Uncovering You: The Complete Series (Mega Box Set) (224 page)

My thoughts are interrupted by a knock at the door. I’ve been so preoccupied thinking about Katy that I haven’t even realized the time.

I open the door for Spencer. A pair of dark aviators covers his eyes. He has a sleek leather jacket over his shoulders. Coupled with the very low crewneck tee shirt and the black jeans that fit perfectly around his legs, you get a very hard-to-resist combination.

“Hey,” he smiles when he sees me. He pushes the aviators to the top of his head. That gets his long hair out of his face. He steps inside and extends his arms to hug me. I quickly jump back and waggle a finger in his face.

“Nuh-uh,” I remind him. “Just friends, remember?”

“I hug all my friends,” he says, stepping into me and ignoring my protest. With his body pressed up so close to mine, I can smell the earthy aftershave he’s wearing.

It smells good.

“See?” he grins when he releases me. “That wasn’t so bad. Hell, I might even think you enjoyed it.”

“In your dreams,” I say, sticking my tongue out at him.

He laughs as he looks me over. “Are you planning on going out like that?” he asks.

“Yes,” I smile, pleased with how well my plan is working. “Why? Do you think there’s something wrong with the way I’m dressed?”

“Not to me,” Spencer says. “Though you might get a little cold on the back of my bike.”

My eyes widen. “You’re taking me on your
bike
?”

“Yeah. You’re not scared, are you?” The challenge is clear in his voice.

“No.” I toss my hair back.

“Good. The first thing you’ll learn about me is that I love my bike. If you can’t deal with that, then we can’t be friends.”

“What, so all I had to do before was tell you I hate your bike and you would have left me alone?” I tease.

“At one point, that might have been all it would take,” he agrees. “But not anymore.”

“I’m always late with these sorts of things,” I mumble beneath my breath. He frowns, and I smile to show I’m teasing.

“Lucky for me, then,” Spencer notes, that winning grin on his face again.

“Are you taking me far?” I ask. “I might consider putting a jacket on in that case.”

“That’s not a bad idea.”

“Hmm. Okay. I’ll be right back.” I turn around and walk to my room.

“Kate?” Spencer calls out after I leave him. “You in here?”

“She’s in the shower!” I yell to him as I look through my closet for something waterproof.

“Maybe we could join her,” Spencer jokes when I walk back to him.

“Try that, and you lose your chances with me,” I warn.

“Don’t worry, kitten. I don’t sleep with anyone more than once.” He makes a point of meeting my eyes. “Unless I really like her.”

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about breaking that rule with me.” I smile sweetly at him. “Now, let’s go before I change my—”

I’m cut off by a deafening
thud
from down the hallway.

Spencer’s head whips around. “What was that?”

“Sounded like a shelf falling.”

“I think it came from the bathroom.”

“Shit. Katy’s in there!” I run to the door and pound my fist on it. “Katy! Katy, are you all right?”

There’s no answer.

Spencer rushes to me.

“Kate! It’s Spencer. What the hell’s going on?”

My worry doubles when there’s no reply. “I think she’s in trouble,” I say.

“Try the door.”

I do. “It’s locked.”

“Dammit,” Spencer growls. He slams his palm against the door as he yells, “Kate! Kate, you better answer, or I’m fucking coming in there!”

We both wait a few seconds for her reply. When it doesn’t come, Spencer shoves me aside. “Stand back.”

I yelp and jump back as he slams his shoulder into the door. The old wood bends but doesn’t break. Spencer curses, backs up, and tries again.

He runs into the door with enormous force. The wood doesn’t give, but the lock snaps. The door swings open, and Spencer staggers inside, propelled by his momentum.

I run in behind him and gasp.

Katy’s lying in the bathtub, out cold. Part of the shower curtain is draped over her body, ripped from the rungs when she fell. Water rushes from the nozzle onto her unconscious form.

Spencer acts right away. He dives in and pulls Katy from the tub, getting his jacket soaked as he does it. He grabs a towel and wraps it around her body, then sets her down against his leg. My heart is beating so hard it feels like it’s going to burst free and fly from my chest.

“She’s still breathing,” Spencer rasps. “But her body is so hot. What the
fuck
happened here, Paige?”

“I… I don’t know,” I stutter. “She started acting weird when we got home an hour ago. Said she was really hot.”

“Did she take anything?” Spencer presses. “Drugs? Pills? Anything like that? I knew her last year. She never shied away from party drugs.”

I shake my head vehemently. “I don’t know! I didn’t see anything!” I’m closing in on full-blown panic. “What’s wrong with her, Spencer?”

He lifts one of her eyelids and looks into her eye. “Her pupils are fine,” he says. “Fuck! I’ve never seen anything like this. Call an ambulance.
RUN
!”

I nod and rush to my phone. My fingers fumble for the keys. The operator picks up. I don’t remember what I say to her. When I come back, Spencer has put another towel under Katy and propped her up against a wall so she’s in a sitting position.

“They’re coming,” I tell him. “Just another few minutes.” I take Katy’s hand. “Hold on, baby. Just hold on.”

“Do you swear you didn’t see her take anything?” Spencer grills me. His eyes are dark and intense. “Don’t lie to me, Paige! It could be the difference between life and death!”

I squeeze my eyes shut and bite my lip, thinking hard. I’d spent pretty much all day with Katy. I never saw her take anything. Except…

“Wait!” I exclaim, scrambling up. “A package arrived for her this morning. She said it wasn’t hers but then I found it in our room. Maybe there’s something inside.”

“Don’t just stand there, woman! Run! Get it!”

I bolt out of the bathroom and slide to my knees before the bed. I dig around for Katy’s bag. My fingers wrap around the cardboard package, and I rush back to Spencer.

“Here,” I say, breathless. “This is it.”

Spencer takes the package from me. It’s already open. He reaches in and takes out a white plastic bottle. When he shakes it, I hear pills rattling around inside.

“What is it?” I ask.

Spencer turns the bottle over in his hands. His face goes pale when he sees the label.

He shows it to me in a kind of daze. “DNP.”

I blink, shaking my head. “What is that? Some kind of party drug? I’ve never heard of it.”

Spencer unscrews the top and sticks a finger in. When he brings it out, it’s stained a vibrant yellow.

“Worse,” he says, shoving the bottle back into the brown package. “It’s a weight-loss drug. Except, it’s so dangerous it was banned at the start of the 1900s. It’s what dynamite is made from. Body builders use it to lean out for a show. But it builds up in your system over time. You don’t see the effects right away. A single extra pill can be enough to overdose. It boosts your metabolism like crazy. Your body produces enormous amounts of extra heat, and if you’re not careful, it literally burns you up from the inside.”

“That’s what she took?” I exclaim, aghast. I had no idea Kate had body image problems. She ate normally, never giving a hint of having trouble.

“It makes sense based on what you said. Her complaining about heat. Passing out in the shower. Even now—look! You put your hands over her and she’s like a damn furnace.

“What do we do?”

Spencer shakes his head. “Hope that she didn’t take enough of it to kill herself, and wait for the paramedics to arrive. Even when they get here, there’s no way to get the drug out of her system.” He looks down at Katy’s limp body. “It’s all up to her, now.”

“That can’t be it,” I protest, despite. “Please, we have to help her!”

Spencer gives a curt nod. “You’re right. We have to make sure she doesn’t overheat. Get a wet towel. Actually, make it two. Fast!”

I jump to do as I’m told as he continues speaking.

“We’ll wrap them around her body,” he says. “The water will evaporate and take some heat from her skin. We’ll keep her wrapped up until the paramedics arrive.”

***

Everything goes by in a blur. The paramedics come and take Katy away. They say we did the smartest thing we could wrapping her in cold towels. I give Spencer all the credit for that. I wouldn’t have thought of it. I would have given in to panic.

Spencer, on the other hand, stayed level-headed and took control of the situation.

He and I ride to the hospital in the back of the ambulance. Once we’re there, we show the DNP to the doctors. They count the pills. There are ninety left in the bottle. The label says it contained a hundred. Spencer tells me that even four is an extremely high, extremely dangerous dose for professional body builders—the guys who weigh over three hundred pounds.

Katy weighs a third of that.

All we can do is hope and pray. Spencer stays with me in the waiting room. We don’t speak. In the silence, I start to blame myself. If only I’d have paid more attention, maybe I would have noticed something amiss with her. If only I hadn’t shut myself in for three
weeks, maybe I would have noticed Katy was having problems. But, she was always so cheerful and happy…

“Hey.” Spencer nudges me gently with his elbow. “It’s getting late. They’re going to ask us to leave soon.”

“What? They expect us to just… to just…
abandon
her?”

“We’re not family, so we can’t stay in the ICU,” Spencer says. “I’ve been here before. They don’t like visitors in this hospital overnight.”

“She doesn’t have anyone else!”

“I know. But we don’t have to go far. My place is only a few block away, and—”

“You expect me to stay with
you
?” I exclaim.

“If you’re as worried about Katy as I think you are, yes. But I promise, no games tonight. Our friend’s life is on the line.”

***

We walk out the front doors of the hospital. It’s gotten colder since I was last outside. At least the rain has stopped.

Spencer notices me hugging my arms around my body. He takes off his jacket and places it over my shoulders.

“Thanks,” I mumble, wrapping the leather garment around myself. It smells like him: A mixture of cologne, aftershave, and just a musky hint of his own personal aroma.

My mind flashes back to the night after the frat party. To the kiss we shared in the corner of my room. To the sinful way he made me feel.

I push those thoughts down with a shudder. I’m looking for comfort in the face of a bad situation. Memories of Spencer are not what I should be turning to. Not with him right beside me.

We walk the first block in heavy silence. I glance at Spencer out of the corner of my eye. His hands are stiff in his jean pockets. He’s looking straight ahead. His features are carved with hard lines. I can see the tension in his neck, the repeated flexion of his jaw.

He’s worried.

Spencer’s heavy jacket feels like a barrier between me and the world. Somehow, hidden beneath the thick leather, I feel protected. It gives me the strength needed to verbalize the thoughts running through my mind.

“Spencer?” I say softly.

He takes a few seconds to break out of his reverie. He looks over at me. “Yeah?”

“I’m… sorry for the way I’ve been treating you. What you did tonight, for Katy, showed me that you’re actually a pretty good guy.”

He grunts and gives a half-nod, then turns his attention forward and keeps walking.

“The doctors said that without the wet towels, Katy might have died before we got to the hospital. That was all you, Spencer. You saved her life.”

He grunts again, but doesn’t respond. I keep trying.

“It’s just,” I continue, “my life hasn’t exactly given me the greatest amount of experience in the intentions of men. I know I probably seem cold to you most of the time. I…” I take a deep breath. This is harder than I thought it would be. “…I’m not really like that. I like to think that I’m a nice person. Most people see that in me, once they get to know me. But I haven’t even given you a chance. For that, I am sorry.”

Spencer stops and turns to regard me. His eyes are hidden in the shadows of his face. I can’t imagine what they look like. He doesn’t say anything for a long moment.

I roll my shoulders uncomfortably. “What?”

“I think,” he says slowly, “that that little speech might just be the most genuine string of words you’ve ever directed at me.”

I laugh a little and shake my head. “I think you’re probably right.”