Page 52 of We Drank the Dawn

“I feel like I’m going to throw up,” I murmured.

“I bet you do.”

“Sarah—I barely remember⁠—”

“Cut the bullshit. You turned white. The truth is all over your face.”

“I—we—” I stammered, backed into a corner. “We were playing a game, I think. I can hardly remember.”

“A game.”

“Yeah, I think we were trying to see who could collect the most phone numbers. But, if I remember correctly, it was pretty innocent. Nothing happened.”

She gave a sardonic huff of a laugh then swiped the pile off my lap. “You call this innocent?” She read aloud, “Peter, great ass. Text me a pic…Peter, thanks for chatting. Let’s chat some more…Call me.”

I sat forward, propping my forehead in my palms as a wave of panic made it hard to breathe.

She continued, her voice trembling, “Peter, let me know when you’re ready to lose the wife…Peter, you’re a very naughty boy. Can’t wait to be naughty with you again.” An angry sob wrenched from her lips.

“Sarah, I swear to you⁠—”

“What were you doing last night?”

I shook my head, humiliation cutting off my air supply like a zip tie. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea who I talked to. Naughty? What was that even referring to?

“I don’t know,” I blurted. “I really don’t. You could ask the guys.”

“Oh, trust me. I did. The only one who had the wherewithal to answer a question this morning was Harlan. And he said you have quite the way with the ladies. But he couldn’t say more because bro code and everything.”

Bro code?

Inwardly, I cursed myself.

“But Cooper told me everything⁠—”

“Wait, he wasn’t even there.”

“He came to pick you guys up.” With everything she said, patches of lost memory returned—Cooper cussing me out when I opened the truck door to puke, him slamming his breaks and yanking the wheel to the shoulder of the road, a thump from the truck bed as bodies shifted around.

“But Harlan told Cooper what happened and Cooper told me because, apparently, Cooper is the only one who respects the fact that you are a married man and thought his wife deserved to know the truth.” She was yelling now, her volume hitting my pulsing head like cymbals between my ears. “He said you…that you…I can’t even say it!” Her voice broke.

“What, Sarah?” My desperation matched hers.

Tears muddled her words. “You—seriously don’t remember?”

“No! I’ve told you that!”

“You kissed someone, Peter.”

Her words hit me like a cup of ice water to the face. “What?”

“Yes—” She gasped for breath. “Cody saw the whole thing—how could you, Peter? How could you?!” A cry broke through Sarah’s lips and something ricocheted off the far wall then bounced along the floor.

Silence fell over us like a weighted blanket, heavy and suffocating, interrupted by nothing but her heaving breaths. When I realized I was holding my breath, I tried to inhale. And the oxygen entered my lungs like shards of glass.

I rasped, “Is that what Cooper told you?”

“Yeah.”