Half Hearted

Chapter Nine

| Teresa |

The sudden outburst from Ash caused panic to rise from within me. What was he doing? Where was he taking me? Was he so out of it that he thought I was Oria?

Without answering any of my questions, we stopped in front of my car and he urged me to unlock it. "Not before telling me what the actual fuck you think you're doing," I demanded, crossing my arms in front of my chest. He rolled his eyes, causing me to roll mine as well.

"Believe me," he snarled, his voice hoarse as if he were about to sob. "You do not want to get in my way right now."

"Get in what way?" After not hearing a response, I gave up. Sighing, I unlocked the doors and got in the driver's seat. "Fine. Where to?"

"The closest bar," he replied, getting in the seat next to me. I cringed at how he slammed the door. I'd have to yell at him for that later.

I obeyed him, pulling up to my favourite - because it was the cheapest I'd been to - bar. Since it was a weekday, there weren't many people. The bartender greeted us as we made our way inside. Although it was my favourite place to drink, I hadn't gone there often, so I wasn't a casual.

"What can I get for the two of you tonight?" The bartender, with a name tag written 'Stephen', asked. He was in the middle of wiping down the counter.

Ash spoke up, taking a seat on the high chair. "Your toughest shot."

Stephen looked at me, unsure of Ash's choice of drinks. I nodded, "I'm his designated driver - he'll be fine."

He shrugged, proceeding with the drink. I didn't know why I went along with it. I realized only after Ash took the shot, that it was I who was going to pay for it.

Mentally slapping myself, I ordered a glass of water for myself and waited on Ash.

He looked beaten down, completely depressed. I would have asked him what the matter was, but I thought it best to ask him if he wasn't sober. He tended to hate me when he had full control of his thoughts.

It was only after three or four shots when he started slurring his words. Even though he asked for one more, I stopped Stephen from making any more. Ash was drunk enough, and besides, I felt my money slipping away from me like water through my hands.

"So," I tried easing my way into his thoughts slowly. His eyes were unable to focus on me. "Tell me now, what got you so mad today?"

For a second I thought he was still sober, since he stared at me and gave me the same cold look as before, but then he gave a sly smirk and spilled his secrets. "Cheryl's shagging someone new."

I rehearsed the name in my head. Cheryl. It sounded familiar. "Who's Cheryl?"

"My girlfriend," he hiccuped. "Well, my ex-girlfriend."

"Oh right," I started to remember the story about his girlfriend leaving him for the guy from The Maze Runner. Was it the guy with crazy eyebrows? Rendering my thoughts irrelevant, I continued to ask Ash about himself. "And she broke up with you, right?"

Chuckling, he shook his head, "no. Why would she break up with me if she never even loved me in the first place. That bitch took the bribe from Peter and ran away. Run away, my arse. She's all over the news. With that Thomas. Thomas the traitor."

Ash started kicking the bar counter, so I gave Stephen an apologetic smile and helped Ash get back to the car. I didn't even bother starting it. I wanted to know everything first. I didn't want to share my roof with a drug dealer.

"You said something about a bribe?" I asked, and he nodded, struggling to get comfortable in the front seat. He stood up and went to the back seat without help.

"Thomas' management needed some news to cover up for his new movie. They told Peter to hand Cheryl off, so they offered her some money to get off my back. And there she went. Just like that. I meant nothing to her," he scowled, his face contorting in disgust. "I was just her source of money."

"And Peter is...?"

"My manager," Ash replied. He was starting to pass out at the back seat. "He's also a twat, using me for money."

"Then why don't you find another manager?" I suggested.

"Because there are contracts, dummy." I took a look at him from the mirror. He was smiling with his eyes closed. "I can't break contracts without a lawyer. And I can't get a lawyer without money. He has all of my money."

"Then quit your job," I shrugged. He didn't respond to this, and I saw that he was already sleeping. I sighed, getting out of my seat and sitting him up to be able to pull the seatbelt over him. He wreaked of alcohol, and he was also talking in his sleep. The only name he kept saying was Cheryl. And then I heard Oria's name. "Well, I guess you've already found someone to distract you."

I drove home carefully, hoping not to wake him up. Oria was waiting in the living room, biting her nails like her usual anxious habit. "What happened?" She asked, immediately helping me with Ash as she saw me struggling to keep him standing up.

I shrugged, not wanting to tell her anything yet. A part of me wanted to keep this to myself. "He just got drunk and then passed out in the car. It's best not to ask him about this tomorrow."

She nodded understandingly, and we set him down on the mattress in the kitchen. The clock had already struck eleven, and I stripped down to change into my pyjamas. After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I crashed on my bed.

Maybe the asshole's got more to him than I thought.

I shrugged the thought away. He would probably be back to his normal, cold self the minute he woke up sober.