The Ink That Haunts Us

Chapter Four

Dinner with Mack was always an event. He never failed to entertain and I always had an amazing time with him. By the time we finished and the check was paid, I think the staff was relieved to see us leave. The atmosphere of the restaurant was quiet, but there was no such thing when you were dining with Mack.

    When I returned to my apartment, my stomach muscles were so sore and my feet were killing me. The wedges were a bad idea and had I known Mack would insist on taking a walk after dinner I would have worn more sensible shoes.

    Once inside my apartment, I found Derek sitting up on my couch watching TV. I was surprised considering the state he had been in when Jensen dumped him on my couch. I expected him to be out the rest of the night. My guess was he was still pretty messed up, but some of the alcohol had worn off enough for him to wake up a little.

    "Hey," I called, closing the door behind me. Bending forward, I removed the offending heels before moving further into the room.

    Derek's head rolled on his shoulders as he turned to look at me. Yeah, he was still drunk. I had to stifle a laugh as he worked to keep his head upright. Bloodshot eyes landed on me and a lopsided grin stretched across his face.

    "Hey!" He slurred.

    "How ya feeling, buddy?" I asked, coming to stand in front of him.

    "Smashed." His head fell forward before he managed to roll it back up into an upright position.

    "Yeah? Let me change and you can tell me all about it," I smiled, and headed for my room.

    "Where you been?" Derek slurred.

    I turned to find burning eyes looking me over.

    "I was with Mack. He took me to dinner," I told him.

    "You look delicious," he mumbled, but those eyes. They were hungry and he looked like he wanted to eat me up. At the thought, a shiver ran through me, and even in his drunken state, he tracked the movement.

    "You must be really drunk," I laughed, playing it off as I escaped to my room.

    I locked the door behind me once I was inside. My body felt hot all over at the thought of what Derek could do to me. The thoughts were out before I could stop them. My eyes closed and I sagged against the door, trying to focus on something else. When my eyes opened, my mind was out of the gutter and back in reality.

    In my pajamas, I returned to the living room. Derek was now stretched out across my couch, but lucky for me it was enormous. There was plenty of room for me to lay too. It was one reason I had splurged on this monstrosity. I hated not having enough sitting room when I had company.

    "So, you wanna tell me what brought this on?" I asked, flopping down on the opposite end of the couch. We would just pretend like he didn't tell me I looked delicious.

    "Hmm," he murmured, looking at me. For a moment, he stared at me confused, then looked around my apartment before returning to me. "Tink?"

    "Yea, big head, it's me." This time I laughed. He was completely sauced and if I was lucky, he wouldn't remember anything.

    "How'd I get here?" His eyes dropped lower, and I knew I would lose him again.

    "Jensen and Freya picked you up at some bar," I reminded him. "They brought you here, though I'm still not sure why they didn't take you home." The thought hadn't occurred to me when they had knocked on my door.

    "Hmm." Was all he got out before his eyes drooped closed and his head dropped to the side.

    So much for figuring him out tonight. It looked like all my questioning would have to wait until the morning while he fought a raging hangover. Serves him right for getting this trashed. It wasn't like him at all. Tyler and Jensen were the ones we had to worry about. I couldn't count on my fingers how many times I had to go pick one or both up from whatever bar they'd lost themselves in. At least now Jensen had improved having found Freya, but Tyler still needed the occasional ride.