Tank: Devil's Rose MC #6

Chapter 10: Octavius West

"I wasn't too crazy last night, right?"

"No, not really. Do you remember anything?"

The pink blush that flushes her cheeks tells me that yes, she does remember a few things from last night. They would be hard to forget even with the flood of alcohol into her system. It felt so good to have her dancing with me. Her hips pressed against mine.

"And about the relationship thing we talked about?"

"I remember that too."

She doesn't sound deeply grossed out by the idea.

"Would you still want to pursue that?"

"You get all business talky when you're nervous."

"I'm not nervous."

Liar. I'm a big fat liar.

Hazel makes me incredibly nervous.

She only smiles back up at me.

"Going back to your question, yeah, I think it could be fun."

Fun? I'm not entirely sure that was the answer I was looking for. I wasn't looking for anything specific but "fun" certainly wasn't it.

"Okay, then. We can arrange our first date for Sunday. Are you available?"

"You are such a psycho. Yeah, I'm free on Sunday."

"What? This is awkward as fuck."

She chuckles, staring up at me with a gorgeous and bright smile on her face. She runs her fingers through Garbage's gray hair.

"His name is Garbage by the way."

"Garbage?"

"Yeah, I found him in a garbage container eating garbage, so it just fit."

"You're so creative, Tank. Ridiculously creative."

"Shut up."

"No," she laughs out.

I slip a strawberry into my mouth as I observe her. Garbage purrs into her neck, letting her stand up and have a bite of the plain toast that I made for her. She takes long gulps of the water on the table as well, and I can't even believe that she's standing upright.

She was so very drunk. It's odd that now that she's sober, I don't want to see her drunk like that again. I mean, it was drunk where it's scary. Reflecting on it, I should have stopped her four drinks in. I shouldn't have let her drown herself. Something was actually wrong, and I didn't step in to make sure she was okay.

She shouldn't have drunk so much that she forgot where she lived. It was up to me to take care of her, and I did but not in the ways I should have. She doesn't seem frustrated at me about any of it, but part of the reason she had to stay here tonight was me.

It's my job to protect people. That sometimes also means protecting them from themselves. And if I couldn't even protect the person that has made me feel something for the first time in my life, then how can I call myself a protector of anyone?

The situation could have been much worse, but at the same time, I let her drinking get to the point of her not being able to walk. What the fuck is wrong with me? I was taught so much better than that. I know I'm better than that.

But it's also not my responsibility to watch her drinking. She's an educated grown woman who can make her own decisions about how much she wants to drink and what's good for her. I don't need to be inputting my opinions on what she does with herself.