Page 15 of Fish Out of Water

“The door’s o–open,” he said. “She said she’d leave it un… un…”

“Unlocked.”

“Yeah.”

“She’s nicer than you deserve.”

“Yeah.” Jake gazed up at Robbie, the stars lighting up the sky enough to catch the glint in his eyes. He wasperfect.

Before Robbie could open the door, Jake straightened up and pressed his lips against Robbie’s. Robbie stood there for a moment, eyes fully opened, stunned into silence. Then he broke away, wiping his mouth.

“No, Jake,” he said firmly.

“But—”

“No. You’re in no condition to be doing anything of the sort. I can taste the alcohol on my lips.”

Jake pulled his mouth into a pout. “You’re no fun,” he said.

“I’m sure you’ll be saying much worse things about me in the morning. I know I’m thinking those things aboutyouright now.”

“You’re mean.”

“Uh-huh.”

He opened the door and helped Jake over the threshold, letting him lean against the wall while he looked through the dark house. “Isabel? It’s Robbie. I hope you don’t mind, but I helped Jake get home.”

Isabel’s bedroom door opened, and she emerged in a floral patterned nightgown, her hair plaited loosely into a single braid that hung over one shoulder. “Robbie? Is Jake okay?”

“He… had a little too much to drink. He’s fine, just a bit unsteady on his feet. Sorry to wake you, but I wanted to make sure you were aware of what happened.”

The way Isabel looked at him, Jake was pretty sure he didn’tlookfine. He tried to grin at her, but his cheek was hurting more now than before, and he had to let the smile go.

“Jacob Wynn, you—” She shook her head in disappointment. “You need to be more careful. Get to bed right now.”

“I’ll help him if it’s all right,” Robbie offered.

Isabel’s face relaxed a bit. “Yes, please. Thank you, Robbie.”

Robbie grabbed Jake by the arm again. “I’m just trying to keep this fool from getting himself jailed—or worse.”

Isabel shook her head again as Jake passed by. His face burned with shame, and he kept his head down, unable to look at even Robbie anymore.

When they got into his room, Robbie pulled back the blankets on the bed to make way for Jake. Before Jake could collapse into it, he reached into the back pocket of Jake’s jeans and pulled out his phone, which made Jake giggle.

“Get in with me?” he offered, smiling wearily as he sank into bed.

Robbie clenched his jaw, took a deep breath, and relaxed it again. “Jake, please stop that. Go to sleep so you can forget this all happened. Mier knows I’d like to do that right now.”

“There’s plenty of room.”

There wasn’t, but Robbie’s cheeks reddened slightly anyway. “Go to sleep, you fucking idiot. I need to go explain exactly what happened to Isabel and get home myself.”

Robbie left Jake alone, and before he knew it, the room faded out around him. Muffled voices came from the hallway where Robbie and Isabel talked. And then there was nothing at all except a black void and a deep, dull ache.

Jake struggledto open his eyes against the light streaming into the room. He had forgotten to close the curtains before he climbed into bed, and yet he couldn’t even remember doing that much. But he was in bed, with the blankets tucked around him like a little cocoon protecting him from the outside world.

When he finally got his eyes fully open, he saw that the curtains were, in fact, drawn shut. It was just the light of midday breaching through the fabric that was killing him. Robbie must have closed them before he left last night.