As much as he wanted to stay in his bed and wait for the nausea and headache to pass, Harry knew he needed to get up and get something in his stomach.
He groaned as he rolled from his front to his back, discovering his body ached as badly as his head did. He lay there for several moments, working up the will to move. He slowly sat up, clenching his eyes shut as the room spun around him. He breathed slowly as he waited to be able to stand without hurling. While he waited, he swore he’d never do what he did the night before ever again.
He blinked slow blinks before allowing his eyes to stay open after several minutes and sighed in relief as the room stayed still. He heaved himself into a standing position, sucking in a sharp breath when his stomach pitched and rolled. He paused, scared to move for fear of throwing up.
The nausea passed and he shuffled into his ensuite bathroom. He quickly used the facilities and turned the faucet on to splash water on his face to help wake him up fully. Water dripped from his face as he looked it the mirror and cringed.
He didn’t think he was particularly vain about his appearance, but even he had to admit he looked rough. His eyes were bloodshot and his skin was sallow. His hair was a greasy mess, a sure sign he’d run his hands through it more than he normally did. There was no mistaking the damage he'd done to his liver the night before.
He wiped his face with a towel and shuffled out of his room into the kitchen. Jax was already sitting at the table, sipping a steaming cup of coffee as he watched Harry shuffle to the Keurig. He popped a pod in and grabbed a glass from the cabinet. He really needed some water before he drank coffee.
While the water was soothing, with nothing else in his stomach, it didn’t sit well and he concentrated on not throwing it right back up.
He glanced to his right and saw that Jax was still staring at him, though now he looked amused. Harry turned his attention back to his glass and finished the water, choking a little on that last sip. He put the glass in the sink and turned to the coffee machine as it sputtered the last of the coffee into the mug. After pouring in cream and sugar, he sat with a heavy thud in the chair across from Jax.
He leaned his head on his hand while he waited for his coffee to cool enough to drink and briefly considered going back to his room. But Jax would likely follow him in there and he didn’t want that.
They sat in silence, each sipping their drink. Slowly, Harry started to feel a bit more normal, though his stomach still protested the lack of food. It growled loudly, making Jax raise a brow at him.
Harry shrugged and leaned back in his chair.
“So,” Jax started, “rough night?” he asked again.
“A little.”
“I wonder what gave it away,” Jax said sarcastically.
Harry shot Jax a look and rolled his eyes at the smirk on his face.
“It’s not what you’re thinking,” Harry assured him.
“Oh?”
He shook his head. “I just had too much to drink.”
Jax pursed his lips as he sat back in his chair, pinning Harry with a hard look. “On a weeknight? That’s not like you.”
“Well, what can I say?” Harry spread his arms to his sides, a wry grin spreading across his face. “I decided to mix it up a bit this week.”
“Obviously.” Jax’s face belied his confusion. He was right; Harry wasn’t one to drink heavily at any point really, but especially not on a weeknight.
Harry closed his eyes for a moment as he brought his hands back down to the table and wrapped them around his mug.
“So, you want to talk about what’s got you messed up? Or you want to ignore the elephant in the room?” Jax made a soft slurping noise as he sipped from his cup.
“Not sure there’s much to say.” Harry actively tried to not think about the events of the night before.
“Try me.” Jax looked at him expectantly.
Harry snorted as he thought back to the debacle at Bailey’s apartment. “Went to Bailey’s for dinner. Things heated up. She put a stop to it.”
Both Jax’s brows moved toward his hairline. “And that sent you on a bender to rival Kurt Cobain?”
Harry rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t that bad.”
“Says the guy that was passed out mid-week on his bed when he should have been at work.”
Harry checked the clock and grimaced as he realized Jax was right. He was supposed to be at work several hours before and he'd completely blanked. Thankfully, he didn’t think he had anything important that day, so it wasn’t a problem.
“Okay, maybe there’s a bit more to it…” Harry trailed off, the full events of the night before coming back to him.
“I’m all ears.”
Harry sighed and recounted, in minute detail, what happened at Bailey’s. When he finished, Harry was staring into his now cold coffee while Jax focused on something behind him.
After a few minutes of silence, Jax broke it. “Why do you wait around?”
Harry looked up and met Jax’s blue eyes. “What do you mean?” He shifted in his seat, suddenly uncomfortable with where this conversation seemed to be going.
Jax shrugged and twirled his mug on the table. “Just what I said: why do you wait around? I mean,” Jax leaned forward, steepling his fingers in front of his face, “you’ve been on and off with this girl for how long now?”
“Seven years,” Harry muttered, a pit opening in his stomach.
Jax nodded. “Yeah, seven years, and you’re still getting jerked around?”
Harry didn’t have anything to say to that, so he remained silent.
“I mean, you know I don’t say much, but this is ridiculous. Are you just gonna, I don’t know, just wait and let this play out until she grows tired of you?”
Harry’s eyes widened as Jax spoke. He hadn’t thought of it like that and now he couldn’t unthink it. “Uh…well…I…I mean…” He couldn’t string a sentence together.
Jax shrugged and relaxed back in his chair, looking to his right, totally nonchalant and not at all like he’d just hit Harry with harsh reality. “Just think about it is all I’m asking.”
“I am,” Harry said, his ability to talk returning to him. “I don’t think I’m getting jerked around at all.”
“Really?” Jax snorted. “Then what do you think is happening?”
“I think I’m waiting until she’s ready?”
Jax’s lips twisted into some semblance of a smile. “Are you asking me or do you really believe that?”
Harry glared at Jax as he repeated himself. “I’m waiting until she’s ready.”
“And if she never is?”
Harry opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. The words lodged in his throat. He blinked for a few moments before snapping his mouth shut and draining what was left in his mug. He grimaced as the cold liquid went down his throat. “I don’t have to listen to this.”
He slammed his mug down on the table and pushed away from it before walking quickly into his room, and throwing the door closed with a bang.
Was his reaction childish? Yes. Was it satisfying? Also yes.
“Run all you want, but you know what I’m saying is right!” Jax yelled through the wall.
Harry narrowed his eyes at his closed door but ignored Jax, choosing not to respond. He shouldn’t be giving anything Jax said credence and that was easy when they were in the same room talking about it.
However, now that he was alone in his room, lying on his bed again, he found himself unable to get Jax’s words out of his head. Was he right? Should Harry just move on to something else?
By all indications, it seemed that Bailey would never be ready. They’d been in this back and forth for years, ever since their initial break up. Things certainly didn’t seem to change any in the intervening years except that they were now older. Maybe too old for this back and forth shit. Was Harry willing to wait for her to eventually be ready to commit?
He grabbed his phone and opened his texts, shooting a quick one off to her,
asking how she was doing.
He tapped his phone on his chest as he waited for her response. A response that never came. He laid there for thirty minutes, checking his phone to make sure he hadn’t missed the notification. Nothing flashed on his screen.
Checking the time, he realized it was after lunch and his stomach protested the continued lack of food. He decided he should get out of the house to see if he couldn’t banish thoughts of what Jax said earlier.
He hopped into the shower and changed before walking down the hall and out the door, bypassing Jax’s closed door. Once outside, he realized his car was parked at the bar from last night. Sighing, he pulled his phone out and dialed the same cab company to order a car.
A few minutes later, one pulled up. Thankfully, it was a different driver than the night before and the ride was much smoother. Of course, that could also be because he wasn’t three sheets to the wind and trying to suck his insides back down when they threatened to spill out.
After paying his fare, he slid into the driver’s seat of his car and decided to hit Cookout’s drive-thru. One of their burgers and a Cheerwine float sounded amazing. He whipped his car onto the street, burning a little rubber in his haste to get food.
He smiled when he saw no line at the double drive-thru and rolled to a stop in front of the inside lane. He ordered his tray with a float and pulled forward to pay. He tapped his fingers on his steering wheel as he waited for his food to come out. Now that he was getting something to eat, he couldn’t get it quick enough.
He smiled at the pretty cashier as she handed him everything before pulling back into the street, turning his car toward the Gunner Falls Municipal Park. A few minutes later, he was parked with his windows rolled down, stuffing his face with a juicy cheeseburger, fries, and hushpuppies. Washing it down with the Cheerwine float was just the icing on the cake.
While he ate, he watched the people he could see through his windshield. He had a view of the tennis courts where a few people were hitting balls back and forth. Mothers and children were on the playground and the faint sounds of their screaming reached his ears.
A lone guitarist sat on the steps of the community center, slowly picking something out on the strings. He couldn’t hear the notes, but he could see that the guy was into whatever it was.
All in all, it was a quiet interlude that Harry wasn’t able to fully appreciate because his mind kept returning to Jax’s words from earlier, much to his chagrin. He sighed and shook his head as he balled the foil wrapper from his burger into a tight ball. He idly sipped the last of his float as he really thought about what Jax said.
Ever since they first broke up seven years earlier, Bailey had never committed to another relationship with him. Granted, she hadn’t with anyone else either, so what did that mean? She was emotionally unavailable? She wanted her cake and to eat it too?
His head thunked against his headrest as he considered that he might have wasted years on a woman that wasn’t the least bit interested in a future with him. If that was the case, what was he to do going forward?
Moving on made him feel weird, and he wasn’t quite sure he was ready for that. But on the other hand, what other option did he have? He blew out a breath as he gathered his trash and got out to toss it into the public receptacle.
Out of his car, he could hear what the guitarist was picking. Harry shook his head as he recognized the main riff of “Can’t You See” floating through the air toward him. How appropriate. Someone was certainly trying to tell him something today.
Chapter Four
Bailey
Bailey woke up feeling the same way she had the night before: dejected and confused. Her memory flashed back at how mad Harry seemed when he left. In the entire time they’d been together, she’d never seen him get so upset with her.
A part of her was indignant that he’d be bothered that she put a stop to what was about to happen. How dare he be angry she didn’t want sex?
But the other part of her, the more rational part, realized he probably wasn’t angry about the lack of sex. He was angry at her. She’d done a complete one-eighty on him when she put a stop to what was usually a sure thing between the two of them. Get together, eat dinner, have sex, rinse, repeat.
She blew a raspberry into the air, a strand of brown hair flying up from her face only to settle back down across her nose. It tickled and she wiggled her nose trying to move it. That didn’t work, so she shook her head, making it float to the side.
She sighed as she watched the play of light across the ceiling. Her curtains were mostly closed, but with the AC pumping, they were fluttering and cast strands of light through the gaps.
Her phone dinged, dragging her attention away from her ceiling and to her lit up cell phone. She grabbed it and pulled it from the charger.
She rolled her eyes when she saw it was from Harry asking how she was. There was no way she was responding to that just yet. She had no idea how she was and she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, least of all him.
She dropped the phone next to her on the bed and closed her eyes. She had no intention of getting out of bed any time soon. Summer was almost over and she intended to enjoy the last few days of freedom before being consumed with sports and teaching. She didn’t have the time or the mental capacity to wade through the shit show that was her relationship with Harry.
Her phone started ringing. She screwed her eyes shut and willed it to stop. It didn’t though, and she knew she’d have to look at it.
“If this is Harry,” she muttered to herself as she grappled around the sheets for the phone.
It was Karlie and a small smile crossed her lips as she answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey, so, you’ll never guess what Jax did last night…”
Karlie chattered away in her ear about Jax surprising her with a trip to see his parents and all Bailey could think about was the night before. Karlie went on to describe the evening in detail and all Bailey could do was think about everything from her and Harry’s disastrous evening.
She tried to force herself to listen to Karlie tell her about how wonderful Jax’s parents were, how wonderful their house was. How wonderful everything was, but couldn’t bring herself to participate besides a few well-placed grunts and yeahs. She was happy for her friend, but her mind just couldn’t concentrate on it.
“Are you okay?” Karlie finally asked, breaking Bailey from her thoughts.
“What?” Bailey wasn’t sure she’d heard Karlie right.
“I asked if you were okay.” Karlie sounded worried and Bailey could imagine her friend sitting on her couch in the living room, worrying her bottom lip as she waited for Bailey’s answer.
“Uh…yeah, I’m fine.”
“Hmmm…” Karlie trailed off. “If that’s the case, what did June make for dinner last night?”
Bailey tried hard to remember what Karlie said, but her mind was a complete blank. “She made…ummm…food?”
Karlie chuckled. “Obviously. It’s not like we’d eat dirt. What dish?”
Bailey rubbed her forehead as she wracked her brain. She finally sighed and admitted defeat. “I don’t know.”
“What I thought. She made spaghetti because it’s Jax’s favorite.”
Bailey wrinkled her nose. “His favorite dish is spaghetti?”
“Don’t hate, Miss Mac and Cheese.”
Heat suffused Bailey’s cheeks at Karlie’s words. She really didn’t have a lot of room to talk considering she did enjoy a good mac and cheese dish. She was a connoisseur of all instant kinds and had even experimented with a variety of cheeses in search for the perfect dish.
“What’s up with you?” Karlie asked, pulling Bailey once again from her thoughts. It wasn’t like her to just tune people out and go into her own mind.
She shrugged even though Karlie obviously couldn’t see her. “Nothing.”
Karlie made an incredulous noise through the phone. “Bailey, please. I’ve known you for how long now? T
here is obviously something wrong here.”
“I don’t know what you’re fishing for, but there’s nothing wrong.” Her voice was harsh and Karlie was silent for several moments before she cleared her throat.
“Please. Considering I just got a text from Jax that said Harry is hungover as fuck, I think we both know that’s a lie.”
Bailey was silent at Karlie’s words. If Harry was hung over, he must have gone drinking after he left her place. Guilt settled over her like a blanket at the realization that she drove him to do something like that.
“Hello? Are you still going to deny that something's wrong?”
Bailey released a loud breath, wishing this conversation was already over. “No. If Harry got drunk, then I can see why you’re pestering me.”
“Good. Then I’ll meet you in a bit for lunch.”
Bailey glanced at the clock. “It’s one-thirty.”
“Exactly. I imagine you’re still in bed. By the time you get yourself up and dressed to meet me, we’ll have missed the crowd. It’ll be perfect. See you in an hour at Common Ground.”
With a click, Bailey was listening to dead air. She dropped her phone on the bed beside her as she turned the conversation with Karlie over in her mind. She should have feigned feeling sick to get out of it, but knowing her best friend, she’d probably show up at the house armed with soup and cleaning supplies. That was even less appealing than a lunch date.
With a sigh, Bailey sat up. Her body ached and she didn’t know why. She just knew that it hurt deep in her bones to even begin to shuffle around her tiny apartment to get ready.
When she stepped into the bathroom she turned the shower on as hot as it would go and immediately steam started filling the space. She shed her sleepwear and stepped into the scalding water. The stream burned where it hit her, but she welcomed the pain. After a few minutes, she adjusted the nozzle to a more comfortable temperature.
Harry (Southern Sands Book 2) Page 3