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Adrianna knocked on the door several times before she pulled out the key Jack had given her. Her heart tightened when she found him passed out, face down on his couch, an empty bottle of whisky on the floor beside him. She hurried to his side and knelt down, relieved that he was still breathing and hadn’t drunk himself into a coma. She roused him from sleep slowly by running her fingers through his hair and kissing the side of his face.
“Jack,” she spoke softly into his ear. “Wake up, Loki.”
Jack shifted and finally opened his blue eyes that were watery and bloodshot. Upon seeing Adrianna at his side, he grinned lazily and mumbled, “Hey, gorgeous.”
“How do you feel?” Adrianna asked him, still stroking his head and scratching his scalp. Jack loved when she did that.
“Like shit,” he grumbled, feeling like something had made a racket in his head all night and then curled up and died in his mouth.
Taking the empty bottle from the floor and placing it on the coffee table, Adrianna said, “I would imagine. Are you okay?”
Jack nodded and then brought his hand out to pull Adrianna’s head to rest against his. He closed his eyes again and breathed in the scent of her hair, letting it consume him until he felt he could sit up. Adrianna helped him to his feet where he swayed and so she put an arm around his waist and ducked under his arm. She helped him to his bathroom where she deposited him on the lid of the toilet and then turned his shower on. As she helped him undress, Jack laughed, “The tables have turned, huh?”
“Shh,” Adrianna answered and then knelt down to remove his black Timberland boots and socks. When she had him fully naked she helped him stand again to get him in the shower. Before she closed the curtain, Jack, forgetting about his rank breath, pressed his lips against Adrianna’s.
“I’m sorry I took off last night,” he apologized. “I needed to be alone.”
“It’s okay,” Adrianna assured him, not bothered at all that he kissed her. She loved him. As she collected his clothes from the bathroom floor she called out to him, “Did you want something to eat?”
Jack, who swore the cure to a nasty hangover was greasy food and sugary drinks, asked her to run to McDonalds to get him a sausage, egg, and cheese McMuffin and a coke. Thinking he would have asked for just some toast and coffee, Adrianna wrinkled her nose but promised him she would be right back with his breakfast.
When she returned to his apartment fifteen minutes later, Jack looked much better. He was on his phone at the kitchen table, his hair still wet from his shower, dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants and a white, sleeveless undershirt. Adrianna went to sit in the chair at his side but he pulled her into his lap where she brought her knees up, curling into his body. Her head rested against him while he spoke, his deep voice vibrating in his chest and Adrianna wondered sadly if they were cursed. The majority of their relationship had been plagued by drama and she hoped, after this, they’d be free from it for a while.
“Kenny and Joe are okay with running the bar for another few days,” he told Adrianna when he hung up the phone. “That was my sister again and she’s been taking care of all the arrangements this morning. She gave me hell for not calling her back last night.”
“Are you and your sister close?”
“Not really,” Jack told her. “My sister is kind of...cold. She’s not very compassionate and she doesn’t have tolerance for weaknesses. She stopped talking to my father long before I did.”
“That’s sad for her,” Adrianna mused. She couldn’t imagine anyone related to Jack could be anything but understanding and loving. It must have been a trait he shared with his mother.
“Anyhow, there’s going to be a viewing Monday and then the funeral will be on Tuesday. I’m going to drive down there later on today.” Not having the words to comfort him, Adrianna just squeezed Jack around his middle and kissed his chest. “Would you come with me?” he asked her.
Pain crossed over Adrianna’s features. Now that Jack was asking her for something she couldn’t give it to him. “I have my interview on Monday morning.”
