A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 46: Whisper

Waking up the next morning, my brain felt like it had been wrung dry of every last bit of its juice and was the equivalent of a dehydrated fruit. All I could think was how I wished the pounding would stop, that rhythmic thumping of my blood to my hungover brain an irritating feeling that wouldn't stop, like the surround sound audio system of a movie theatre; just those constant pounding bass notes that vibrated inside of your thoughts. My mouth was painfully dry and my head ached like someone had slammed it into a wall repeatedly and I was beginning to wonder if I actually had taken a tumble off the bed last night.

A groan sounded and I wasn't even sure if if was from me or perhaps Katie, who was splayed out next to me, hair covering most of her face, moving up and down slightly as she breathed.

She looked still, just the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, otherwise she seemed dead to the world.

Another groan...no, it sounded like someone saying "fuck". That definitely wasn't Katie and it definitely wasn't me. Did someone stay over last night?

With an effort that was far too great, I lifted my head just enough to squint through my open doorway but saw no one.

"Hello?" I rasped with my papery dry mouth. I didn't think anyone answered, but couldn't be sure over the loud pounding of my head, but I thought I might have heard a muffled voice.

Something smacked the wall right above my head and I jumped so bad it shot pain blazing through my skull like a lightning bolt. What the fuck was going on?

I kicked Katie in the leg as hard as I dared to wake her. She snorted and jerked then returned to her even breathing.

"Katie," I hissed, kicking her again. "What is that?"

"Wazwhat?" She mumbled, rolling onto her side, back to me and curling into a tiny ball.

"That noise. Is someone here?"

"I unno." There came another hit against the wall and this time she jumped, twisting to face me, both eyes still shut. "What?"

"I don't know," I said, carefully propping myself up on my elbow and rubbing my face, trying to focus past the--wait a second. It wasn't my head making all that racket. Or at least, not all of it.

I dragged myself closer to the wall and Katie managed to pry her eyes open to the tiniest sliver, still partially out of it.

I listened as well as I could past my brain and when it finally clicked I wasn't sure whether to laugh or be utterly horrified.

"What?" Katie asked, giving up and flopping back onto her side but facing me now, eyes shut again.

"Todd isn't upset about you rejecting him," I whispered, shoving my fist against my mouth to stifle my giggles.

"What's that mean?"

"It means he found someone else," I said, fighting the rising urge to laugh. God these walls were thinner than I thought.

"How do you know?" She asked, snuggling into her pillow, on the cusp of falling asleep again.

"Because he's having sex with her right now."

Silence. Then...

"What?!"

"Shh! They'll hear you. Just listen."

Her eyes pried open now, still squinty and half glazed like doughnuts, as she focused. Now that I knew what it was, it was easy to pick out their words and sounds, and it sounded like they were both enjoying themselves, as much as I wasn't.

"They're-?"

"Having sex up against my wall? Yes."

She grabbed a pillow and tugged it over her head with a disgusted groan.