more than this | grayson dolan (book one)

twenty six

"Stella?" The distant sound of Jake's voice fills my ears. I don't move a muscle, I stay buried underneath my warm covers.

My head is throbbing and my throat is killing me. This is usually what happens after I get wasted. I seriously need to learn how to handle a hangover better. I slowly open my eyes and look to the door, seeing my brother swing it open.

"Oh, you're still in bed." He drops his hands to his sides while staring at me.

"Yeah." My raspy voice lowly mumbles.

"It's almost three." Jake shakes his head and walks over to my window, opening up the blinds. The light burns my eyes as I hold my hand over my face.

"So what?" I groan and crash back down on the pillow.

"What the fuck happened to you? Did you get drunk last night?" I can feel his weight sit down on my bed.

"Yeah." I sigh while opening my eyes.

"Damn, what happened?" He curiously asks.

"Nothing, I just wanted to drink." I shrug and look up at him. "It's been a rough week." I refer to my thigh, which still stings on occasion.

"That's not good." His voice gets lower as he exhales a deep breath. "It's an addiction, you should stop while you're ahead."

"Seriously? You're going to tell me how to drink?" I stifle a laugh while shaking my head.

"I don't want you to end up like me." He lowly mutters with a sad sigh.

I fully use my strength to sit up and run a hand through my messy and uncombed hair. "Maybe the Monroe family was meant to be wastes, I mean all of us are fucked up in some way. It's in our blood, we can't control it."

Jake doesn't respond to my statement, he simply stares at me with a clenched jaw. I notice his eyes move below my chin, widening a bit. I furrow my eyebrows as I clear my throat, totally confused.

"What the hell is that?" He slowly yet angrily states.

"What?" I continue to stare at him.

"On your fucking neck." He uses his finger to point.

My stomach does ten backflips as I slowly place my hand on my neck. It feels a little sore, and now I remember why.

"Who gave you that hickey? Was it Grayson?" Jake abruptly stands up.

I don't answer, I rush out of my bed and walk over to my dresser. A low gasp escapes my lips as I stare at my reflection. Dark purple marks take up the crease of my neck. They're raw, indicating the bruises are new.

"Stella!" Jake yells again.

"What?" I whisper as I stare at myself.

"Who did you hook up with last night?"

"I don't know." I totally lie as I turn back around.

"You were drunk, somebody could have taken advantage of you." His panicked voice turns to worry as he steps closer to me. "Where were you?"

"At a party." Another lie.

"Whose party? This is serious, did you sleep with this person?"

"No, it was my friend Tom." I lowly mutter.

"Tom? I thought you didn't know?" He crosses his arms over his chest, waiting for the truth.

"I remember now. We were making out and then we stopped. We didn't have sex." I gulp as I walk back over to my bed.