Run, Girl (If You Can)

It registered in Aaron's brain that her lips were burning. He really needed to get her to a hospital and yet he found himself kissing her back passionately.

His self-control flew away with his shirt.

It was too cruel. Aside from that one accidental kiss that Keeley hit him for; he hadn't enjoyed the taste of her lips in about thirty years.

He knew he needed to stop but he didn't want to. This wasn't fair to her.

She wasn't conscious of her actions. If she found out about this later, she would probably be horrified and never speak to him again.

That thought brought him back to earth right as she was trying to unbuckle his belt.

"Keeley," he sighed against her lips.

"Mm?"

He grabbed her by the shoulders and held her about six inches away from him.

"Stop. You're not in your right mind. You don't want this."

Her head tilted slightly with a confused expression though her eyes remained glassy from the effects of the drug. Tears began streaming down her face again.

"Why don't you want me? Why do you always reject me? Why? Why don't you love me?"

What?! Where was this coming from? He loved her so much he almost just took advantage of her when she was off the deep end!

Oh. She was probably talking about the guy she called a glacier. All the adrenaline in his body drained right out of him.

"Of course he loves you," he said robotically. "Who wouldn't?"

She shook her head and sniffled.

"He doesn't! He left me for an ocean. A glacier and an ocean match perfectly, don't they? Penguins can never measure up. Stupid glacier, why did he change his mind? Well I can change my mind too. I don't want him anymore. I want you."

Keeley started kissing him again and he forcefully pushed her away before he lost his sense of judgment for the second time.

She pounded on his chest weakly with each word she spoke. "Why. Don't. You. Want. Me."

Aaron let out a pained laugh. He wanted her so badly it hurt but now was not the time.

"I promise you, if you still want me after we get this drug out of your system, I'm all yours."

"But I want you now," she whined.

He sighed and pulled her in closer so he could trick her into a better position to throw her over his shoulder.

She protested vehemently, kicking and biting before he managed to stick her in the bathroom and barricade the door so he could put his shirt back on and look for her phone to call Robert.

"Let me out! Get back here, Neptune! I wasn't done with you!" she hollered as she banged on the door.

Aaron ignored her and found Keeley's phone in the front pocket of her backpack.

There were more than twenty missed calls and even more texts, all from Robert. Aaron took a deep breath before clicking the call back button.

His frantic voice came over the line on the first ring. He must have been holding the phone already.

"Keeley, where are you? What happened? I tried to call the police but they told me it was too early to file a missing person report!"

"Mr. Hall, I don't know if you remember me but this is Aaron Hale. I ate dinner at your house a while back."

"Yes, I remember you," he said faintly. "Where's my daughter?"

"I'm about to take her to the hospital. Someone drugged her; I'm not sure what they gave her but it's some sort of hallucinogen. She…isn't exactly herself right now. Can you meet me at Midtown General?"

"I'll be there in 30 minutes."

Robert disconnected the call first, no doubt to immediately rush over to the hospital from all the way in Brooklyn.

The problem now was getting an uncooperative Keeley downstairs to the car without any fuss.

Aaron texted Carlton first, letting him know that he needed a ride right now and to come up to room 522. He may work for Aaron's parents but he knew how to keep his mouth shut. Carlton wouldn't rat them out.

Once everything else was taken care of, he steeled himself for Hurricane Keeley and opened the bathroom door.

She jumped him immediately, wrapping her legs around his waist and kissing every inch of his face.

"Bad Neptune, don't leave me again," she scolded between kisses and attempts at biting his ears.

The universe was truly testing his patience today. Carlton couldn't get there fast enough. Aaron focused on his breathing as she continued her kiss attack.

He had read about different meditation styles as part of his Mandarin practice years ago. He could get through this. Keeley was suffering much more than he was right now.

"Aaron…"

He jolted straight out of the zen zone when he heard his name. Was she regaining full consciousness?

She was the one who jumped up on him but he was still holding her so she wouldn't fall. This didn't look good out of context.

"This is your fault, Aaron," she mumbled sleepily against his neck, going slack.

She seemed to be talking to herself rather than realizing he was right there.

She was right; it was his fault. This was obviously Lacy's doing, though he wasn't sure who sent him the text. An accomplice with a guilty conscience, maybe?

There was no way she would send the man she had her eye on straight to a girl drugged out of her mind, unless she didn't know what the drugs did and wanted him to see her embarrass herself…no, that didn't make sense. It had to be an accomplice.

Max would make the most sense but he couldn't be sure. Things had changed so much in this redo of his life that the game players might be different this time around.

"I know. I'm sorry," he whispered while softly stroking her hair.

She wouldn't be in this situation if he hadn't provoked Lacy so much.

No wonder she wanted him to leave her alone. All he ever seemed to do was make things worse for her.

This was much more severe than anything Lacy did during high school in his first life. He wasn't able to prevent this—he didn't even see it coming.