“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t a compliment,” he retorted. “I haven’t seen you this drunk in years.”
“I’m making up for lost time.” My voice stuttered on the last word. “Now that I do… don’t have anything left.”
Lance kicked my feet off the coffee table, and I toppled over, this time on my right side.
“What the fuck?” I griped, barely able to straighten myself.
“I know you’re pissed. Disappointed. Maybe even embarrassed, but that fucker went after your arm because he knew it was your weakness. You fought a good fight.”
“She’s my weakness,” I corrected, ignoring his last statement. “Not my arm. My heart.” I smacked my lips together, my mouth suddenly like sandpaper. “She did it.”
“Did what?” he asked, the seat next to me dipping with his weight.
“She killed me.”
“What does that mean?” I was drunk but could still detect his annoyance.
“She anol… anol… aaaa… annihilated the man I was. With her face, and her body, and the way she scrunched her nose at me,” I said, tapping my nose for emphasis.
“You’re not making any sense.”
“I do.” I clapped my hands together. “I am. Sophie Delaney killed the man I was. I was happy before her. Now I lost it all. You see?” I pried my eyes open, struggling to focus on Lance’s face, his image blurring before splitting into three. “She did this to me,” I said, accidentally poking myself in the eye.
“No, she didn’t,” he argued, slapping my hand away from my face. “Trevor warned you not to get involved with her. We all did. We told you it wasn’t a good idea, but you let your dick take over. But if you want someone to blame, blame yourself, not Sophie. She didn’t do anything wrong.”
I summoned the meanest face I could muster in my current state and pointed at him. “I told her to stay put.”
“She couldn’t stomach seeing you fight, Jax.”
“She wasn’t supposed to move. He’s still out there.”
“Her ex?”
“I couldn’t protect her.” An ache swirled in my chest as my eyes glassed over. “She wasn’t supposed to move.”
“Fine. She wasn’t supposed to move, but don’t blame her. You can blame me for not going after her.”
“Yup.” I threw my hand in the air, as if I high-fived an invisible person.
“Yup what?”
“Exactly,” I answered.
“Okay, I think we’re done here. Sleep it off, and we’ll talk tomorrow when you make sense.”
“Good day,” I shouted after him as he walked out, slamming the door behind him. “I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone. I got my trusty new friend, Grey Goose.” I reached for the vodka, but the bottle wasn’t on the table. Or on the couch next to me. I leaned forward to check the floor and lost my balance, toppling over and smacking my head on the ground.
“Fuck me,” I mumbled as the darkness stormed in and stole me from consciousness.
47
“I don’t know what to do,” I cried, feeling foolish for breaking down in front of Trevor, especially since he probably blamed me for Jackson losing his big fight. He never wanted us together, and we should’ve listened. The last thing I wanted was to ruin Jackson’s career.
“There’s nothing you can do. It’s not your fault.” He squeezed my shoulder. “It’s Jackson’s for taking his focus off his brother. And it’s Jay’s for going after Jackson’s shoulder, a weakness he was fully aware of.”
“Why are you being so nice to me, Trevor? I don’t deserve it.”
