He raises his dark eyebrows, and I can’t blame him, since I’m not making much sense.
Waving him off, I say, “Forget it.”
“Lady problems?”
“I’m not domineering enough for her,” I state. “I think. I don’t know.”
“Then be more domineerin’,” he says good-naturedly, with a wink. “It’s fun.”
“I don’t wanna be an asshole.”
“Ladies like assholes, Adrian, don’t ye know anything?”
I roll my eyes, reaching for my drink. “Whatever.”
He goes back to drinking his beer and I go back to my whiskey. He keeps up essentially all of the conversation, because all I want to do is enjoy my drink in peace and I keep hoping he’ll leave.
It takes a lot longer than it should, because I’m distracted by my own problems, but my mind finally circles back around to what Colin said when he first sat down.
“Why did you say that?” I ask.
He spares me an uncertain look, since he hadn’t been speaking at all.
“Earlier,” I specify. “You said I got out at just the right time?”
“Oh,” he says, nodding with his whole body. “Oh, I meant the shootin’.”
I sit up a little straighter, scowling. “What shooting?”
“Ye haven’t heard?” he questions, eyebrows rising like he’s shocked. “Little John tried to take him out last night. Missed, hit his bird instead. Right after he popped the question, if ye can believe it.”
I feel like I’ve just entered an alternate reality. I look at the glass of alcohol, wondering if it’s possible I’m drunker than I realized and I’m imagining all of this.
“Colin, what the fuck are you talking about? Mateo proposed to—I’m assuming Meg? Not Mia, because… no, it couldn’t be—there’s no…. But Meg…. Salvatore…”
“I think maybe ye’ve had enough,” he tells me, eyes dancing with amusement. “Ye’re not making any sense, lad.”
“Someone tried to kill Mateo?”
Colin nods.
Just like that, I’m not mad at him anymore.
I mean, I am, but… I’m not.
“Is she okay?”
“I don’t know. I’m stayin’ the feck outta that one. Thinkin’ about spendin’ some time back east, head back to Boston until the dust settles here.”
My head is spinning, and now I’m really regretting the alcohol. Shit. I need to get my head on straight. I need… I need coffee.
Fumbling for my phone, I find Elise’s number in my contacts. I got her a phone, assuming she might actually leave the house on occasion, and that I’d need to reach her.
Widening my eyes to try and focus, I manage to type out, “Heading home now. Make me coffee.”
A moment later she types back “ok!” with a little smiley face.
I shake my head, slipping my phone back into my pocket. “Didn’t even say please.”
“What’s that now?” Colin asked.
“Nothing.” I look at the liquor still in the glass, debating whether or not to finish it. I need to get my shit together so I can call Mateo, don’t I?
Then again, Mateo’s not my responsibility anymore and I do have to pay for it.
On a whim, I throw back the rest of it. Slamming it down with a thud, I gesture for the bartender. “I need to leave.”
“Are ye okay?” Colin asks, watching me stand.
“Yep, I’m… I’m good,” I tell him, nodding a bit unsteadily as I reach for the bill. I reach into my wallet for a depressing sum of cash and slap it down on the counter. “I need to sleep and Elise is wearing—anyway, it’s good. I need to go sleep.”
“Wait,” Colin calls, hopping off the stool.
I turn back and see he’s holding up the little plastic bag I’d forgotten about.
“Oh, yes,” I say, falling back to grab it. “Can’t forget those.”
By the time I get home, I’ve completely forgotten I asked Elise to make me coffee. All I can think about are the soft pillows on our bed.
As soon as she hears me stumble through the door, Elise heads to the kitchen to get me coffee. “We don’t have any mugs,” she tells me, pulling out a blue plastic cup and looking at it a tad uncertainly.
“It’s okay, I want to go to bed. Thank you for making me coffee.”
“You’re welcome,” she says, replacing the cup and coming over to me, frowning. “You’re really drunk, aren’t you?”
“Yep,” I verify, handing her the plastic bag. “These are yours. I’m going to give you assignments.”
“Assignments?” she asks, her eyes wide with interest.
I nod again. “One of the journals is for you, one is for me. You can write whatever you want in yours, but in mine I’m going to give you tasks, things to write for me every day.”
“Homework,” she says, brightly, smiling.
She’s so weird. And so pretty. I want to kiss her.
Nope, no drunk kissing.
I turn to head for the bedroom, where I can sleep and ignore all the shit I need to be figuring out right now.
“Should I…?” Elise trails off when she sees I’ve vanished.
I’m already in the bedroom, tugging my shirt off and dropping into the bed, yanking the blanket up around me and closing my eyes.