramatically at him. Not like he gave a shit.

"So, you're a recovering alcoholic who's on a world tour. You know you're not supposed to drink like this." Travis sighed, coming over to me and holding out his hand expectantly. "Give me the bottle."

"Go fuck yourself."

Travis reached forwards and plucked the bottle out of my hand with minimal effort, taking it and throwing it into the bin before sweeping all of the empty bottles on the table into the trash too. I watched, pissed, as he opened the mini-fridge and plucked out the rest of the alcoholic drinks inside, tossing them away before closing it.

"They'll charge us for that." I told him like we didn't have so much money it was ridiculous. A mini-bar charge was nothing.

"Better they do instead of you getting into them again." Travis said without looking at me. "Go to bed." I folded my arms, irritated at the tone of his voice. It was like he thought I'd jump when he clicked his fingers. Not fucking likely. 

"Don't tell me what to do, you're not my boyfriend remember?" I snapped. "Leave me alone. That's what we agreed." He didn't care about me, and we both knew it.

"No, we agreed to make it look like we had a healthy, stable relationship." Travis finally looked at me. "And it doesn't look good for either of us if you pull shit like this. I couldn't care less if you want to ruin yourself, but you'll do it when this deal is over." He gestured between us. "So cut it out and go to bed."

"You're a real fucking asshole." I huffed, moving to stumble past him. But his hand shot out, resting at the base of my neck and shoving me back against the nearest wall. I gasped, blinking as I tried to stop my head from swimming at the sudden movement. 

"Careful Blondie." Travis almost growled, and I shivered as he leaned closer until he was all I could see. "One day you'll push it too far with a mouth like that. I don't care if you're the world's precious darling. You are not the only person in this deal, so stop acting like this is all about you."

Glaring into my eyes for a second longer, Travis released his hold on me and turned away. I pressed my lips together and then paused as a strange feeling rose up in my stomach. A second later, I turned and rushed into the bathroom, collapsing onto my knees just as my chest heaved and I threw up. It burned my throat as I coughed and gagged, trying to suck in air as I spat out the contents of my stomach. 

When I'd stopped throwing up, I sighed and sat back, wiping the back of my hand across my mouth. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Travis watching me through the open door, his expression cold and unreadable. He met my gaze for half a second before moving forwards, pushing the bathroom closed with a sharp click, leaving me alone inside. I let out a huff, slumping sideways to sit against the wall. Asshole.