AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey, it’s okay. Let it all out,” a soft voice whispered.
Mum?
I struggled to open my eyes to see Laura leaning over me, red eyed, looking exhausted. “Archer, please. Sober up. Let us help.”
Sitting up, I shook my head.
“Archer Walters, get the fuck up, shower and pull yourself together. You are better than this and Mum would be ashamed. You were meant to look out for us. I’ve got a black fucking eye and you’ve not even noticed.”
“Soph?” There was my little sister, bruised and with a split lip. “What happened?”
“I lost my fight. I was distracted because my brother is being a dick.”
I reached out for her, and she kneeled beside me. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“So pull yourself together. We can’t help you until you help yourself and you’re not going to find Nee at the bottom of a bottle.”
Nodding, I held out my hand to Fox, and he and Charlie helped me stand on unsteady legs, guiding me to the bathroom.
“Can you manage to strip and wash yourself?” Charlie asked. “Fox will tell you, I don’t mind sharing girls or seeing your junk, but I don’t want to touch it.”
“And that’s why our threesomes never work. I need some sword crossing,” Fox laughed, and I suddenly missed the normal, yet strange, conversations that happened between us.
“Sorry,” I muttered as I kicked off my shorts and stepped into the shower.
“We’re just outside. Shout if you need us,” Charlie declared as they left the room.
Slumping to the shower floor, I let the pain of the last three months engulf me, memories of her that I’d desperately tried to drown, flooding me uncontrollably.
Three months ago, the love of my life got on a plane and vanished, proving one thing; that she never loved me at all.
Chapter 24
Archer – 2 months later
“Hey,Addi.Ithoughtyou were on maternity leave. How are the tiny people?”
“Exhausting, amazing, everything we’ve ever wanted. Thanks for asking, Archer. Look, I’m not going to lie, I’ve been worried about you so I wanted to check you were okay. Getting back to work, Ionee still missing… I have firsthand experience of the love of your life going missing. I know how much it hurts. I’d hate to think that you feel obliged to do these gigs. Be honest with me.”
“Thanks for checking. I really appreciate that. But I’m okay. I’ve been seeing a counselor in London and she’s going to work with me while I travel. She’s helping me deal with Nee vanishing, but also everything that happened with Mum. I’m not drinking myself to death anymore and I’m back writing, so I guess that’s good, although all my songs are soppy heartbreak ones that I might have to burn later down the line.”
Addi let out a soft laugh. “That’s good. But the offer for some specialist help is still there. Thomas has helped the Gods so much, he found Mav on the other side of the world on a tiny island. He could track her down.”
I’d come to terms with the truth with the help of my counselor. “She didn’t want to be found. She said she couldn’t do this anymore. I can’t make her love me or want a life with me, no matter how in love with her I am.”
“Shit, I’m so sorry, Arch. Maybe you’ll meet someone else.”
I chewed on the inside of my mouth while I thought about it, my stomach pulling at the idea of waking up next to anyone but her. “When Mav went missing, did you ever think that? Did you ever wonder if he just wasn’t the one and that you’d find someone else?”
She laughed. “Never.”
“Then you know I won’t either. She was it for me.”
“It’s hard Archer. I wish I could promise it will get better or you’ll find her, but I can’t, but we’re here if you need us. I’m going to send you Thomas’ details in case you change your mind.” She paused. “Oh, and just so you know, we’ve had to add an extra night, but it’s in Miami. I know you never wanted to play there again, but it fit perfectly… like it was meant to be and as you’re in and out in forty-eight hours, I figured you couldn’t get into that much trouble this time. That good with you?”
In the past, I would have panicked about going back, but I didn’t feel much of anything these days—emotional detachment, my counselor diagnosed when we first started working together.
“Whatever. You tell us where to be and we’ll be there.”
