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While I drank it all in one gulp. Wait, does that mean that the drug made him hard for me?

Did it turn him gay just for a few hours, forcing him to fuck me?

Is that why he isn’t here?

My heart thunders and blood rushes around my head as I try to think back. He surely knew what he was doing. I don’t remember any hesitation or embarrassment on his part. But the drug messed my memories up and the pain took away all my sanity—just the thought of the agony I suffered has goose bumps cover my entire body. I surely cannot trust my recollection of what happened. Fuck!

“Where’s Rami?” I hear Ollie as I’m trying to stop my inner freak-out.

“Coming,” Rami’s voice reaches the room just before he walks through the door.

“With Hunter’s snake lodged inside your behind?” The joke slips out of my lips, showing me I’m regaining some control over my mind.

Hunter stops behind Rami, looming over my bed as he hands his boyfriend a tumbler that reads“my boyfriend’s python makes me happy.” How he can keep a straight face is beyond me.

Rami looks tired. “I see you feel fine. Sully said you remember more or less what happened.”

I look around the room, just now noticing his absence. Since his near-death experience a few months back, he’s gotten more closed-off. He’s always been an introvert, but the tragic experience turned him into a loner, which is not acceptable. He’s part of our triad: Ollie, me, and him.

We’ve helped each other endure the dreadful events of…life. Family is not always the picture that comes with the frame.

“Which means that they gave you the latest variety of the drug. Gabe told me it worked kind of like a truth serum, loosening your tongue.”

“It did?” I search my mind, but I cannot recall saying anything apart from the obscene begging.

“Do you feel achy all over? Dry throat? Tired and dizzy?”

“Yes, to all of them.”

“The woman who was hospitalized three days ago had the same symptoms, and the more time passed, the more she could remember.”

“Is she okay?” Michael asks.

“Um, she tried to kill herself. She had it rough.” Rami doesn’t add anything else, and my imagination runs free, making me shiver, and reminding me how defenseless I was when the drug was doing its job inside me. I actually feel lucky Gabe was there.

“Fuck!” Rague cusses, holding Ollie closer to his body.

“The warehouse search was a bust,” Rami continues. “We only found a couple of empty crates.”

“You got closer to Phoenix, though,” Michael says.

Rami makes a noncommittal sound. His lips are twisted in an angry line. “I did, but that fucker discovered we were coming somehow,” he barks.

“You’ll get him, Red,” Hunter tells Rami in a confident tone.

“You will,” Rague agrees, and they all nod or make some kind of encouraging noise.

“What time is it?” I ask.

“Seven p.m. on Friday,” Hunter answers.

“Friday?” I slept an entire day. “Crikey, work!”

“Don’t worry, Gabe put you on a medical leave. He said to take a few days,” Ollie lets me know.

“A few days? I can’t. I have work to do, people are counting on me.” I try to sit up straighter, and although my body hurts less, I feel so damn exhausted.

“You need rest. I’ll go get you some juice and something to eat,” Michael says before leaving the room.