Author's Chapter Notes:
Tried to get this one done as soon as I could; hope you enjoy it! Thanks again for all the feedback! :)
Alex didn’t emerge from his bedroom until close to two the following day. Dark circles lined his eyes and he’d had to nearly pry them open once he finally awoke. The hot shower didn’t help and his head felt as if someone had shoved an entire pack of cotton balls into it. Thankful for the shades that covered his eyes and hid them from view, he’d finally wandered downstairs to face his mother and hope she wasn’t beginning to suspect. He found her in the kitchen making up a fresh vat of iced tea, humming along with the song on the radio in there.
“Mornin’.”
Denise glanced over and spotted her son. “Afternoon is more like it.”
“Sorry I slept so late.” He pulled a bowl from the cupboard and spun the lazy susan around before selecting a box of cereal.
“Did you stay up all night?”
Alex shook his head and poured himself a bowl of the Fruit Loops. “Guess I was just tired.”
“Are you feeling alright?” She turned and leaned against the counter, eying her son carefully.
“Eh, best I can be feeling considering.”
“Considering what?”
He winced and pulled a gallon of milk from the fridge; he’d momentarily forgotten that his mom didn’t know about Renee’s pregnancy. “Considering everything that’s going on.”
“Have you been drinking again?”
Alex froze at that question then quickly recovered and began to pour the ice cold milk into his cereal bowl. “No.” A sick sensation started in his stomach as he lied to his mother, but knew she couldn’t find out the truth.
“Then what’s with the sunglasses? You only used to wear them inside like this if you were hiding your eyes after you’d been drinking all night.”
“I’m not drinking.” He picked his bowl up and stepped around to the other side of the counter, sliding up onto a bar stool. “Where are the girls?”
Denise sighed and studied him a moment before shaking her head and returning to her task at hand. “They went shopping. Leigh came by and picked them up and took ‘em out. I called her and asked if she would; I figured they needed some girl time without you or me around.”
“Was Brielle feeling okay?”
“She seems to be. Said she felt some slight pain this morning, but felt okay otherwise.”
Alex frowned at that; if she were feeling pain she should have stayed home and rested. “When will they be back?”
“Sometime before dinner.”
“And they went with Leigh?”
“Yeah, she said it’d be no problem to take ‘em out somewhere long as they didn’t mind James going along.”
Alex chuckled. “I doubt they would.”
“I’m sure they’ll have a good time.” She selected a glass from the cupboard, shifting her eyes toward her son again. “So, where did you and Brielle disappear to last night? Lily and I were surprised to beat you home.”
He shrugged and shoveled a bite of food into his mouth, waiting until it was gone before replying, “We just talked some.” The lies were beginning to come easier now and the sour feeling in his stomach was beginning to dissipate.
“Is she doing okay?”
“I hope so.”
Denise poured herself some tea then joined Alex at the counter, taking her own bar stool. “She really seems very sweet and I know she was scared out of her mind yesterday, but she handled it so well; that poor thing.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here. Next time, call me as soon as anything out of ordinary happens.”
“I called you before we even left for the hospital.”
“I know.” He spooned another bite into his mouth.
Denise sighed and sipped on her tea, trying not to obviously study her son. Something was up with him and she had a sickening feeling she knew what it was, though she desperately hoped it wasn’t. That’s the last thing anyone needed at the moment, but it’s something she feared ever since she opened that message on facebook from Lily. Alex had worked so hard to overcome his addiction to alcohol and drugs and he’d been successful and Denise couldn’t remember ever feeling more proud than she had then, but it was an ongoing struggle and something he was going to have to deal with for the rest of his life. And as his mother, Denise held her breath every time he would go through a stressful situation that might make him pick up a bottle. She was afraid he’d turn back to the alcohol and if her motherly instincts were telling her anything, it looked like he already had.
“Alex, you would tell me if you were having a hard time handling everything, wouldn’t you?”
Her son turned from his cereal and used the back of his hand to wipe his mouth. “I’m handling things just fine, Mom.”
“Alright.” She gave a nod then took up her tea and took a drink.
“Hello? Anyone home?”
Both sets of eyes turned toward the hallway as Renee sauntered into the room, a tote bag hanging off her shoulder. Alex gave an inward groan and felt the dull ache in his head slowly morphing into a pounding headache.
“Renee.” Denise looked surprised then quickly covered it and slipped from the stool. “How are you, dear?”
Renee shot her a look that seemed to say ‘why do you care’ then offered up a sickening sweet smile and set her bag on the counter. “Denise, it’s so nice to see you. I’m doing just great; how are you?” She moved around the counter and embraced the shorter, older woman with a hug she so desperately tried to pass off as loving.
Denise returned it with her own attempt at concealing her true feelings and the two women separated. “Would you like something to drink, Renee? We have some fresh brewed tea.”
Renee took the seat her future mother-in-law had vacated, smoothing a hand over onto her fiancée’s leg and giving it a squeeze. “Oh, no thank you, Denise; I can’t have caffeine.”
“Oh, alright; we have water or lemonade.”
“Water would be just fine, thank you.”
Alex quickly finished his cereal then shoved the bowl to the side. “What are you doing here?”
“Am I not allowed to come over? Last time I checked, I was the fiancée and this was going to become our home.”
He sighed and rubbed his forehead; not in the mood to deal with her snippy and snide remarks. “That’s not what I meant. I was just wondering what brought you by today.”
Renee smiled brightly. “Oh, I was just out doing some shopping and running errands and thought I’d come by and show you what I got.” With that comment, she slipped from the stool and back around the counter to her tote bag.
Denise moved back over and set her water glass on the counter. “Here’s your water, honey.”
“Oh, thank you.” She smiled at the older woman then withdrew a stack of magazines and books. “I figured it was time to start on the wedding planning, especially if we’re moving it up, which only gives us a few months to plan it.”
Alex felt his heart skip a beat and he swallowed hard. “Um, we hadn’t decided when we wanted to get married.”
“But it’s going to be before the baby is born.”
“We hadn’t decided for sure yet, Renee.”
The dark haired girl eyed her fiancé. “I’m not having a bastard child.”
Denise looked between the two. “Um…am I missing something?”
Renee turned to the other woman. “Alex hasn’t told you yet?”
The man in question gave a groan and felt his headache growing worse. “I hadn’t had a chance to.”
“Oh, well,” she offered up a bright smile, “you’re going to be a grandmother. Alex and I are having a baby!”
Denise blinked and stared at the raven haired girl. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Turning to her son, she sputtered before finally managing a ‘What?’.
Renee giggled and slipped her arm around Alex’s waist. “We’re so excited and we’ve been talking about moving the wedding up to before the due date.”
“I…well..” she was still speechless, completely bowled over by the news. What were the chances of two women being pregnant with her son’s children at the same time? Turning her gaze onto her son, she noted the pain on his face even with the dark shades covering his eyes and her heart immediately hurt for him.
He met her gaze and felt his knees weaken. All he wanted at the moment was his mother to hold him and make it all better; take away the fear and stress and tell him what to do to fix it all.
“So, are you feeling alright, Renee?” Denise pressed her lips together and used all the strength she could to turn from her son and look towards his fiancée.
“So far I’m doing well. I had a bit of morning sickness this morning, but it’s seemed to pass.” Renee set her books onto the counter and began to rifle through them. “I picked up a bunch of wedding magazines and books and I thought we could pick a wedding planner by this weekend so we can call and get scheduled in; though I’m sure with your status, it won’t be that difficult. And then…” she trailed off and opened the tote again, reaching in and withdrawing a thick, hardcover book. “I thought we could start reading about the baby.” Holding it toward Denise and Alex they could clearly see the picture of a baby being formed in the womb etched across it. “I think this is the thickest one I saw, so I figured it must have all the information we’ll need.”
Alex felt like his lungs were beginning to squeeze and tiny black spots were now dancing before his eyes. He needed to get out of the room before he either passed out or threw up all over her books. “Um, I…I need to…to go…do something,” he stammered as he swiped his keys from a nearby counter then fled the room, ignoring Renee’s calls behind him. Hopefully his mother would stall her and he could escape, because at the moment he wasn’t going to be able to handle even ten more seconds with his fiancée.
Luckily, his mother did her part and Renee didn’t give chase; though he didn’t let his breath out until he was inside his SUV and heading down the drive then through the gates at the front. He half expected to look in his rearview and find her following behind, but no cars appeared and he was soon out of his neighborhood and heading for the highway. Destination: he had no fucken clue, but long as it didn’t have babies, pregnant women or Renee, his mom, Brielle or Lily, he’d take anything.
~*~*~*~*~
“I’m not letting you drive out of here on your own, buddy; I don’t care what you say about it.”
Alex scowled at the burly man behind the bar counter. “Fuck you, man; I don’t have time to argue. Give me my damn keys.”
The man shook his head, his piercing blue eyes steady and his stance firm and unrelenting. “Nope, you’re gonna have to call someone or we’ll call you a cab.”
“Bullshit!” He leaned to swipe for the car keys in the bartender’s hand, misjudging his balance and sliding off the side of the stool. Quickly, he grabbed for the countertop, righting himself and cursing under his breath.
“See, you can’t even sit straight. You’ve had too much to drink and you’re not going out there on your own.”
The tattooed man frowned. “Fuck.” He rubbed his head then leaned forward and dropped it against the top of the counter.
The bartender eyed him. “You better call someone; we close in two hours and if you’re still here, it’ll be a cab that takes you home on your own dime.”
“Shit.” He sat himself up and rubbed his eyes, not being successful in clearing the blurriness that he was seeing. Alex knew he was fucked up; he should be after sitting in the run-down bar and downing glass after glass of Jack Daniels for the last six hours. After escaping from Renee and his mom, he’d driven around aimlessly for a few hours before ending up at the joint. Then he’d set up camp on a bar stool and hadn’t moved since; except twice to hit the head. He’d run out of cigarettes an hour ago, about the same time the bartender had finally cut him off and since then they’d been back and forth about the transportation he was going to use to finally vacate the premises.
“So, what’s it gonna be?”
Alex frowned. “Fuck you, man.” He patted his pocket and worked on finagling his phone from it, nearly slipping off the stool again in the process. Finally, he had it free then began to scroll through, trying to decide who would be the best choice at this time of night. His mom, Renee and even Brielle were clearly out of question; the last thing he needed was to come in stumbling drunk and cause his mom to have a heart attack and send him straight into rehab, or try and stage some kind of intervention. Finally, he selected a name on the list and held the phone to his ear.
A voice answered after the third ring, “Talk to me.”
“Nick?” He slurred out.
There was a pause. “AJ?”
“Yeah, s’me. You busy?”
There was another pause. “Have you been drinking?”
He frowned. “Yeah and the fucken bartender won’t lemme leave. He stole my keys.” His mouth felt thick and he knew his words were slurred, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Nick sighed. “You need me to come get you?”
“Yeah, cuz the guy’s a bitch.” He scowled over at the burly man who was busy pouring some more drinks. “Can ya bring me some smokes too? I ran out and I really need a smoke.”
“Where ya at?” He didn’t sound too pleased, but he didn’t voice it.
Alex told him the location then hung up. He didn’t bother pocketing his phone and dropped his head back down on the bar, insistent on staying in that position until his friend arrived. Which he did about thirty minutes later; strolling into the bar and glancing around until he spotted his bandmate, who looked like a sorry excuse at the moment.
“Hey, ready to roll?”
Alex lifted his head and turned to see Nick beside him. “Bro, ya made it.” He reached to clasp his shoulder and missed, falling forward and catching himself with the edge of the counter. “Damn, I keep doing that.”
“I’m sure it’s not cuz you’re fucked up.” The taller, younger man grabbed his friend’s arm and helped heave him from the stool. “Where are your keys?”
“Dumb bitch of a bartender has ‘em.”
Nick glanced in the direction Alex was waving and motioned the man over. They exchanged a few words then the blond man collected the keys and helped the drunken man out the door.
Once outside into the cool night air, he steered him toward his white Escalade then helped him up and inside. “Don’t you dare puke in my ride, man,” he warned before shutting the door and moving around to his own side.
Alex gave a groan and settled back in the seat. “I coulda drove myself. Gimme the keys, I can do that. You bring my smokes?”
The blond man shook his head and started the SUV up, adjusting the volume of the music that came blaring out of the speakers. “No way in hell, bro. You’re drunker than a skunk, not to mention, you go home like that and your mom will have your ass. And yes, but you’re not getting ‘em till we get to wherever you’re going; no way in hell you’re smoking in here.”
“Oh, I fo’gots ‘bout her.” He made a face at the last comment but relented and didn’t try to persuade the other man to hand them over.
“Uh huh,” his friend agreed as he maneuvered from the spot then headed from parking lot. “What the fuck were ya doing in there in the first place?”
Alex shrugged a shoulder. “My life is goin’ down the shithole; I was just trying to help it along.”
Nick glanced to him, but didn’t respond.
The two fell silent and the drunken man closed his eyes, feeling the ill effects the alcohol was having on his body.
“Where do you want me to take you?” The blond man questioned, interrupting his thoughts on how horrible his hangover was going to be the next morning.
“I can’t go to my place.”
“Wanna come to mine?”
“That okay? You weren’t tryin’ ta get some ass tonight, were ya?”
Nick snorted. “Please, bro; I don’t have to try to get any ass. And no, Laurel had to go to her mom’s for a few days, so it’s just me there. You’re more than welcome to crash for the night.”
“Sweet, thanks, man.” He sighed and rested his head against the back of the seat once more.
Nick glanced to him and gave a nod. “Anytime, man, anytime.”
~*~*~*~*~
Alex wanted to die the following morning. He woke just after ten and couldn’t get back to sleep with the splitting pain shooting through his head, or the queasiness that caused him to bolt twice to the bathroom. Whatever had possessed him to drink that much and for that long? He must have been out of his mind; and for the first time, remembered one of the many reasons he had given up the potent liquid in the first place. Feeling like his head was in a vice and wanting to do nothing more than crawl into a dark hole and die; he finally emerged from one of his friend’s guest rooms and made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen.
Nick was making up some kind of concoction in his blender when he shuffled in and gave him the once over. “You look like hell.”
“I feel much worse.” He sank down onto a stool, his shoulders slouching. “I don’t know what I was thinking last night to drink as much as I did.” His voice felt rough and sore; one of the many ill effects of the burning alcohol.
“That’s what gets you into trouble.” His friend put the top on the blender and pushed the button, causing the machine to whir to life.
Alex rubbed his forehead. “What does? You have any aspirin?”
Nick let the blender run its course and moved to a cupboard, tossing a small bottle over toward his guest. “You don’t think; you just shut your brain down and drink and drink until you’re puking your guts out or passed out in someone’s front lawn.”
Alex caught the bottle. “That was one time and it was a long time ago.” He unscrewed the cap and shook out three white pills.
The younger man filled a glass with water then slid it across the counter to his friend. “Yeah, well, you haven’t been drinking in a long time.”
He thanked him and downed the medicine, drinking the entire glass of water before setting the empty glass on the counter and wiping his mouth. “Shit, I know; I’ve really fucked up.”
“What brought it on?”
Alex shook his head, staring at the empty glass. “Shit that I don’t even want to think about.”
“Which is why you’re drinking again; so you don’t have to think or feel.”
“I know.” He dropped his head into his hands. “I can’t help it; it’s the only thing that seems to help me at the moment.”
Nick pulled the top from the blender once it was finished and shut off. Taking a large glass, he poured the green gunk into it and pushed it toward his friend. “Here, drink this; it’ll help.”
“What is this stuff?” He took up the glass and peered it over.
“The best hangover concoction there is; tastes like shit but cures you in less than thirty minutes.”
Alex made a face then took a breath and downed the thick liquid as quickly as he could. It tasted exactly how Nick described it and he shuddered, nearly gagging a few times but managing to choke it down. Finally, he set the glass back onto the counter. “It better work.”
“It will; you’ll be back to your old self in no time.”
“What’s in that stuff?”
Nick chuckled low and began to clean up his mess. “Trust me; you don’t want to know.”
Alex shuddered again then shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Thanks for picking me up last night.”
“Anytime, man; you’d have done the same thing for me.”
“True. You think you can drop me back there in a bit? I need to get my car; hopefully it hasn’t been jacked.”
“Let’s hope not.” Nick pulled out two bowls from the cabinet. “You want any cereal?”
The older man made a face. “Not particularly.”
Nick shrugged and poured himself a bowl of Lucky Charms, adding the milk then joining his friend at the counter. He ate in silence for a few, getting about halfway through his breakfast before finally glancing over toward Alex. “So, what’s got you drinking again?”
Alex gave a ‘heh’ and swiveled on the stool. “That’s a loaded question.”
“You wanna talk about it?”
“Not particularly.”
“This have anything to do with the baby rumors going around?”
Alex gave a groan. “You heard those, huh?”
“Kind of hard to miss.” He scooped another bite of his cereal before speaking again, “Brielle’s having your baby.”
“That’s some of it.”
He looked over to the other man. “And Renee nearly had an aneurysm when she found out.”
“Heh,” he rolled his eyes, “she just about did; she hates Brielle and wants nothing to do with her, wants her back in New York where she came from.”
“Well, that’s understandable.”
“To a degree; but she’s not even trying to understand me or what I’m going through. And she’s becoming really horrible and bitchy and hateful. I’ve never seen her like that before, Nick, and it really worries me.”
Nick lifted his brows. “Have you talked to her?”
“I’ve tried, but she just gets upset and tells me that I don’t understand her and how it’s not fair to her.” He shook his head and fiddled with the empty glass in front of him. “I don’t know what to do.”
The younger man lifted his bowl and drank the last bit of his milk before responding to that, “What are you doing for Brielle?”
“Trying to do right by her; it’s my child, so I’m taking care of her and the baby. I’ve been working on getting her a job and soon as she gets one and starts saving money, I’ll help her get her own place to live. I’ve bought her clothes and necessities and I’m going to do the same for the baby when the time comes. Renee wants me to send her on her way and pick the kid up for weekends, but,” he wet his bottom lip and shook his head again, “I can’t be that way, not after what I went through with my own father.”
“I understand that.” Nick rose from his spot and carried his bowl to the sink. “And you shouldn’t have to do that. You should get to decide what level of involvement you have with Brielle and the baby. But,” he glanced over to the other man as he rinsed the bowl, “you also need to take Renee’s feelings into consideration, especially if you’re going to marry her. Couples make big decisions together; lord knows I’m learning that with Laurel.”
Alex nodded at that then wet his bottom lip and looked to his friend. “There’s something else?”
Nick arched his brows and tucked the bowl away into the dishwasher. “What’s that? Renee pregnant too?”
“Yup.”
He blinked and turned to the tattooed man. “You’re shitting me; I was just being stupid, I wasn’t serious.”
“Well, I am. She told me the other day and I nearly passed out. And now she’s intent on getting married before the baby is born and I just don’t know if I can do that.”
“Shit, yeah, I don’t blame you.”
He sighed and rubbed his face. “So, that’s why I’ve been drinking again.”
Nick didn’t really know what to say; he felt for his friend but didn’t know how to help him. “Have you tried calling your sponsor? Going to a meeting?”
“No, I’ve just been trying to forget my feelings and the shit my life is turning into. My sponsor and meetings aren't going to do that for me.”
“Maybe not, but you ought to at least try; you’ve worked too hard, Aje, to let this drag you back down and force you to start over again. Besides,” he sank back down on the stool next to his friend’s, “you never know if it’ll help if you don’t give it a shot.”
He knew Nick was right; it was just hard to admit that. “I…I don’t know.”
“You just think about it, alright?” He clasped his friend on the shoulder. “And anytime you wanna talk, you know I’m here for ya.”
Alex gave a nod. “I know and I really appreciate it.”
Nick squeezed his shoulder then let it go. “And maybe next time, instead of reaching for the Jack D, you reach for your phone and give me a call. I can come getcha or whatever you need.”
He met his friend’s eyes. “I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all I ask.” A pause. “You ready to go collect your vehicle?”
“Yeah,” he sighed at the thought and rose from the stool, “I need to do that and get my ass home; who knows what kind of shit Renee’s been telling my mom and let’s hope she left before Brielle and Lily got back to the house.”
“Oh boy,” Nick swiped his keys from the hook on the wall, “you can tell me all about that on the way.”
Alex chuckled low. “Maybe we hold off on that, it might make me wanna stop for a drink.”
“Right, can’t have that.” Then he led his friend from the room and toward the garage. “How ‘bout we talk about my life instead?”
