The barman appears next to me.
“You need a ride?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I stammer.
“Give me your keys,” he sighs. “Hey Mark, watch the bar. I’m dropping Adrian. I’ll grab a cab back. Won’t be long.”
“Put it on my tab,” I mutter as Jack leads me to the door.
“Oh, don’t worry. I plan to,” Jackson laughs.
“And a big tip,” I add.
“That too. We can talk in the morning, when your head isn’t spinning,” he chuckles. “Where did you park?”
I lean against my own car, parked in the driveway, while Jack books himself an Uber. “You sure you don’t need help getting inside?” he asks, checking again.
“Nah, man. I’m good.”
“Alright. I’m messaging you tomorrow.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, still slurring.
He jogs toward the gate, and I wait, making sure he gets out ok while I squint with one eye closed and try not to fall over.
When I am sure he’s out, I turn toward the front door. Fucking stairs. So many stairs.
Stupid fucking girl at the bar.
Chapter 18 - Athena
It’s late. I have no idea where Adrian is, and he isn’t answering my messages or calls.
I don’t like this feeling.
I have no right to demand to know where he is, but it feels wrong of him to do this. Why can’t he just tell me he’s ok at least? Then I could go to bed and stop worrying.
I pace up and down in the living room. I’ve topped up the fire so many times that the living room is almost too hot.
He left late afternoon, and now it’s dark outside, and I haven’t heard from him all day.
Where could he have gone?
After our trip to Chinatown, I thought things might be good between us. Maybe they are, but something happened to him? What if he were in an accident? I don’t even know who to call!
My stomach is in knots and churning with anxiety when my phone buzzes loudly against the glass coffee table. I almost fall over my own feet running to see the message.
But my heart sinks as soon as I see my father’s name on the screen.
Groaning loudly, I swipe to open WhatsApp.
It’s images.
It takes a second for them to download, and as soon as they do, my heart hits the pit of my stomach.
I click, even though I don’t want to, to open the first image fully.
Adrian is standing at a bar. It looks like one of his usual fancy places. There is a girl in a black dress, a very, very short black dress that is glittering in the colorful lights of the bar. She’s leaning against his chest with her fingers toying with his shirt buttons as she looks up at him.
