The panic rose inside of me as I heard the needle draw closer to me, "I can't...Kent, I can't." I pulled my arm back from Matt and put it against my chest protectively. "I need booze, lots of booze. Please!… Or a roofie?" I looked between the two guys who looked like they could be brothers.

The needle gun turned off. "You give me some extra cash we can work somethin’ out." Matt said as he stood up. He went to the window and turned the “Open” sign off.

I looked at Kent and nodded my head. "Give him some extra cash!”

Kent reached into his pocket hesitantly and pulled some money out. "How much, man?"

Matt looked between us slowly. “Forty bucks and I'll toss in some booze and shot glasses."

I pouted. "I was hoping for the roofie."

"That's eighty bucks, doll.” Matt winked at me.

I slapped Kent's chest. "Give him the eighty bucks!”

"A roofie? Really, Elly?" Kent sighed but pulled eighty bucks out and handed it over to Matt.

"Alright. You guys stay right here and I'll be back in a minute."

I looked at Kent and smiled. "My first tattoo and my first roofie, all in the same night. This is the best Christmas present ever."

I could hear Kent's soft laughter behind me. After a few minutes of waiting Matt returned with a glass and offered it to me. "It's a shot, but you'll be out of it in about ten minutes. You won't remember a thing."

I pointed at the both of them. "Don't get any ideas. And tell that to your wife, too." I downed the shot and then sat back, smiling.

"The wife got a little interested when I snuck to the back, but she told me you already said no. Your loss, doll." Matt grinned, sitting on his stool, waiting for the drug to kick in.

"Merry Christmas, Elly." Kent was chuckling softly as he looked over my face.

"Thanks. Merry Christmas to you too." I inhaled and exhaled slowly, focusing my eyes on Matt. It was easier to talk to him somehow. "I drank like two six-packs on your birthday. And then I puked all over my bathroom."

"I drank almost a fifth of rum by myself and blacked out."

"What? Where was Jen?"

"With the people at the party.”

"You weren't at your party?" I put my hands down at my sides and closed my eyes.

"No, I was there. But you weren't, and I was depressed. So I drank, a lot. I threw up on Jen."

I smiled, eyes still closed. "That would've been awesome to see. Kent…” it was getting harder to talk, my brain grew hazier by the second, “that night...I can't forget about that night..."

"Which night?"

I couldn't respond, the roofie had fully kicked in and I was out like a light.

Chapter Twenty-Two