Chapter 10 #2
“What are you doing here?” he asked tersely.
“Checking up on you because you won’t answer your phone,” I lectured, taking in the state of him.
“I don’t want to talk.” He swirled the contents in the glass, the ice clanking against the glass as he gulped half the drink down. He winced.
“Don’t you think you should take it easy?” I felt compelled to warn him. I’d never seen him like this. It was more than disconcerting to see him drunk. I’d never seen him drink too much before.
His eyes lifted to meet mine. The sadness in them pulled at me.
“What’s going on?” I asked, unsure of how to deal with him.
He momentarily closed his eyes like he was in pain. I gravitated closer.
“I don’t want to talk,” he whispered before opening his eyes again.
I stopped. “Yeah, I know. You never want to talk.”
“What do you want, Tracy?” he asked absent-mindedly as he studied the contents of his glass like it held the answer to all his problems.
“Matthew wanted me to check on you.” I shrugged. I certainly wasn’t here for any reasons of my own.
“Tell him…I’m fine.” He leaned back and pinned me with a look that told me I had outstayed my welcome.
“You sure you don’t want company?” I don’t know why I offered. Maybe it was because of the state he was in. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving him like this.
“Leave, Tracy.” There was no mistaking the distaste in his tone.
I felt torn between the relief I would feel if I followed his instruction and the guilt at leaving him like this. I got my phone out of my pocket and dialed my brother.
“And?” Matthew asked anxiously when he picked up.
“He’s drunk and won’t tell me why.” I held Mark’s steady gaze as I spoke.
“Give him the phone.”
I walked over to Mark and handed him the phone. For a moment he hesitated before he greeted my brother.
“I got some stuff going down.” His eyes took me in while I listened. It made me feel uncomfortable listening in on them, so I began to walk around the room, taking an interest in a painting.
“Yeah…I’m fine.”
I snorted at that. He was anything but fine. Even I could see that.
“Yeah. See you then.”
He ended the call and held my phone out to me. “You’re off the hook. You can go.”
I took my phone but I didn’t head to the nearest exit. Instead, I sat down beside him.
“I’m not going to talk about it,” he restated, staring straight ahead with his drink still held in a tight grip.
“Who said I wanted to know?” I shot back as I propped my feet up on the table.
I wasn’t going to leave him like this. If it had been me, there would be no way he would leave. It was the decent thing to do.
We sat in silence as he continued to nurse his drink. His features were tight but I held my tongue. I made myself comfortable as I stared up at the ceiling. This was going to be a long night but luckily I didn’t have any work commitments the next day.
The only sound was the ice clinking every time he sipped his drink. He was already pretty drunk and I wondered how much worse it was going to get. Was he going to keep going until he passed out? I knew better than to lecture him. He was a grown man, he knew his limits.
When he got to the bottom of the glass, he set it down. I sat up and waited. He stood up, swaying slightly. I rose to put an arm around him to help him but he pushed me away.
“I’m going to bed,” he stated emotionlessly.
I nodded. I wanted to shake him back to the Mark I knew, as this one scared me. He was shutting everyone and everything out .
He began to walk out of the living room, when he stopped by a mirror and stared at his reflection.
He snapped and wiped a crystal vase from the table with one destructive action.
He was breathing hard and I was too shocked to say anything as I surveyed the broken glass scattered across the living room.
I didn’t know this man.
“Mark,” I found myself saying tentatively. His shoulders slumped as he viewed the mess he’d made.
He looked back at me over his shoulder. “Go home, Tracy. I don’t need you.”
I sighed and walked over to him, sidestepping the larger pieces of broken vase.
“You need someone and I’m the only one here.”
We both didn’t want me to be here but there was no way I was going anywhere with him like this. He was like a ticking time bomb ready to go off at any second. He needed someone to watch over him even if he didn’t believe he needed it.
“I don’t need…anyone.”
My heart squeezed. “Everyone needs someone,” I argued.
He sighed and bowed his head. His emotional anguish was clear in his handsome face so I put my arms around him and hugged him. I didn’t care what he wanted, I needed to be able to comfort him.
He didn’t move away, instead he let out a deep emotional breath and I held him tighter. We stayed there for a while while he let me hold him. I rested my head against his shoulder. It felt so good to be close to him, and I wished I could take his pain away.
Finally, I loosened my hold and he took my hand into his. Without a word or explanation, he walked to his room, leading me a few steps behind. I was just going to make sure he got into bed and then I would go and crash in the spare room I had used the last time .
I had never been in his room before. It was decorated as sparsely as the other rooms. Still no photos.
When we entered, he turned to me. “I lied.” I frowned as he still held my hand. “I need you.”
Before I could comprehend what he meant, his mouth slanted over mine.