Nathan placed a hand on my knee. "Don't question it. I've long since stopped wondering why Seth chooses to torture himself like this. Watching him choke on his own medicine is the only reason we play, really."
"Never have I ever trashed a hotel room," Julian said. "Because I'm not an idiot loose cannon."
"I take offense to that," Gael said with a grin.
As Gael and Nathan took their shots, a ping from my phone took my attention away from the game. I took it out of my pocket. It was only the first few lines of a new email, just the notification, but all I needed was the subject line and from address to make my stomach drop.
Time for my next check up.
My heart pounded faster. My fingers gripped my phone tight. I put my cell phone back down with a shaky hand.
"I need a glass of water," I said, standing abruptly. Everyone looked at me. "I'll be right back."
I left, hurriedly pushing through crowds of dancing, drunken partiers. I made my way to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. Instead of drinking from it, I played with the label on the bottle, picking at the peeling paper.
I leaned against the counter, replaying the email subject line in my head.
I heard a voice speak from behind me.
"Why'd you run off?"
