100%. Done.
Chapter 16
Life’s a Peach and then You Die
CORMAC
“What’s your problem?” Skyler asks, pulling me from flicking through the camera angles on my phone of Brigit’s apartment.
I barely shoot a glare up to him before going back to watching her storm around her apartment in a flurry, “What do you mean?”
“You’re even more of a sourpuss than usual,” he shrugs. “More like who you were before you got your eggs scrambled.”
Deciding to tackle what’s bothering Brigit in person later, I finally give Sky my full attention. “Are you sure you’re ready to talk about before my incident now? You haven’t even drunk yourself half to death yet.”
“Fuck you for that,” he laughs, but the sound is laced with a rage I imagine he only lets out during his fights when he’s wailing on someone until they’re unconscious. "I'm just saying, your different personalities are throwing me for loops man."
"You can't keep dodging my questions about what happened,Skyler," I open the door to the distillery, the malty scent assaulting me immediately.
While the smell of yeast and fermentation certainly isn't the most pleasant, it feels like home to me. Like the only part of the real me I have left between the scars, the tattoos, the fucking think pieces on the news about why I turned out this way and how the justice system needs reform because criminals like me shouldn't get a trial. Everyone around me, even the strangers, seems to know me better than I know myself, and it's exhausting. The paranoia, the instinctual drive for violence, the depraved thoughts constantly barraging my mind— it’s all twisting me into a perversion of who I once was.
"I'm not dodging," he shrugs. "I'm choosing not to tell you."
With a scoff, I walk away from him, headed towards what I do remember. The barrels that hold my first love.
Since long before I should have been drinking, I felt the pull to create beauty out of this strange chemical reaction. Turning what is essentially rot into something to be enjoyed. Decay can be transformed into growth.
"But we're partners. We're supposed to befriends."
He shrugs, "We are friends. But dragging you into my personal life almost got you killed. Now that you're free from the knowledge of it, it feels like a betrayal to you to bring you back into it."
"I'm fucking in it," I argue, checking my phone again, Brigit's strange mood tempting me to abandon this altogether and go force my way into her head to see what's happening in there. "But you not telling me how or why leaves me rudderless."
He groans dramatically, "You're ruining a perfectly good day of drinking."
"We're taste testing," I remind him. "Nobody is getting drunk today."
With a wild grin, he lets himself into the private office, holding the door open for me, "We can at least get a little buzz. A little tipsy turny, ya know?"
"No, we can't," I remind him, holding back a laugh at hisridiculousness. "I'm driving andyouhave to manage the front of house tonight since Stella is off for a few days."
"Boo."
My eyes land on a spread of whiskeys and mead, each with its flavor profile and creation process on a little card propped up in front of it. From what Skyler wouldn't tell me and I had to piece together, some of our staff still don't feel super comfortable near me. They set it up before bolting—not that I blame them. They didn't quit, and that's good enough for me.
Sipping the first one, I feel a balm settling over my soul, like returning home after years away. It may not be the best-tasting whiskey I've ever had, but the familiar smooth, smoky flavor is warm and comforting.
"If you're not going to tell me, I'll just keep asking Stella," I threaten between sips.
"I don't tell her shit either."
"Fine. Then you're fired."
He spits out his drink, laughing hysterically, "You can't fucking fire me, Fomori. You're stuck with me even when you can't fucking stand me. Which, is like, a lot. But I think most of the time you're pretending."
"I'm definitely not pretending right now," I mutter.
His smile shrinks. "Look, man, it's just ugly stuff. I wish I could get my head knocked open a few times to shake some of the memories out. I'm fucking jealous that you get to forget some of the shit we've seen."
