Big Girl Playing in Paris: Big Girl Series Bk4 Read Online Free PDF Page A

his throat and he gagged.
    “Julian? Julian!”
    He felt arms around him, the fingers gripping him through the fabric of his shirt. The fingers were cold. Everything was cold. He shivered.
    “Julian, what the hell?” It was Alex’s voice. He swung his head backwards and a blinding white pain blotted out the world for an instant. Then he blinked and Alex and Asher were there, right there, standing over him.
    “Don’t worry,” he said, or tried to say. The words that came out of him were choked and slurred and he couldn’t even understand himself.
    “Julian!” Asher looked so worried. Julian reached up his hand and tried to wave him away. Shannon was gone, and nothing mattered anymore. He retched again upon remembering how she had looked at him. She had every right to be disgusted with him. He couldn’t blame her, not a bit. She had done the smart thing and walked away from a problem. He only wished he could just walk away from himself and into another life.
    “He’s bleeding, look.”
    “Let’s take him to the hospital.”
    “No!” He yelled and swung his arm out of Alex’s grasp. A surge of dizziness took him over and he fell sideways. The fuzzy colored lights went black, although he wasn’t sure his eyes were closed. The last thing he remembered was the look of worry on Asher’s face and Alex’s voice.
    “It’s alright. Everything is going to be fine, Julian.”
    Nothing is right , Julian thought. Without her, there’s nothing right about the world at all.
     
    ***
     
    Alex called ahead, and as soon as they arrived at the hospital a nurse escorted them to a private room. Julian’s head ached like nothing he had ever known before, worse than waking up from a hangover with nothing to drink. The nurse looked at him with veiled disgust as she helped him into the hospital bed.
    I am disgusting. Julian felt like throwing up again, but there was nothing inside of him. Black and white dots streaked across his vision like static whenever he moved his head. He closed his eyes and felt like the world was spinning.
    He could hear Pat’s voice, angry and loud. Then a doctor came in, and Julian looked at him from under heavy lids as he shone a light into his pupils. Ow. He flinched, shoving the doctor’s arm away. The doctor spoke quickly in French, and Julian had no idea what he was saying.
    “You’re gonna have to stay the night.” Asher stood over him. “Julian? You get me?” Alex and Pat yelled at each other in the corner. Julian nodded his head, the effort causing him to nearly black out. Then the band left, and everything was quiet. The lights went out and for a while he didn’t have to think about Shannon and how much he loved her, and how much he had fucked it all up.
    He woke up in the morning better, at least physically. It had been a rough night, but nothing he hadn’t been through before. He turned to see Asher sleeping in the hospital chair by the bed, a line of drool leading to a dark spot on the pillow tucked behind his bed. Julian groaned and pulled out the IV needle from his hand. A saline drip? He must have really been out of it. He didn’t even remember the nurse putting it in. Julian pulled on his shirt and smacked Asher on the shoulder.
    “Hey, come on dude.” Julian pulled on his shoes and walked out the door. He had to get out of this damn hospital. He hated hospitals.
    “What? Oh, Julian. Julian!” Asher followed him into the hall like a confused and sleepy puppy.
    “Let’s go,” Julian said, gesturing.
    “Okay, man,” Asher said, then paused in the middle of the hallway. “Wait, shouldn’t we like, talk to a doctor?”
    “I know what’s wrong with me.” And it’s nothing a doctor can fix. I’m wrong inside.
    “Dude, what happened last night?”
    “I drank too much.”
    “No, I mean what happened with Shannon?”
    Julian spun around. Bad move—he had to lean on the wall to keep his dizziness from overtaking him.
    “I have to call her.” He pulled out his