Loving Bad - Loving Bad Series (Sample of Published Book)

Chapter 1 - Part 2

Taylor

I groaned as I shifted slightly. My head was pounding, and it felt like someone had stuffed my head full of cotton balls. I touched my fingers to my forehead gently. My mouth was dry, and it was hard to swallow. Where the hell was I?

The pounding in my head eased up enough for me to open one eye. It was dark, but a streak of sunlight shone through a crack between the curtains, which was enough for me to be able to see that I wasn't in my own bed.

This wasn't good. Panic began to well up in me as I tried to piece together what had happened, but I couldn't remember anything. I took a deep breath to try and calm myself down. Then I felt the bed shift.

Oh. My. God.

I wasn't alone in the bed. I stayed still and closed my eyes, hoping not to wake up my bed partner. If they did wake up, I'd just pretend I was still sleeping. When the bed didn't move again after a minute of holding my breath, I opened my eyes and shifted my gaze to see who was in the bed with me.

Even in the slightly darkened room I could tell who it was. It was the guy that I'd seen at the party. I tried to remember his name, but I was coming up blank. Vaguely, I remembered Jordan had warned me about him. It took another few moments before his name came to me.

Sin.

Any thoughts of how hot he looked lying in the bed next to me evaporated at the question of why I was in bed with him in the first place. What on earth had I done last night? Had I done him? Well, there was one way to find out.

I squeezed my eyes closed for a moment to build up the courage to lift the bed cover to peer underneath. Thankfully there was enough light to see that I was still in my underwear. Should I be relieved I wasn't naked? But where were my clothes?

More questions than answers raced through my mind, and I tried to remember back to my last memory of last night. I had drunk some alcohol, but I didn't remember drinking that much. It was mystifying that the last thing I could remember was Sin eyeing me, and then everything kind of got fuzzy after that. Had I drunk too much? Is this what a hangover felt like?

I glanced back briefly to Sin sleeping peacefully beside me. He was lying on his stomach with his arms wrapped around the pillow that his head lay on. He wasn't wearing a shirt. I had to fight the urge to lift the covers to check if he was naked but, honestly, I was too scared.

Had I slept with him last night? Had I lost my virginity and I couldn't remember it? After remembering Jordan's warning about him, he didn't sound like the type to take a girl up to his room and do nothing. Trust me to go to bed with one of the hottest guys I'd ever seen and not remember a thing.

It wasn't like I was keeping my virginity for someone special or 'the one.' I had planned on losing my virginity, but I'd at least wanted to remember the details.

I nearly groaned out loud and quickly put my hand over my mouth when I realized that I was in a stranger's bed, and the noise might wake him up. As quietly as I could, I slid out of the bed. My shirt, skirt, and shoes were strewn across the carpet, so I didn't have far to look for them. I gathered them up quickly and quietly got dressed. A couple of times I had to stop and let the pounding in my head ease before I carried on.

If this was what a hangover felt like, I swore I was never going to touch another drop of alcohol. Just the thought of it made my stomach roil. With pieces missing, I couldn't remember what had happened to Jordan. I wished that I'd brought my phone so I could call her to check that she was okay, but I'd left it in our dorm room.

Once I was dressed, I tackled my next problem. I wasn't sure where I was, and I wanted to be gone before Sin woke up. The whole situation was embarrassing enough without an audience. Shoes in hand, I walked to the door and, as slowly as I could, I opened the door and left. I didn't bothering closing the door properly; instead, I left it slightly open, too scared that I'd wake him trying to close the door behind me.

Thank goodness I didn't bump into anyone on my way out. It was only when I descended the stairs that I recognized that I was still in the same house where the party had been held. I signed with relief. At least I knew the way back to my dorm room, and it wasn't far. Thankfully it seemed to be too early for anyone else to be awake, and I thought I was in the clear until my hand wrapped around the door handle.

"Leaving already?" someone asked in a playful tone from behind me, just as I was about to make my exit. I nearly jumped out of my skin and my heart was hammering in my chest when I turned to face the source of the voice.

I recognized him vaguely from the party, but I had no idea what his name was. He was leaning against the kitchen doorway with a bowl of what looked like cereal in his hands as he watched me with a smirk.

"I..." I was a blubbering idiot. I had no idea what to say to his question. I wished the ground would open up and swallow me whole so I could avoid the embarrassment. What did they call it? Oh yes, the walk of shame.

His grin grew as he straightened up and set the bowl of cereal down on the kitchen counter. He was taller than me, well over six feet. Like Sin, he was built but not in a bulky way, but it wasn't the only thing that he had in common with Sin.

Like Sin, he also sported a tattoo sleeve on one of his arms. The lack of shirt confirmed that was the extent of his tattoos on the top portion of his body. And I had no wish to know if he had any tattoos on the bottom half. He also had piercings but only in his eyebrow that was arched at me.

Unlike Sin, his hair was a light brown and a little longer on top with the sides shorter. He had pale blue eyes similar to mine. He was a good-looking guy, and I bet he could pull as many girls as Sin could but, despite that, he didn't have the same effect that Sin had on me. He was still smiling like he was enjoying watching me squirm with embarrassment.

"You're the girl who was with Sin last night," he said to me. This house was big enough to house a few people so maybe he was trying to place who I'd been with. The fact that he had seen me go upstairs with Sin made me question the fact that despite waking up dressed in my underwear something had happened with him.

I'd heard stories of girls being tender there afterward, but I wasn't. Did that tell me anything? I'd been determined to experience what girls my age did, but this was one I wished I'd skipped. How did I tell this guy that I had no recollection from the night before and that I wanted to get out of here before I embarrassed myself further?

"I need to go," I mumbled as I turned to leave.

"What's your name?" he asked with curiosity as my hand gripped the door handle tightly.

I kept my back to him and, for a moment, I weighed up whether it was a good idea to tell him my name. It didn't take me long to decide not to answer his question. I hoped that by keeping my identity from him I could erase this from my mind. In my rush to leave, I slammed the door closed and hurried down the street.

The air outside was cool, and I shivered. It was early morning. I glanced down at my watch and saw that it was only seven o'clock. My mind cycled through what I remembered from last night as I did my first—and hopefully last—walk of shame.