Beyond Bloodline - Unbreakable Bonds

forty

Nigel, for the life of him, could never have fathomed what sort of ditch he was walking into. Paul and Winona were great people, thousand times better than Rob and Nadine could ever hope to be; only problem being the screaming match Alfie took upon himself to engage them in every once in a while, sending his head pounding to no end. They were not home at the moment, so Alfie had set his sights on Wren who'd been tasked to watch over him.

Of course, that translated to him being stopped from running out to get a drink. Or fix, their house having long since be cleared up and leaving him with nothing to turn to. If Winona was like a mother hen when it came to monitoring her son, then Wren was like a hawk who didn't let up a single inch.

Too many similar arguments had taken place over the past few weeks he'd been here and he was more than content to stay away and let them go at it as long as they wanted. Pursing his lips at the migraine-inducing battle occuring a few meters away, he switched his phone with which he was texting his girlfriend to his other hand, the meal in front of him forgotten as he rotated his right wrist.

It'd been aching since that basketball game and he'd intended to check it out at a hospital but somehow always ended up putting it behind him.

He was so distracted by the raised voices to his side, Alfie colorfully screaming for him to get his grimy fingers away from him when he lightly slapped him upside his head, he didn't notice the question he'd left hanging until an incoming video call was ringing.

"Nigel," Wren called, looking frustrated to no end, hands resting on his hips as he turned to him. "Can't you advise your friend to get his shit together?"

Nigel blinked, then arched a brow as though to ask if he really meant what he thought he meant.

Wren gave an adamant nod, expression a startling meld of helplessness and frustration.

So Nigel thought it was worth a shot, shifting his gaze so he was staring straight at his friend. "Don't do drugs," he summarized Wren's lengthy speech from so many days on end quite concisely.

Alfie rolled his eyes before coming to plop himself just adjacent and grabbing the unfinished food.

Nigel shrugged at Wren as though to say he'd tried before standing up and heading back to Alfie's room.

Wren's soft voice faded to a whisper as he got farther and farther.

"Would you fucking get off my case?" Alfie exploded before he could confine himself to the safety of the room. "It's none of your damn business. Just go back to sticking your nose in your stupid research."

He rushed to pick up the call, leaning his back against the door and rotating his wrist again. "Hey, love," he smiled when her cheery voice broke through the lines, asking what had happened. "Just Alfie being Alfie. What were we saying?"

"I was winning you over to catch a movie with me in the cinema," she muttered. "Change your mind yet?"

"Too crowded," he said, lip quirking slightly at the sight of her pouting in the bottom right of his screen.

"It's worth it," she protested.

"You want to best a sea of people just to watch a bunch of talking cars," he stated, breaking out in cold sweat when his wrist gave off a loud pop and only hurt a lot more. "Sorry, Hun. I like you a lot. Really, I do, but even that's a hard pass from me."

"It's entertaining," she huffed.

"We've been entertained more than just a couple of times with it already," he said, walking over so he could see his wrist properly under the light from the side lamp. It looked a little limp. He should really go to the hospital.