Hardcore: Volume 2 by Staci Hart

COLD SEEPED INTO MY body, the hard concrete biting at my shoulder blades. I shifted, sending a bolt of pain through my skull, down my spine, and wave of nausea rolled over me. I moaned.
    “Cory?”
    Erin’s hands touched my cheeks as my mind creaked and groaned into motion like rusty gears. My lids fluttered opened to the shadow of her shape, and I blinked to clear away the fog.
    “Talk to me, Cory.”
    I glanced around and realized I was lying on the floor in the kitchen, but I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten there. “Hey.” My lips were dry, the word harsh and quiet.
    Her eyes were shining. “Thank God you’re okay. How do you feel?”
    “Like shit,” I croaked.
    “Do you know what day it is?” She looked into one eye, then the other, checking my pupils.
    My brows knit together, trying to retrace my steps. The last thing I remembered was coming home, finding Jade —
    Jade.
    Everything came back in a tidal wave. Jade hovering over me with her face twisted. Van’s lips on mine. Jill. She said she’d kill Jill. Faces and words rushed through my mind, and the air left the room, left my lungs empty and burning.
    “Oh, God, Erin—” A sob ripped out of me, and tears rolled down into my ears.
    Her eyes were shining as she leaned over me, cupping my cheeks with a trembling voice. “Shhh. You’re okay. You’re gonna be okay.”
    The pounding in my brain was like a kick drum, but I barely felt it. Jade’s betrayal tore through me. She’d bet Jill’s life for Van’s painting, her payoff at my expense. It was something I hadn’t known she was capable of, but somehow, I wasn’t surprised. I took a breath, willing the pain to stop as it burned like a wildfire in my chest.
    “Can you get up?” Erin asked.
    “I don’t know.”
    “I can bring a pillow in here if you want to lie for a second.”
    The comfort of my bed versus the kitchen floor was no question. “No, I can try.”
    I took a deep breath as Erin and I clasped hands, and she pulled, slipping an arm under my back as I sat. Everything I’d eaten rushed up, and I leaned away from her, emptying the contents of my stomach onto the cement floor.
    Erin held my hair out of the way and rubbed my back as I wretched until my body was empty. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.  
    “Lie back down, Cory.”
    “Mm-mmm,” I answered in dissent with my eyes squeezed shut, unable to shake my head or say more as I waited for the nausea to slip away. “I think I’m okay,” I whispered after a minute.
    “You sure?”
    “Yeah. Help me up.”
    She leaned down so I could hook an arm around her neck and grabbed the back of a dining chair as she helped me stand. I leaned into her, and she braced herself under my weight.
    “You ready?” she asked.
    No. “Just go.”
    We made our way through the loft, stopping at intervals when I thought I was going to lose it or pass out, but I got to my room without puking again, which was a small miracle. There had been very little talking, only what was necessary to get me into bed. She bustled around pulling off my shoes and tucking me in, closing the curtains and clicking off lights. She left once for the kitchen, returning with a glass of water and an ice pack that she slid under my head. I sighed with relief at the magic of it against my aching neck and skull. It wasn’t until Erin was in bed next to me and my rolling stomach stilled that I finally spoke.
    My eyes were on the ceiling. “I tried to get out of the job, Erin. I told her I wouldn’t steal from Van, and she said she’d kill Jill if I didn’t.”
    “What?” Erin’s voice was deadly low.
    I didn’t speak, just waited for her to process.
    “She said that? She threatened Jill?”
    “And me too. But she said she’d start with Jill.”
    “I can’t believe this.” She paused for a long second. “When I walked in, she was on top of you. I dragged her off and popped her in the face, but she just looked at me like …” Erin shook her head.