Page 99 of Relapse

And I was already so far in. Deep.

“I promise, Alex.”

I had to lie. There would be no other way to get what I needed.

Alex watched me for a moment, his hands drumming nervously on his lap. Then, his face of worry gradually started to revert back to his cheesy grin. “Ok. Alright man. I got you.”

Inner me relinquished the breath I had been holding.

“Thanks, Alex.”

A few more moments of waiting was all that it took—even though it did feel like forever. Alex returned with the small little pharmacy baggie, neatly stapled and sealed, along with a plastic bag filled with God knows what.

I reached for the pharmacy bag almost instantly.

“Ah-ah!” Alex said, swatting my greedy hand away with a shake of his head.

I stopped. Stared. He turned on the car and started off on a tangent.

“The pharmacist consulted with me! He said that this must be taken with food and at least—” Alex shot a look back to the back of the bag to read the fine print. “16 ounces of water!”

I wouldn’t be able to keep the irritation at bay for much longer, this I knew. “Alex, I’ll read it. Let me take the meds.”

Alex glared at me, then proceeded to dig into his plastic bag from the store. “Here’s your water,” he said, reaching in again, “and here’s some food. It’s just a pack of donuts, but better than nothing.”

I sighed.

“Either you eat it, or you’re not getting shit.”

His baby blues challenged mine. He crossed his arms.

“Okay, fine. Give me the donuts Alex.”

I didn’t have the energy to fight him today.

Alex relaxed his shoulders. “Whew, okay good. You were starting to scare me there, I didn’t know how much longer I could keep that up. You’re so intimidating when you stare like that!”

I rolled my eyes, shoved a donut into my mouth and started to open the bottle of water. Alex opened a snack of his own and we sat in his car, eating in silence.

Two donuts were sufficient enough to pacify him, and finally, he let me get at the bag with the medication.

I was salivating, but I reminded myself not to take two pills in front of Alex. I’d take another one later, after I was safely locked in my bedroom, away from everyone and everything.

Alex watched me, good little protector that he was, taking the pill. He checked the time on his car. “Be sure you finish all of that water within the next thirty minutes.”

I nodded, sipping slowly.

Alex looked up at me, almost like he was about to say something else, when his eyes caught sight of something over my shoulder. “Hey—is that Silas Thorne?”

My body nearly displaced another rib snapping around to see what he was talking about. The window was clear, and I clutched my side in pain from rotating too quickly.

“The fuck… Alex…why would you say that?”

“Noah, look—” Alex persisted, but the direction of his pointed finger was higher, up into the sky. “On that billboard there.”

My eyes followed his gesture, and sure enough, there he was. Silas Thorne, in all his regal attire, hands in pockets and looking over his shoulder out at the world, 100 feet above us. He had entirely too much gel in his hair, slicked back behind his ears, and a small prince crown fitting loosely on his head.

The billboard read: Silas Thorne, The Prince of Pinnacle Investments.