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A stiff smile curved my lips as I watched him play. Pocketing five of the solids before the cue ball scratched.
“Ah. Fuck.” He leaned back. “Go on then.” He sighed, sitting on the wing of the couch.
I stared at the table for a while, tapping my finger on the cue. When I finally lined it up, I knew the shot I needed.
I sank my first striped ball. It was therapeutic, focusing on the angles, measuring the table and distance, or where to stripe the cue ball, knowing I could rely on instinct here. The only place I could.
But as each stripe hit the pockets, dread dug its claws deeper.
Finally, there were no more stripes without the hint of a foul.
It took me too long, and I almost expected it to fail. It felt like itshouldfail, but I sank the black ball easily, ending the round.
Dusk snorted. “Four fucking years to get ahead. Still not enough.”
My heart sank.
I’d won. My sickness hadn’t taken this from me, and all I felt was disgust. Shatter was in the next room, dealing with shit that actually mattered.
What was I good at? Sinking pool balls and getting shit-faced without a hangover? “I’m…” I trailed off. “I’m fucking useless,” I muttered.
“That’s a bunch of crap.”
“She’s going beautiful mind on this shit, and I’m just?—”
“Youjustwoke up?—”
“Exactly. I just woke up.” My voice shook. “All this time you were sick, and I was taking all your?—”
“Ransom.” Dusk’s voice was sharp.
I spun on him, my voice more aggressive than I meant it to be. “What?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
I opened my mouth, then shut it, blindsided.
Dusk snorted, setting his cue down and shoving me in the shoulder. “I didn’t keep your spoiled ass alive for years just so you could wake and whine my goddamned ear off.”
I chewed on my cheek, knowing there was a bitter expression on my face. He raised a finger and jabbed it at me. “Oh no. No fucking sulking. You know what? We did you a favour mate, neither of us warned her you were a spoiled little shit.”
“It’s true.” I glanced to the door to see Umbra leaning against the frame, watching us as he popped open a bag of chips. “Sun shines out of your asshole as far as she’s concerned.”
“So, do us a favour, and quit moaning.”
I choked a laugh before I caught myself. But then Dusk had tugged me into a hug. “Bench it for five seconds and let me be happy you’re back.”
“Alright.” My voice was weak.
I held onto him too tight, Dusk dragging me back to the ground when I was otherwise in freefall, just like he always had.
It was evening, and Shatter showed no signs of freeing the living room from crime-scene-investigation classification.
Umbra was still out there with her, watching with popcorn like it was a show. Dusk and Decebal were in the games room watching TV.
That meant I had no excuse to avoid tackling the thing I’d been dreading dealing with since I’d woken.
“Fuck.”The brush got stuck in my hair as I tried to drag it through my locks.
