“Come on, buddy, you gotta pull yourself together,” Chancey said as he yanked me along. “Gods, you reek. Did you piss yourself?”
Probably. Chancey dragged me out of the bar and up the stairs to my quarters. I couldn’t keep track of where we were in the palace, so I was surprised when he dropped me onto my bed. Sprigs jumped off of me but came back a moment later, rolling a water bottle across the pillow. I turned away from him and curled into a ball as I pulled the quilt on the bed to my nose. It was the one that Ava’s grandmothers had made us for our wedding. It should’ve hurt more than anything else, but the smell of raspberries brought more comfort than the liquor ever could.
Chancey must’ve realized what I was doing, because he yanked the quilt from my grasp.
“It smells like Ava!” I whined as he folded it up and tucked it away in a drawer across the room.
Chancey stripped off my shoes. “That’s probably not the best thing for ya right now.”
I started shivering. I was so used to having Ava’s Fire to warm me at night. It took me a minute to realize Chancey had stripped off my trousers and shirt as well.
“Ivy won’t be happy about this,” I mumbled.
“For fuck’s sake, I’m not trying to sleep with you. I’m trying to get you comfortable.” He tossed a clean, thick blanket over me. He must’ve gotten it from the closet. It felt soft, but it lacked Ava’s scent, which made the entire room feel empty.
I curled the blanket up around my shoulders, shivering.
Chancey patted the blanket. “All tucked in. You sleep it off, Charlie. And don’t try anything. We’ll be taking turns babysitting your room so you don’t sneak out.”
My guts clenched as the first wave of nausea hit. I threw myself over the edge of the bed and retched onto the marble floor.
“Oh, godsdammit,” Chancey mumbled, and he went to fetch a waste basket, shoving it in front of my face.
After a few sickly heaves, I wiped my lips with my wrist— the very wrist I realized still had Ava’s name inked on it. Of all the things I regretted, that tattoo had to be one of my biggest. She could leave the palace, and I could get rid of everything that had her scent on it, but the reminder of her would always be there on my skin wherever I went.
I threw myself back into the pillows. “Believe me. I’m not going anywhere even if I wanted to. Sorry I?—”
I puked again, heaving into the wastebin. Chancey replied, “It’s fine. I’ll get this cleaned up. You sleep.”
Chancey wasn’t giving me a choice. I felt bad about making him take care of me, but it was best that I purged some of the liquor, because doing so might actually give me a chance to make it until morning.
Not that I wanted to.
I fell asleep within seconds, because the alcohol knocked me out.
I was roused awake hours later by the muffled sound of two voices exchanging words. I was still coming to and couldn’t make them out. I pushed myself upward to try listening in, but I found that my head was pounding. A good deal of liquor had worked its way through my system. I was dizzy, and still felt sick.
Sprigs stirred next to me, but didn’t move. He’d fallen asleep. I’d bet Chancey made him stay here to make sure I didn’t bolt, or take a tumble off the balcony. Not sure what it said about me that I needed a plant to keep an eye on me, but it certainly couldn’t mean anything good.
Chancey’s voice out in the main sitting room finally came into focus. “Charlie should be out for a couple of hours. Thanks for coming, Marcus.”
“Anytime,” Marcus replied. Then he paused, and added, “I’m surprised you’re still here for him, after what happened.”
“He’s still my pal. Though I’d love to knock him around a couple of times in the ring for the shit he pulled, I know he was fucked in the head when everything went down. You don’t find buddies like him often, so I still want to be here. Though I’m not coming back until I know for sure he’s changed.”
“What do you mean?”
Chancey’s voice got thick. “Ives and I… we need some time away from the group. And each other, probably.”
“Damn. Are you guys no longer together?”
“At this point… no.”
I cringed. Marcus’ tone dropped as he added, “Shit. I’m so sorry, bro.”
“Yeah. Shit sucks. We’ve been down this road before, and we aren’t getting along. Best to just call it quits before we drag this out longer than we should.”
Chancey took a moment to pause. I assumed he was inhaling a cigarette before he added, “I heard Ava gave Charlie divorce papers.”
