AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I press the end call button and immediately pull up the number he called me from and hit redial. It rings twice before a man’s voice comes on the line. “Pete’s Tavern.”
“Hi, I have a friend who just called me from the bar.”
“You must be Laken.” I can practically hear the smile in his voice.
“Wow, how drunk is he?”
“He’s in pretty rough shape. I cut him off about an hour ago but he’s made no attempt to leave.”
“Can you give me your address and I’ll send someone out to get him?”
“Of course.” He rambles off the address, stopping to repeat it again once I’m at the desk with a pen and paper at the ready.
“Perfect,” I say, jotting it down. “Can you please keep him there until someone comes to get him? Whatever you do, don’t let him leave.”
“I’ll do my best,” he tells me.
“Thank you.” I quickly end the call and pull up Chris’s number in my contacts. It doesn’t even ring once before voicemail picks up. If he’s home, which is very likely, he doesn’t have any reception on his cell, so I decide to call Brad in hopes that I can get a hold of him.
I don’t want to call my parents and if he doesn’t answer that’s exactly what I’ll have to do. Luckily Brad picks up on the fourth ring, clearly having been awoken from sleep.
“Hello,” he groggily answers the phone.
“Brad, it’s Laken. I need a favor.”
“What is it? Are you alright?” I hear the instant concern in his voice.
“I’m fine. It’s not me. It’s Thad.”
“Thad? What about Thad?”
“He just called me from Pete’s Tavern completely out of his mind. I tried calling Chris but it goes straight to voicemail.”
“I’ll take care of it,” he cuts in. “Where did you say he was again.” I hear rustling noises followed by what sounds like a door closing.
“Pete’s Tavern. It’s out off of Belleview.”
“I know where it is. I’ll go grab Chris and we’ll go get him.”
“Thank you, Brad.” I sigh, relief evident in my voice.
“I’ll call you once we have him.”
With that he ends the call and the deafening silence of the room settles over me. Dropping my cell onto the bedside table, I lay back in bed and stare up at the ceiling, my mind going a million miles a minute.
—-
My alarm blares tolife way too early and I find myself slapping at the clock blindly, trying to get the damn thing to shut up.
Finally managing to hit the snooze button, I turn my face into the pillow and let out a loud groan.
Today is my first official day on set. We’re scheduled to shoot the scene when Rose and Dante meet. It’s a huge scene and will be what sets the tone for the entire rest of the story. I can’t afford to be distracted or tired–both of which I definitely am.
I had obsessed over what was happening with Thad for nearly two hours before Chris called me. And of course I didn’t get a wink of sleep in that time frame which would explain why I feel like there’s no possible way I’m going to be able to pull myself out of this bed.
Even after Chris called to confirm that they had him and he was home safe, it still took me a long time to find sleep again. My mind was pinging around in a thousand different directions. Even though I was physically exhausted, mentally I couldn’t get my brain to shut down.
All I could think about was Thad. What it took to push him to the point of drinking to that excess. What it means for his recovery. What it means for him.
