Page 43 of Grayson
“Who wants to see me do a backflip?” On a normal day I could do it hands down. “Off the pool table,” I add with a satisfied nod.
“Don’t even think about it.” I spin around to find Joey, Coops’ brother standing in the doorway of the now open door. “It’s time to wrap it up, boys.”
“Buzzkill,” one of the guys complains, followed by several other vulgar comments.
“Wagon is waiting by the curb to take you all home.” He motions for the front door. “Get the hell out of here so I can get this place presentable again.”
Glancing around the entire room sways but I can see enough to know he’s right. The place was a wreck. Empty glasses and bottles, tipped over stools, and wrappers on the floor.
One by one we are shuffled outside and loaded into the van. We’d worry about our cars later, we all needed to sleep off the haze.
I wake up on the living room floor of my apartment. I didn’t even remove my boots when I stumbled inside and crawled a few feet before giving up. The floor felt cool against my overheated face.
My stomach rolls and my head throbs. I lift it up to look around. It is dark out and I groan thinking I’d completely blown the entire night.
Rolling onto my back, I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone. Waking it I see a missed call and voicemail from Skye and a text from Scarlett.
“I talked to Scarlett and she told me what happened. I’m here if you want to talk, and I understand if you just want to be left alone. I just wanted you to know that I’m thinking of you. I do that a lot.” I imagine her smiling when she admits that. “So anyway, like I said, I’m here if you need anything at all, just yell or come over.”
The call is ended and I read Scarlett’s message saying basically the same general thing that Skye said.
There was a second message from Dad telling me to call him tomorrow and I figured he’s seen the news too. The little girl and her father’s picture had been all over the news all day and it’s part of what continued to fuel our need to drink away the pain at the bar.
Sitting up, I place my elbows on my knees and breathe through the dizzy spell. Closing my eyes I try my best to make the room stop spinning. When I feel like I can move without losing the little food I’ve consumed I crawl to the couch and use it to help get some leverage to lift my body off the floor.
I’d managed to drink away the memories of last shift, but in doing so I feel like complete shit now. Finding my way to the kitchen I dump out the Tylenol onto the counter and hold my head under the faucet to get a drink.
A knock on the door has me growling, knowing I’ll be forced to walk across the entire apartment once again just to answer it. It seems so far away.
Dragging myself toward the door I flip the lock and pull it open only to find Gia on the opposite side.
“Hey stranger.” She leans against the frame, pushing her breasts up in the barely there shirt. “It’s been awhile.”
My stomach starts to coil and the bile starts to rise. I should have gone to bed without answering the damn door. Or at least used the fucking peephole first.
“Still playing house with your neighbor?”
“What do you want?” I can barely get the words out, feeling my mouth water. Trying to outdrink Coop was a mistake, a huge, massive mistake.
“You need to—” Quickly I cover my mouth and turn, jogging toward the bathroom. I barely made it before heaving.
“Wow,” I hear Gia grumble from behind me before getting a washcloth and wetting it. “Poor guy.” When she attempts to wipe my mouth like some caring girlfriend I grab the rag.
Standing, I wobble on my feet and grab the mouthwash on the sink, lifting it to slosh some around in my mouth.
Spitting into the sink I repeat it once more then chase it with water.
Turning to face her, she is waiting just outside the bathroom door. “You might want to think about taking that off.” Pointing at my shirt I look down.
A huge wet spot is in the center making it stick to my chest.
I lift, pull it over my head and toss it in the hamper.
“Like I was trying to say earlier, you need to go.”
“Don’t pretend you aren’t happy to see me.” She licks her lower lip and looks over me from head to toe. “I figured by now you’d be bored of playing house.”
Bracing myself on the bathroom sink, letting my body relax forward, I feel my stomach tighten once again with the threat of more.