Free The Lost Girl by Lilian Carmine Page B

place by his side on the bed. I switched the lights off and hurried to sneak under his covers. Somehow being in the dark with Harry by my side didn’t seem so scary now. I pulled the covers up to my neck and rested my head comfortably over his chest. Harry always slept with no shirt on, with his tattoo of green waves crashing endlessly over red licking flames. After I had finished counting the waves on his chest, I started to count how many times his chest would rise and fall, and I guess I fell asleep in the middle of counting.
    I woke up to the sound of voices and laughter coming from downstairs, and after a couple of seconds I drifted back to sleep again. It was probably Tristan and the boys getting back from the club, I thought, in my slurred, cotton-candy hazy head. The bed was too warm and too comfortable; I snuggled back against my pillow, giving in to sleep once again. Tristan should be coming back to sleep with me in a minute.
    A few more minutes must have passed before someone turned the lights on. I squinted my eyes as a harsh, angry, female voice shouted across the room, making me wake with a start.
    “Harry!
What the hell?
”
    And only then did I remember I wasn’t in my room.
    Recollections of the night drifted through my blurryhead as I remembered how I had fallen asleep in Harry’s bed.
With Harry
. Who was now sitting by my side, with the same stunned expression on his sleepy face.
    “J-Jackie?” he asked, confused.
    Holy Moses. It was his girlfriend. This was
soooo
not good.
    “Yeah, damn right it’s Jackie!” she shouted again. “I came back from the club with your friends because I missed you, and this is what I find? This is beyond fucked up, Harry!”
    “Wait, Jackie, it’s not what you’re thinking …” I started to say, but stopped when I realized how lame it sounded. That was so the typical reply people came up with when they were caught cheating. Even though it
was
the truth; this was not what she thought it was!
    She snapped her angry eyes back to me, jealousy and anger pounding like a sledge hammer, making me flinch under the intensity of her fury.
    “Tell her to get the fuck out!” she spat.
    “Jackie, please …” Harry said, but she turned her outraged glare on him, and he stopped whatever it was he’d been about to say. “Joe, could you please leave us alone for a second?” he said, his eyes fixed on Jackie the whole time.
    I nodded and walked out in a hurry. As soon I stepped out of Harry’s room, Jackie slammed the door behind me, making me flinch again. Everybody was standing in the living room and turned their heads to stare at me as I emerged downstairs.
    “Joey, what happened?” Tristan asked, coming up to me, all worried.
    “Oh, God! What should I do?” I repeated to myself inpanic, wringing my hands anxiously. “It’s all my fault. I-I was scared to be alone in my room, so I asked if I could stay with Harry until you came back from the party.”
    “Jackie walked in and saw you guys sleeping together.” Tristan connected the dots. “God. I’m sorry, I didn’t think … We met her in the club, and she wanted to see Harry,” Tristan explained. “I should have thought …”
    “No, it’s all my fault. If I had stayed in my own room, like I was supposed to—”
    “No, Joe. It’s my fault. I should’ve stayed with you. I knew you would be scared being alone after what happened yesterday. I’m sorry …” Tristan cut in.
    We could all hear shouting coming from Harry’s room.
    “So? What’s the big deal? You were hanging with Harry in his room, waiting for Tristan to get back, so what?” Amanda asked, standing at Sam’s side. “Do you remember, Sam, when you were watching that chick flick in your room with Joey? And you two fell asleep and I walked in and caught you two drooling over each other,” she said, chuckling lightly. “It was so funny!”
    “Yeah, very funny! And for the record, it was
not
a chick flick. It was a thriller, a