Born To Be Your's

Chapter 20

Liv leaned against the doorway, watching Blake disappear into the back room with D. The sight of Blake’s handsome, retreating form, still radiating the heat of their earlier intimacy, made her breath catch. She knew her body was reacting, betraying her strict rules.

She looked away, pulling the edges of Blake’s oversized sweatshirt tighter.

“Are you Blake’s girlfriend?”

The high, airy voice of Sally startled Liv. She looked over at the couch. Sally, the high, sweet-looking blonde, was watching her with a dreamy, unfocused expression.

Liv hesitated for a moment, the word girlfriend hanging in the air. She finally shook her head, the truth sharp and final. “No. We’re just friends.”

Sally giggled, the sound like wind chimes. “Mmm. I don’t know, sweetie. The way you look at him is definitely more than ‘just friends.’ You look like you want to devour him.”

Liv felt the heat rush to her face, furious that her emotional discipline had failed so spectacularly. She tightened her jaw, deciding silence was the only defense.

“It’s okay, though,” Sally continued, oblivious to Liv’s discomfort. “I had a huge crush on him for a while, too. I mean, come on, he’s f*****g hot and incredibly sexy. Blake can fix anything, and he always has the best stuff.”

Sally patted the couch next to her, inviting Liv closer. Liv, intrigued by the unexpected female camaraderie and wanting to know more about Blake’s past, moved and sat down.

Sally immediately leaned in, getting too close, sniffing Liv’s hair. “You smell so good,” she giggled, touching Liv’s dark waves. “So soft. Strawberries and cream. I need to get hair like this.”

Liv sat there awkwardly, unused to this type of gentle, invasive touch. She tolerated it, reminding herself that Sally was too high to be a real threat.

Sally’s mood shifted instantly, becoming manic and conspiratorial. She leaned in, her blue eyes wide and shining with drug-induced intensity.

“Hey, sweetie,” Sally whispered, her voice still high and chirpy. “You want to try something? D just got this new drug. It’s supposed to be incredible. You won’t feel anything bad, promise. Everything just… stops hurting.”

Liv, the girl who had witnessed firsthand the wreckage of addiction, immediately recoiled internally. But the sheer curiosity—the morbid desire to understand the escape, the allure of the complete stop—was powerful. She raised a questionable eyebrow, the curiosity overcoming her ingrained disgust.

“What is it?” Liv asked, her voice low and dangerously keen. The architecture of her resistance was already crumbling.

Sally smiled, the expression wide and unsettling on her high, pretty face. She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a tiny, clear vial with a glass dropper. The vial contained a pale, shimmering liquid.

“It’s amazing, sweetie,” Sally cooed, her voice barely above a whisper. “Just put out your tongue.”

Liv tightened her jaw. She had done recreational drugs before—mostly weed and pain-killers—but never anything dispensed like this. The needle in the picture of her dead mother flashed through her mind. But the lure of the promise—everything just stops hurting—was too strong. She didn't want to look weak, and she desperately wanted the gnawing emotional ache Blake had stirred up to stop.

Liv took a deep breath, the decision made. Slowly, cautiously, she stuck out her tongue.

Sally giggled, careful and delicate, holding the dropper steady. She squeezed gently, releasing a single, viscous drop onto the center of Liv’s tongue.

The taste was immediate and shocking: intensely sweet and artificial, with a bitter, metallic chemical burn that lingered at the back of her throat. Liv instinctively swallowed, her face grimacing from the unexpected chemical assault.

Sally smiled, watching her closely. “Good girl. It takes a second.” She then lifted the dropper to her own mouth and took three generous drops, her eyes closing in a slow, blissful motion.

Liv waited, the frantic energy that had sustained her all day slowly giving way to a profound, confusing warmth. It started in her chest, a soft, buzzing euphoria that quickly spread outwards. The sounds of the house—D’s muffled voice from the back, the distant traffic—became muted, softened around the edges, like listening to the world through cotton wool.

Her anxiety, the relentless internal soundtrack of fear and emotional pain, was the next thing to go. It didn't disappear with a bang; it simply dissolved. The sharp, tight knot in her stomach that had been present since her mother died, the one that tightened further every time Blake challenged her, suddenly slackened, liquefying into a heavy, profound sense of calm.

A slow, dreamy smile crept onto Liv’s face. The harsh lines of the world, the ugly reality of the run-down house, the overwhelming complexity of her feelings for Blake—all of it felt distant, manageable, and wonderfully irrelevant. Her body felt heavy, yet simultaneously light, sinking deliciously into the plush cushions of the couch. She focused on the feeling: a perfect, liquid peace that promised nothing and demanded nothing, simply turning off the need to fight.

“See?” Sally whispered dreamily, leaning her head onto Liv’s shoulder. “It feels good, don’t it? Everything just… stops.”

Liv didn't reply. Her eyes, usually so sharp and guarded, were half-lidded, reflecting the dim light of the room. She was suspended, safe, finally still. The heavy, cold architecture of her disaster had just been replaced by a blissful, weightless escape.

Blake was wrapping up the transaction with D in the small, chaotic back room, the air thick with the scent of various strains of cannabis.

D, twitching with excitement, was detailing his inventory. “I’ve got the basics, B, all high-quality sativa and indica. But I’ve got some new stock—some stuff laced with DMT, some high-grade ketamine mixtures, all sorts of fun things for the suburban weekends.”

Blake tossed a handful of cash onto the desk. “I’ll take the basic high-quality sativa for Trav—just the clean stuff. And I need something heavy. Something to keep my mind off of… everything. Give me a gram of that high-quality, pure MDMA-laced stuff.”

D bagged the two separate packets. “Good man. MDMA is the only way to silence the existential dread, B.”

Just as D handed him the baggies, a sudden, loud surge of bass-heavy music—some aggressive EDM—blasted from the living room.

Blake and D walked out, and the scene that greeted them made Blake freeze.

Liv had shed Blake’s oversized black sweatshirt, leaving her in her form-fitting black tank top. Her exposed stomach, sides, and the tops of her breasts were visible as she moved. She was swaying, smiling, and dancing very close with Sally, their bodies touching and grinding subtly against each other. Both girls were giggling, their movements loose and sensual, their eyes wide and glassy.

Blake frowned, confusion immediately replacing lust. Liv didn't like being touched, especially not by strangers.

Sally spotted Blake and threw her arms up, laughing. “Oh, Blakie! She’s fun! She’s a keeper!”

Liv smiled, a wide, genuine, blissful expression Blake had never seen on her face. She reached her arms out to him, her fingers fluttering. “Come dance with me, B. Everything feels so good!”

Blake stood rigid. “Liv, what’s going on?”

“We’re dancing, silly! What does it look like?” Sally chirped, wrapping her arms around Liv. “She feels so good, Blake! I don't want it to end!”

D giggling. He looked at the two girls dancing, “Sally, what did you give her?”

Sally giggled, swaying her head. “My secret stuff, D! The new stuff!”

D’s face dropped instantly, the color draining from his pale complexion. He looked like he was about to vomit. “What?”

Blake furrowed his brow, stepping forward. “D? Is everything okay?”

D forced a nervous chuckle, but his eyes were wide with genuine terror. He walked quickly up to Liv and grabbed her chin, tilting her face up. He stared into her eyes. They were wide, blown pupils swallowing the beautiful gray-green of her irises.

D smiled, trying to cover the panic in his voice. “Liv, hunny, have you ever had… ecstasy before?”

Liv giggled, still swaying to the deep bass. “Oh, of course I have! Don't be silly.”

Blake sighed with relief. “That’s all, D? She’s just rolling. We need to go.”

D hesitated, his hands shaking slightly. He reached up and gently stroked Liv's damp, dark hair. “Liv, sweetheart, focus. This next question is very important, okay?”

Liv giggled again, bouncing slightly to the beat of the music, clearly amused by D’s sudden intensity. “Will I get a prize if I get it right?”

Blake chuckled, finding this uninhibited side of Liv wildly amusing, completely misreading the danger.

D nodded his head, his eyes burning with frantic concern. “Liv, baby girl, focus. Okay? Be truthful. Have you ever taken… Fentanyl?”

The word hung in the air, cold and deadly. Blake's heart stopped in his chest. The color drained from his face, leaving him pale.

Liv shook her head, her beautiful, high expression turning vaguely confused. “Oh, no! I would never touch that. That’s the drug that killed my mom.”

Blake forgot how to breathe. He stared at Liv’s smiling, oblivious face, the realization hitting him like a physical blow: Sally, high and oblivious, had given Liv a cocktail with a fatal component.