Chapter 23

Rayne’s mouth felt like she’d dipped her tongue in paste, and was so dry she could barely swallow. She would never take pills again without finding out exactly what they were. She was sure she’d never been that looped before from medication, but with everything she’d been through in the last day it wasn’t completely shocking. Rolling over, she pushed back the covers, suddenly feeling too warm, which would have been welcome after constantly feeling cold since her storm experience, but this wasn’t a toasty warm feeling. What she felt was hot and groggy, that same way you feel when you wake up with the flu, but haven’t had any symptoms yet.

“Rayne?”

She opened her eyes, they seemed heavy or larger she wasn’t sure, and tried to focus in on the man at the end of her—his bed. Rayne tried to swallow again. “Drink,” she croaked. Devin moved with a startling speed and was beside her. He placed a cool hand on her forehead and she relished the feel of it for the few seconds he left it there. He cursed under his breath and moved away.

“I’ll be right back.”

She didn’t watch him leave, her eyes fogged right over so she just closed them and would wait until he came back. She wanted to go back to sleep, but felt so odd she wasn’t sure it would be the best plan.

The mattress beside her moved. “Can you sit up?”

Rayne wanted to answer, or shake her head but she couldn’t find the energy. The bed shifted some just before she felt him slide his arm under her shoulders. Everything spun as he lifted her head from the pillow.

“You need to drink. I think I underestimated your size when I left you those pills.”

Rayne wanted to quip something sarcastic, but her vocal skills weren’t up to the task. She felt the cool glass against her lips and was able to at least part them. As long as it washed this awful taste from her mouth and the fog from her body, she was willing to try. After three small sips, she was as least able to move her mouth. It took a few more sips for it to register on her taste buds that it wasn’t water she was drinking, not that she was going to stop, it tasted okay and seemed to be washing the paste from her tongue. Rayne swallowed again and then tilted her head to the side.

“I’ll get you some more shortly, you need to get upright and try to talk to me for a bit before you sleep it off.”

She felt his warm lips against her forehead.

“I’m going to get a cool cloth for you.”

As Rayne felt him move away she blinked a few times and tried to get her eyes working again. Her mouth felt better and she could swallow again, but her brain was still heavy under a fog blanket. When she tried to pull herself up, she had no strength in her arms. After three attempts, she should have been almost sitting up, but had only managed to move up on the pillow.

“Let me help.” Devin’s arm slid under her and pulled her into a sitting position so quickly her head floated for several heartbeats.

“What’s wrong with me?” She was almost certain she had said it out loud.

“I’m not a doctor, but I think it’s a combination of you catching a chill last night and my underestimating your body size, giving you too much painkiller.” He tucked the blanket around her waist and she felt him straightening the robe on her upper body, but didn’t really care what it looked like.

“How’s your foot?”

She felt the bed move and finally opened her eyes as wide as she could manage to see where he was. He was sitting by her side and fuzzy brain or not she could tell he was worried. Rayne thought about her foot and then rolled her eyes slowly back to him. “I don’t have any feet right now,” her speech was slow, even to her.

His grey eyes lit up and he smirked at her. “Definitely too much medication.” He placed a wet cloth on her forehead and it felt amazing, she wanted to hold it but her arms were presently detached from the rest of her.

“I don’t take drugs, normally.” She had to focus to form each word and knew that should bother her but it wasn’t. “My body doesn’t react well to most drugs.”

He sighed. “Now you tell me.”

Rayne found her eyes wandering back to his lips. She remembered asking him to kiss me. “I’m sorry for before.”

He moved the cloth over her eyes and down to the side of her neck. “For what?”

“Telling you to kiss me.”

He chuckled, “You may not have noticed but persuasion wasn’t really required, I was a willing participant.”

Rayne grinned, at least she tried to. “I like the way you kiss. I shouldn’t... even be thinking of stuff like that right now, but I can’t help it.”

He was grinning at her.

“I’m serious. Tell me no next time, for my own good.” She watched him study her as she fought to stay focused and keep her eyes opened.

“Why shouldn’t you?”

Rayne didn’t want to talk about that with him but she opened her mouth and did anyways. “I don’t usually throw myself into men’s arms.”

He snorted quietly. “Good to know.”

“I don’t. I can’t get into a relationship right now.” He moved the cloth from her face and she missed it as soon as he did.

“And why is that?” He just sat there looking at me.

“I just broke off an engagement.” Rayne leaned her head to the side, it felt too heavy to keep upright. “I want to lie down again.”

He still didn’t speak, but gently helped her back down into the bed. She kept her eyes open as long as she could while he sat there looking at her. Rayne was just going to close her eyes for a few minutes until this groggy feeling went away and then she’d work on getting back to her campsite.