6. Blurred Lines

CONTENT AND/OR TRIGGER WARNING- Detailed scenes of sexual assault, drugging a person against their will and bit of violence. ( Please skip the flashback part if it makes you uncomfortable; the details can be triggering for some readers. You will get a small summary of the events through Kiernan’s pov.)

Thea’s point of view-

I woke up with a jolt, panting heavily and noticed that I was sore all over. My head was aching probably because of yesterday's dancing and drinking. Tying my hair up, I walked outside in my dining room and saw my sister chatting on the sofa along with Liam and Roxy but they stopped talking as they saw me standing there.

“Hey, how are you feeling, sweetheart?” Haylee greets me, handing me a mug of coffee as she pats on the couch for me to sit and Kaylee shifts so I was in the middle. Roxy and Liam were sitting on the floor as they shared a look of concern before smiling at me. The simile didn’t reach their eyes though.

“Wait, where is Lucy and Tobias?” I ask, looking around, the bedroom door of Lucy was open and empty.

“They were making out on the dance floor, the last time I saw them, before I saved your puking your gut out ass in the bathroom.” Roxy explains, with a grin but it faded away too soon.

I groaned in embarrassment, as I hid my face in my hands while all of them chuckled.

“Till, where do you remember?” Haylee asks, slightly concerned as she gently pats my head.

“I remember taking the elevator to go to the washroom and after that it’s all blank.” I answered and I saw all of them giving me concerned glances.

“What’s going on guys?” I ask, confused as they share a secret stare as if deciding whether to tell me or not. The atmosphere was tense with an uncomfortable silence. “Did something happen? What are you guys trying to hide?”.

“Okay! Just listen to me very carefully. This is going to be a little difficult for you to take in.” Kaylee explains in a mild tone.

“We will be in the kitchen.” Liam whispers and Roxy passes me an encouraging smile before the both of them walk off into the kitchen.

I scoff as I get up from the couch and stand there glaring at my two sisters. They looked so worried and concerned which didn’t make sense, and that’s why it was pissing me off. I have had hangovers before and often lost the memories of the previous night. Sometimes, they came back and sometimes they didn’t.

“What did my drunk self do? You need to tell me; you cannot hide it from me forever.”

“Actually, your professor Kiernan thought it would be better if you don’t-” Haylee whispers as I scoff.

“Okay…I don’t give a shit what my professor thinks-” but I stopped talking distracted by red marks around my wrist and on my forearms and as I tried to touch, I ended up wincing in pain. How in the hell did I get these? What happened last night?

“It’s your Mom.” Liam says handling the phone to Kaylee. Okay, since when did these two become friends?

“Yeah Mom! No, luckily, she is fine, just a few marks on her wrists and upper arm.” She then listened for a long time, “Please, come here as soon as possible.” and she hangs up.

“Mom is coming here but…” I trailed off as suddenly a ping of pain shot up my head and I groaned, holding my head as I heard the door open and see the familiar face of Kiernan before everything started to blur for me.

Flashback starts-

I was feeling way weird and too hot, sweaty as well even though I had danced a little on the rooftop and did something in the elevator which I cannot remember. Where the fuck is that washroom? I wanna throw up, this cocktail is making me feel weird and so nauseous. I manage to walk to the ladies washroom as I walk over to one of the stalls, walking and feeling all wobbly. But before I could close the door behind me, I opened the lid and threw up inside it.

I heard a female voice asking me if I was okay and in reply, I threw up once again. She tried to soothe me by rubbing my back as I threw up one last and felt teeny tiny bit better as she flushed down my vomit for me and helped me get up, took me to the basin and helped me wash my face. She was so kind and I felt so freaking ashamed of myself, I wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear. She looked vaguely familiar though. Hmm, I wonder where I have seen her.

“Are you okay? Do you need some water?” She asks, in a mild tone.

Crap, I don’t deserve her kindness, it makes me want to cry, this is so embarrassing. I looked up at her tears-filled eyes, as she just whispers that it was alright.

“Do you mind taking me outside? I am feeling too hot here.” I whispered.

She nods her head, “No problem. Is there an adult with you? I think I saw you with a group of friends.”

Right, she was the server for tonight and was assigned to us. “Yeah, my two sisters, Haylee and Kaylee, they look like me, almost.. just have blue eyes.”

“Okay let’s go outside and then we will call them to take you home. Someone tried to drug you and I need to talk to them about it. I am not sure, it might be something harmless but still. Luckily, my phone was on recording because I was promoting our place.” Drugged? Me? When and who and how?

I was too dizzy to argue so I just nodded and she took me outside; the roads were almost empty with very few people as I handed my phone to the kind female. The cold breeze on my face did make me feel better as I gave her the number of Kay, because she was the lesser panic type. She called the number and was holding me with my arm in a secured way.

I saw Michael approaching us and he looked at me concerned but there was a creepy look in his eyes which I didn’t like as he tried to hold my wrist and pull me towards him but the kind female just pulled me back and stood in front of me.

“Oh I am sorry, I am actually her boyfriend. I can take her home.” He said, trying to advance on us.

“Michael, what the hell are you talking about? You’re not my boyfriend, you’re just a friend.” I said, angry pulsating through me. This was annoying, I just want to go home.

“Wait, you’re the guy who tried to drug her!” She exclaims as I look at him in surprise.

“Hello please come downstairs, your sister has been drugged…”

But Michael pushes her on the ground and she falls down with a heavy thud, her head hitting on the pavement. I rush to help her up in my own dizzy state but Michael pulls me by holding onto my upper arm towards him as I look at him, with a really tight grip scared for my life.

“Baby, come on, you and I have a long night with each other.” He whispers, in my ear as he kisses me there and with whatever strength I had left, I kicked him in the manhood with the upper sole of my combat boots. But he got up and pulled me by my hair when I tried to help the kind female whose head had a slight cut and was bleeding.

I scream in pain as he turns me to face him, holding on to my wrists very tightly and tries to kiss me but I try my best to resist him before I hear my sisters screaming and Kiernan running towards us along with my friends and his friends.

Then Michael pushes me on the ground as he runs away and Kiernan’s friends along with Tobias run behind him to catch him. Kiernan was by my side. Within a few seconds, the smell of his perfume comforted me a bit in this chaotic mess. He holds me ever so gently in his arms as if scared that if he holds too tight I might slip off. I tried to concentrate on him and his beautiful, mesmerizing scent as he gently picked me up in his arms, resting my head on his shoulder as he looked at me, his eyes filled with concern and laced with worry. In that very hold, I knew that I was gonna be safe and protected, as I raise my hand to touch his cheek, as he says, “I am gonna kill that fucking bastard.”

I hear my sisters calling both the police and the ambulance as I let out a sigh and tried to sit up in his lap, which Kiernan lets me and I let my tears fall down, confused angry but mostly self-loathe for making everyone around me worried and to an extent of hurting a stranger who had helped me. Kiernan just pulls me and I cry my heart out till I pass out. I became conscious again for a few minutes as I heard one of the men say while putting on an oxygen mask that I was drugged with Flibanserin or addyi before loosing consciousness again.

Flashback ends

I opened my eyes and could feel the smell of cleaning liquid in the atmosphere. I blinked my eyes till my vision was clear and noticed Kiernan sleeping on his chair that was just near my bed. Extending my hand towards him, curious to touch him but my subconscious voice stops me. Do you really think you have the right to be affectionate when you completely ruined his college reunion? I pull my hand back as I call him by his name, like how I call him in school.

“Professor Dawson?”

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Kiernan’s point of view-

As the elevator goes up back to the rooftop floor, I see thea’s sisters looking all pale and worried while crying and Lucy too.

“Professor Dawson please help us, someone has drugged Thea.” Tobias says as Lucy, Haylee and Kaylee steps inside along with those two unknown people. Rage built through me but I still couldn’t see Michael, that asshole better not have anything to do with this.

“Tobias, you take the stairs with my other friends and meet us downstairs.” I commanded.

“How did you find out about it?” I ask as the elevator goes down, impatience and anger pulsing through my veins.

“A woman called us and told us about it, then we heard Michael saying that he is her boyfriend which is not true…” One of her sisters answers then trails off as she starts crying.

“Haylee she is going to be alright, don’t worry.” Lucy said as the other twin, Kaylee, I guess nods her head in agreement.

“The phone call then ended abruptly.” Lucy concludes.

We ran down there and I saw that fucking blonde bastard pushing Thea on the ground and running off but my friends were already behind him as I ran to Thea and saw a familiar woman bleeding and ask Lucy to stop her bleeding as both of them call for an ambulance. The ambulance and so did the police car arrived; fortunately my friends had caught the bastard and brought him along at the same time. While the attendant explained Thea’s condition to her sisters, I walked over to that bastard who was smiling shamelessly. I punched him on his nose, breaking it. The police held me back and he was very lucky for that, I intent on destroying his stupid face to an extent where it would hurt him to even inhale air.

We got to know that luckily, Thea threw up which got rid of most of the effects of flibanserin (addyi) otherwise it could have been really dangerous for her. Since most of it was out of her system, the doctor suggested that she could rest at home; she was just sleeping at the moment. But if she feels drowsy or dizzy again, she must be immediately taken to the hospital. I decided to go to the hospital with the woman along with a detective, not only because she was a witness but also because she helped and I was truly grateful. I urged her sisters to take Thea home as Lucy and Tobias said they would go with Michael and the police officers, they wanted to see him behind the bars and that was the only way for them to get proper sleep.

I sat in the ambulance along with the detective who was holding onto her phone and other belongings. We reached the hospital and she gained consciousness by then and fortunately, she wasn’t seriously hurt. She filled us with the details of what happened and she also recorded him putting drugs in her drink when she was creating a video to post on her instagram story. She didn’t notice it then but later when she was checking the video in the bathroom she saw it and saw her vomiting in one of the stalls. The detective took her statement and said he would go later in the evening to take Thea’s statement. I thank Leah, it was her name and stayed there until her family came. After bidding her goodbye and thanking her again, I decided to pay Thea and her family a visit. Haylee had taken my number and texted me the address. Hauling a taxi and calling my friends if they were okay or not, I reached her place. It was a small complex and taking the lift, I knocked on the door before I opened the door and saw Thea looking at me once before falling on the floor but luckily I caught her right on time.

“We need to take her to the hospital now.”

And there we were in the hospital, her sisters with worried looks, Liam and Roxy, supporting them while Tobias and Lucy were also there, showered and cleaned. We have been waiting outside for almost like an hour when the doctor says that she is out of danger and just needs to rest for a while.

“Thank you Kiernan for everything.” Both Haylee and Kaylee said, “can you look after her for a while? We need to go and pick up our parents from the airport.”

“Sure! I will give you a call if she wakes up.” I said, with a gentle smile. “You two also get a little rest for a while.” I suggested, to Tobias and Lucy.

“Okay Professor! Give us a call as well.” Tobias said and I nodded my head, as he held onto Lucy’s hand.

I pulled up a chair next to Thea’s bed as I looked at her, sleeping so peacefully. Her expression was so peaceful that it almost scared me. I almost lost her twice, right in front of my eyes. I sat on the chair and didn’t realise when I dozed off. It must have been quiet after some time, when I heard her voice calling for me. I open my eyes and see her looking at me with a small smile.

“How are you feeling?” I ask, getting up from my chair to call the doctor but she stops me by holding onto my hand and looks at me with an apologetic face that makes me frown.

“Better than I deserve, actually.” She says with a smile and it fades within a few seconds as she looks at her hand holding onto mine and she retrieves her hand quickly. She sits up on the bed as I put the pillow behind her back.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I ask, in a gentle tone.

She doesn’t look at me as she is fiddling with her fingers and with a sigh says, “I am sorry for what I did to you…in the elevator.”

“Hey! Look at me, Thea.” But she doesn’t listen as she hides her, letting her hair fall, trying to hide her face. I sat down next to her on the bed, putting my hand on her chin and making her look at me as I whispered, “You have nothing to be sorry about. You didn’t do anything wrong. I will go get the doctor now, okay?”.

She nods quietly as she gives me a small smile but it wasn’t the usual bright smile she always has. For the first time, her smile reflected the dark, chaotic storm that she carries in her eyes and it shattered my heart into a thousand times. I close the door behind me as I call her sisters and then her best friends before informing the nurse sitting in the reception that Thea is awake.

Her parents showed up along with her friends as the nurse mentioned that she could be discharged later in the afternoon. Her mother looked worried but she was trying her best to mask it but her Dad who shook hands with me and thanked me, which I didn't deserve as they went inside to see her and she greeted them with a warm smile but I knew that it wasn’t her actual smile. She was just pretending to look as if she was fine.

“Do you like my sister?”

I turned to see Kaylee who was looking at me with her arms crossed and a genuine smile on her face. I recognised her because Haylee’s hair was tied up in a bun. How long has she been standing there for? And why does she look so happy?

“I am her professor.” I reminded her, in case she forgot that.

“That’s not what I asked.” She said, with a smug face.

“Well, let me elaborate. I am her professor and I am just looking after my student.” I explain but she doesn’t look convinced as she just stares at me, making me look like a dumbass. “Your sister might need you and I need to go home.”

I walk away when she says, “You can deny it all you want but your eyes are telling another story. Denying your feelings might look like a good option at the moment but it’s going to hurt you, in the long run along with those you care about.” and I stop midway, registering her words. What does she know about it? I think as I curl my fingers into a fist as I turn my head to ask her that but she is gone. I let out a frustrated sigh before deciding to walk back home. It has been an exhausting day plus I have school tomorrow.