Tethered Hearts | ✓ | Books 1 & 2

Episode 10| Secrets & Silence

Bryce's P.O.V.

I felt the pounding, head splitting headache before I felt the hand reach around my waist, grabbing me ever so gently.

Both weren't good things.

Not for me, and certainly not for whoever this girl was. Wait, who was she again? I couldn't retrace my steps on what lead to this moment. I recalled leaving my uncle's bar at midnight, and I distinctively remembered leaving with Conner, but I didn't know how I got in bed with a blonde.

We were in one of my guest rooms, the more larger ones near the back of the apartments.

The naked stranger was tangled in bed sheets, sleeping on her chest with her head facing the opposite direction. I couldn't make out her face from my position on the bed. A Tinker Bell tattoo peeked from behind her curtain of golden hair. I swiped away the strands on her neck and saw it more closely.

Taking a glimpse at the poorly drawn tattoo jogged my memory. We had discussed it at some point in our conversation last night. She thought it was hideous and I agreed, wholeheartedly, that it was a crappy tattoo. I knew a bad tattoo when I saw one. And hers looked like she had it done in an alleyway with little to no lighting available.

My distorted memory started to make sense the longer I looked at her. From what I could gather, one of the guys at the bar had made a joke about Sophia in regards to the time she fell into the lake. Three of them were laughing their heads off, and I vividly recalled all three of them at the end of my fist.

Kelsey was there and managed to calm me down before I did much damage.  One part I couldn't quite piece back together was how this blonde got involved in all of this. My head was telling me that her name might be Meagan, but I had a gut feeling I was wrong.

It was worth a shot.

"...Meagan?" I sat up and shook her off me. "Meagan."

The stranger turned her head to look at me. Half of her makeup was smeared on to the pillow, leaving a melting effect to her face. Long lines of black trailed down the side of her face and red lipstick followed a similar path, making a sloppy trail to her chine. Now she looked as bad as her tattoo.

"Meagan," I said again, louder.

Her drawn-on brows crinkled. "Who the hell is Meagan?"

"You..." I said, uncommittedly.

Instantly, we both snapped our gazes at the direction the noise was coming from, startled at the sound of the front door opening, along with separate voices moving throughout the apartment. They were both females. The only person that could possible be was Kelsey. She was the only girl that had my keys.

Today was just full of unneeded surprises. Kelsey was the last person I wanted to see in this situation. Well...second to last, behind someone else.

Kelsey was so hell-bent on hitching me up with God-knows-who for the past few months that she would totally flip if she saw Meagan in my guest room. She, above everyone else, hated my one-night-stands and the girls I slept with, even if it was one night.

I faced the girl again, more determined than earlier. "You need to leave, M.."

"My name isn't Meagan," she repeated.

"Are you sure? Maybe you have a sister named Meagan."

"No, I don't have a sister." She rolled her eyes. "My name's Clementine."

"That's a dreadful name. Never tell anyone that's your real name," I commented without hesitation. "Anyway, Clementine, you need to leave."

I froze, waiting as she sat up out of the bed, not bothering to lift the sheet up to cover her exposed chest. She wasn't playing fair.  "I thought we were going to have breakfast? I'm hungry."