“Hey, you made it,” Angelica said, swaying to the music as she came to greet me. Serratelli was on her ass—her very ample ass that was damn near poking out underneath her black leather skirt.

“Yeah, we made it. Who are all of these people?”

“Jim Micha owns the house. He’s big on Crossfit and helped us get our group together. Where’s Dalton?”

“He’s out for the night, so I brought his roommate, Johnson, with me.”

“Hmm…are you enjoying Johnson’s Johnson?””

“Um, no, Angelica,” I replied, appalled by her insinuation. Johnson looked just as disgusted. “Anyway, we’re here. Show us around.”

“Get me a drink,” Johnson threw in, looking as if he were entering a lion’s den.

Angelica and Serratelli marched us into the house, introducing us to a plethora of people who I would never remember the names of. Everyone looked as if they were Crossfit enthusiasts—buff for no good reason, and with limited to no body fat. After working out with the group, I had to admit that they had inspired me, and even if I didn’t get as jacked as most of the people in the room, I wanted to get damn near close.

A large pot of something sat on the stove, which Angelica scooped into a couple of red solo cups and handed to us.

“What is this?” I asked, smelling vicious amounts of alcohol before even attempting a drink.

“It’s called Jungle Juice, and it’s gosh damn delicious.”

“I’ll say,” Johnson replied, sipping, then turning to large gulps.

It looked safe enough, and after a couple of sips of the berry concoction, I was gulping it down right along with him.

We strolled out to the back patio where an ice sculpture was carved into a mini water slide. Bikini wearing chicks sat at the end of it, mouths pressed to the ice as they allowed free flowing alcohol to glide down their throats. I wasn’t much of a shot taker, and I was our driver, so I passed, but enjoyed watching Johnson take tequila shot after tequila shot. He seemed to let loose and allow himself to have some fun after the first couple, then after a while, I couldn’t find him. When I finally did, with Serratelli’s help, he was over in the bushes, heaving up every bit of alcohol that he had consumed.

I was fanning him down when I heard Dalton’s voice behind me, worried and irritated all at the same time. “What the hell are you two doing at this type of party?”

“What are you doing here is the real question,” I answered, rising much too quickly and suddenly feeling the effects of the jungle juice.

“I couldn’t find Johnson, and when I texted him, he told me you guys were here. Why? These meatheads are out of their minds drunk. What the hell, Cassie?”

“Don’t lecture us,” I slurred, hot flashes ravaging my body as sweat began to coat my skin. “You must be Ben,” I said, reaching out my hand to his.

“Ben, this is Cassie, and this is Johnson. Sorry you can’t meet sober people tonight.”

Johnson flew to his feet, stumbling a little but catching his balance enough to face Dalton and scream out his frustrations. “You bring your out of town ass here and have the nerve to be condescending towards me? Some fucking nerve, Dalton. Some fucking nerve.”

I looked between the three men, feeling guilty for the jolt of excitement that I felt with each passing moment. This was juicy, and even though I knew it was wrong, I wanted to hold my front row seat to this show. Ben looked completely mortified, and for a second I wondered if he had known that something was going on with Johnson. Of course, bringing Ben around Johnson would be risky, so I decided that he knew and that he just wasn’t used to confrontation. Either way, this was better than anything I had going on, and I was interested in seeing how it would play out.

“You are drunk and embarrassing yourself. We will talk about this later. Now is not the time, and this is certainly not the place,” Dalton harshly whispered in Johnson’s ear, holding him steady before he fell over.

“Does Ben know about me?” Johnson asked, looking back and forth between the two men.

I never got the chance to hear his reply because, in a split second, I was down on my knees, sweating like a pig and puking incessantly. My stomach roiled with every movement, swirling and jumbling like a terrorizing ride on an unforgettable roller coaster. This was far from enjoyable, and I wanted off, but the vomit just kept coming. Dalton held my hair, allowing me to puke without the fear of a curtain trapping it towards my face.

“I feel hot, Dalton. Like I’m going to faint.”

“Shit!” He growled, picking me up in his arms.

My eyes rolled around and shut. Darkness took over as the concerned voices of Dalton, Ben, and Johnson filled my head. Dalton wasted no time interrogating Johnson, wanting to know who gave me a drink and exactly what was in it. As soon as Angelica was located, she was herded out to where Dalton stood, holding me in his arms.

“What the fuck did your steroid injecting friends put in Cassie’s drink?”

I came to, opening my eyes to find a glossy scene just before me. My head was fine, but my stomach continued to roil, making me feel like round two was on its way up.

“Nothing. She had some of the jungle punch that everyone is drinking. What happened?”

“I’ve never fucking trusted you, and you just proved why I was right about you all along. You slipped something into her drink, you jealous bitch.”

“Fuck you, Dalton. I didn’t do anything.”

“What the fuck do you call this?” Dalton asked, handing me off to Ben. “She’s been throwing up, and blacking out. All after she drank whatever the fuck that concoction of yours was. Not to mention Johnson is sick as well. I ought to have your ass written up for this.”

“Dalton, you’re overreacting—”

“Overreacting? I know you supposedly befriended someone who you hated with a passion, and now, when she shows up to your party, she and my roommate are fucking sick and puking their brains out.”

“I’m just a roommate now,” Johnson slurred.

“Shut up! We have to get Cassie to a hospital and fast. I don’t know what she drank, and I’m scared she might have been drugged.”

Angelica yelled something as Ben carried me away, following after Dalton, who had Johnson draped over his shoulder. I was much too sick, feeling much too vulnerable to say anything, but I instantly felt safe. No matter what, I knew that Dalton would take care of me.

“Take her keys and drive Johnson in her truck. I’ll take her in my car,” Dalton ordered, taking my keys from my pocket and tossing them at Ben.

I was loaded into the car and sped back to base, bypassing the guard shack at the front gate as Dalton hurried us to the emergency lane of the base hospital. A longing feeling tugged at me as I remembered the last time I was here, in Alex’s arms, hoping and praying that Allen hadn’t irrevocably damaged me. I hated that I was back in the place where I had felt my lowest, and my better half, my partner, my life line, wasn’t here to make sure that everything was okay.

Fear instantly gripped me as I thought back to that drink, and how stupid I had been to take a cup of something that smelled like death without knowing exactly what was in it. Alex would be so angry with me. Tears fell down my face as I thought about how helpless he would feel, knowing what I was going through, and how lonely I felt without him by my side.

“Pfc. Cassie Bennett,” Dalton said to the nurse at the counter. “She was at a party, and I think she’s been drugged. My roommate has been as well.”

The nurse checked me in and immediately took me back to a room where my clothes were removed and I was dressed into a gown. My stomach still rumbled and rolled, making me sick as sweat began to fill my face. If they could just make this feeling go away, I swore to myself that I would never drink again…ever!

“What did you have to drink, hon?” the nurse asked. She was a young civilian who looked no older than myself.

“Something called jungle juice. I was at a party,” I managed to make out before vomiting into the bucket she had placed on my lap when she first came in.

She wrote meticulously while watching the clock and taking my vitals. A tray sat to my right, and she immediately started an IV, pumping fluids into my body as I continued to expel whatever was lingering around inside of me.

“I’ll just need to get some blood from you. Okay, Cassie?” the nurse yelled as if I were going deaf.

I nodded, feeling exhausted and worn out. The prick of the needle was barely noticeable as I drifted off into what felt like a year’s worth of sleep. When I awoke, Dalton was sitting uncomfortably in the chair by my side, staring at the sterile, hospital walls. His face lit up with excitement at the blinking of my eyes, making him sit up and take my hand in his.

“How is Johnson?”

“He’s okay. I just left his room about thirty minutes ago.”

“Where’s the nurse? What did they roofie me with?”

“Shhhh…” he chided, placing a wet cloth on my forehead. “We don’t know yet. Still waiting on test results.” He kissed the top of my hand, then stood and paced the room.

“You know, when these test results come back, I’m personally going to see to it that Angelica never wears our fucking uniform again. It’s one thing to dislike a person, but to fucking drug them…and not just you, but Johnson as well. I can’t deal with this. This has gone much too fucking far, and she is going to get her due.”

“Dalton,” I croaked, my mouth dry.

“Don’t Cassie. Just don’t. I feel like I need to be Alex right now, bashing people’s fucking faces into walls and shit. I’m fucking pissed about this.”

“We’re still in the hospital,” I weakly murmured.

“I don’t care! This envious, spiteful bullshit could have seriously hurt you and Johnson. I fucking hate—”

The nurse walked back in, her face full of surprise as she barged in on Dalton’s tirade.

“Is she going to be okay? Please tell me she’s going to be fine?”

She flashed his a quick smile, then turned back to me. “Cassie, you are going to be just fine.”

“And what about Johnson? How is he doing?”

“We’ll get to him in a minute. But Cassie, I need to ask you some questions. Did you eat anything at this party? Or even before it?”

“No,” I mumbled, utterly confused at what this had to do with anything.

“How much of that punch did you have?”

“Just one cup. It was a full cup, but only one.”

“Okay.”

“How much is in my system? How long as I going to be here?”

“You weren’t drugged at all, Cassie. You’re pregnant, and the effects of drinking with no food on your stomach and apparently very little water caused your body to break down.”

The rest of her words fell on deaf ears. She continued explaining things, but as her mouth moved, her words dissipated into thin air like particles of water. She hadn’t just said what she’d just said. There was no way what she was telling me was true, and even if it were true, I couldn’t believe what she had just told me.

“Cassie…Cassie,” she called out. I turned and looked her in the face, my eyes bloodshot and burning. “We’ll have the OB come in and see you. He’ll go over what steps you need to take next. Congratulations.”

I looked over to Dalton and burst into tears, followed by the violent eruption of another round of putrid vomiting. My mind raced with how this had happened, what Alex’s reaction to it would be, and how I would ever gather up the courage to tell him.

The more I thought, the sicker I became. Dalton did everything in his power to try and calm me down, which did nothing for me. Three nurses and the doctor filed into the room, each of them hurriedly moving to take a task in trying to stabilize me. Dalton held my hand, never letting go as pills were placed into my mouth and forced down my throat with a long gulp of water and the massaging of one of the nurse’s hands. Fans were placed in my direction and turned on while my blankets were changed over me. The doctor began talking, and the room started spinning, making me fling my head back against the pillow, praying that it would stop and the nausea that accompanied it would go away. This was my worst nightmare come true, and the person who I wanted most was the same person that I wholeheartedly feared.

The inner turmoil of having such conflicting emotions led me to break down emotionally and I laid in the bed, attempting to listen to the doctor speak to me as tears rushed down my face.

“We’ll just give you a moment, Pfc. Bennett,” the doctor said before leaving Dalton and I alone.