Rise [Bruno Mars]

Chapter six

Chapter six

I was thrown, hurtling back to the kitchen, to Hawaii. I slammed into myself, all in one piece. The slash of the blade never came. I was uncut. Just me again, standing in the midst of puddles of sorrow.

*

I woke on the rug, shirt damp from cradling a bottle of whiskey to my chest as I slept. I took two aspirin for my headache then began a fire and sat on the rug in front of it. The light it emit hurt my eyes so I closed them, relaxed by the warmth and smell of burning firewood.

It was strange. Traveling to places without moving your feet. Usually that meant reading or dreaming for some people, but not for me. Not for Joseph.

I found some relief that I hadn't been hallucinating him, glad to have some sanity. I still trusted him, despite the lie. How could I not? He was the only hope I could cling to for Bruno's survival. But for the first time, I was terribly afraid. Afraid of him letting me down. And that would mean letting Bruno down. And that was something I couldn't handle.

The sound of the doorbell made me wince. Had Bruno came early? Our plane left tonight and that's when I expected him. I moved so slowly a cane in my hand would've been fitting. To my torture, the doorbell rung impatiently again. My eyes would've bugged out of my head if I wasn't so concerned with covering them and squinting in the morning sunlight.

“Jamie?” I rasped.

“I don't think I ever got a good look at you. I'm looking now, and I am not impressed.” She pushed me aside and I heard her heels clipping as she walked inside the cottage. I stood disoriented for a second before closing the door and muttering underneath my breath, “Yes, yes, you may come in. Insult me, too, if you like.”

“It smells like a bar—” She broke off, laughing. Her voice chimed from the kitchen. “What happened in here?” I heard the crunching of glass.

“Doesn't matter.” I dawdled past her to face her as she examined the mess amusingly, exultant to know that I was a mess, too. “What matters is why you are here.”

“I told you you would be seeing more of me.” Her dark hair cascaded in curls down to her curves. Her mascara was a bit smudged, other than that, the heavy makeup accentuated her beauty well. Jamie glanced around, sighing and running her hands across the counter. “I knew you would be here since you weren't at the family gathering.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and shot me a strange look. “Weird that I was invited. . . and you weren't?”

My chest tightened. I ignored her and began picking up some pieces of glass. Jamie sighed again, looking around with nostalgia. “Bruno and I. . . we fucked so many times here. The kitchen, the front lawn, out by the pool. . .”

My head jerked up. I regretted the movement as my head swam. “That is yours and his business. Not mine.” It didn't come out as sharply as I intended.

“You want to here a story where you are in it? It was the first night we made love.” She began towards me, heels expert on the sticky liquid. “Bruno surprised me with rose petals leading up to the bed, candles, slow music. We kissed, we touched. The sex was amazing until Bruno was close to finishing.” Her face twisted at the memory. “He moaned, he moaned, ‘Adrian.’” Her voice trembled slightly. “He was making love to you, through me.”

I slowly got to my feet so we were face to face. The tears gathering in her dark ones sent a pang at my heart. The pity quickly went away, as I remembered the torture she put Bruno through. “This is the only mess I feel like dealing with right now.” I referred to all around me. “I don't know why you're here but I'm going to need you to leave.”