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Chapter Twenty-six
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THAD
“Dude. Get the hell up,” Chris snaps seconds before the covers disappear from my body.
“What the fuck, man?” I growl, the sudden pounding in my head making it impossible to even attempt to open my eyes.
“What’s wrong? Feeling a little hung over?” He’s speaking too loudly like he’s trying to make a point. “That’s what happens when you hole yourself up in some ratty dive bar and run up a hundred dollar tab drinking shots of whiskey.”
“Fuck.” I groan, my stomach turning at the thought.
“What the hell were you thinking, man?”
“I was thinking I wanted a fucking drink,” I growl, not sure why the hell I have to answer to him for anything. He’s not my keeper.
“And calling Laken? What did you hope to accomplish there other than worry her out of her mind and confuse her even more than she’s already confused?”
“What?” I roll, pushing up into a sitting position. It takes a moment for my vision to clear enough for me to focus on Chris who’s standing at the foot of the bed with his arms crossed in front of himself.
“Oh, you don’t remember?” he grinds out sarcastically. “You called her drunk off your ass. If it wasn’t for her you would have either slept at the bar or walked home because given your condition there was no way the bartender was going to let you drive away. Not that you could have if you tried.”
“I called her?” I question even though he’s made it pretty apparent that I did.
He nods. “She called Brad who came over and woke me up. When we got to Pete’s you were passed out with your head on the bar. We had to carry you out.”
“Fuck.” I pinch the bridge of my nose between my thumb and index finger in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure building in my head.
“Look, I get that some stuff has gone down but you’ve got to find a better way to deal with it. If it had been my father that had to come get you, I can guarantee you’d be packing your shit right now. You knew the rules coming here.”
“Chris,” I start, but he holds up a hand to stop me.
“Figure your shit out, Thad. And leave my sister out of it while you do. You’ve put her through enough already. I won’t say a word about what went down last night as long as you promise me it won’t happen again.”
“It won’t.”
“I’m serious, man. You might be my friend but I won’t do this shit with you. You need a meeting I’m there. You need someone to talk to, I’m there. But I won’t sit back and watch you head down the path you’ve been working a year to save yourself from.”
“It won’t happen again,” I reiterate.
“Good. Now get your ass up. We’ve got work to do.” With that he spins around and quickly exits the camper, letting the door slam shut loudly behind him.
***
“You feeling okay today, son?” Henry drops down next to me, holding a piece of fencing in place so that I can secure it.
“Didn’t sleep well last night.” I half lie.
“I see.” He nods, his eyes that look so much like Laken’s staring back at me.
Henry Roth is an intimidating man. One that I’m not ashamed to admit scares the hell out of me on most days. But he’s also a good man and he’s done more for me over the past year than I ever deserved and for that I will be forever grateful.
“I think it’s time for me to leave the ranch,” I announce, having been giving it a lot of thought over the past few days.
The truth is I can’t be here anymore. I can’t walk into the barn without seeing her standing there. I can’t work on a tractor or tinker with my truck without the vision of her leaning over the hood flashing through my mind. I can’t shake her smile, her laugh, the way she always made everything feel so easy. Every single thing on this ranch reminds me of her and last night proved that being here is pushing me in a direction I do not want to go.
“Mind if I ask why?” Henry stands, propping his hip against the fence post.
