The Formidable

13

Sam pulled the gun from the bedside drawer, flicking the lamp on. Someone was hammering on the front door. No one had screamed police which was simultaneously worrying and relieving.

"Who is that?" Janine mumbled, rolling over in bed and squinting up at him as he opened the bedroom door.

"I don't know until I answer it, do I?" he replied grumpily, pulling his joggers up. Jessie, one of the girls, was poking her head out of her bedroom door, a mixture of fear and curiosity in her expression. Sam shooed her back in, making his way downstairs. After checking the spy hole, he tucked his gun in his waistband and wrenched the door open. Jase didn't stop knocking, almost falling into Sam when the wood he'd been fighting suddenly disappeared. He sloppily gathered his bearings, stumbling over the threshold.

"I need'a stay here t'night," he slurred, swaying before regaining his balance again. He had an almost empty brandy bottle in his hand, the liquid remaining sloshed around at the bottom. It had come from the club where Jase had gone in an attempt to distract himself from the tragedy of his life with one of the girls. As always, it hadn't played out that way and he'd taken the drink to his office where he'd worked his way through what was half a bottle in the last three hours.

"You're fucking wasted," Sam said, Jase could only manage a grunt as Sam peered out onto the street. "Did you fucking drive here?"

"S'fine, why you worried about that?" Jase replied, kicking his shoes off with great difficulty and wobbling his way upstairs. Jase's car was in the middle of the road with one wheel up on the curb. Sam closed his eyes, clenched his jaw, and went upstairs, cursing after him. "Keys," he demanded, holding his hand out. Jase huffed and puffed as he reached into his jeans pocket and missed Sam's hand, dropping the keys on the floor before flopping onto his bed. Through gritted teeth, Sam muttered some expletives and snatched the keys up.

Jase was unconscious, fully clothed with his legs dangling off the side of the mattress when Sam returned from parking his car properly. He marched into the bathroom and filled a cup with water. Jase spluttered and moaned as the cold liquid sprayed his face, turning away from the loud noise of Sam slamming the cup down on the dresser.

"What are you doing?" Jase groaned but made no attempt to move out of the wetness.

"What am I doing? What the fuck are you doing, mate?" Sam asked, feeling his irritation swell into anger. Before he could tear Jase a new arsehole, Janine shuffled out of their bedroom.

"Is he drunk?" she asked.

"Plastered, look at the state of him," Sam replied, flicking out his hand towards Jase's limp body. Janine gave him a warning look and he sighed, forcing himself to relax. He'd been looking forward to getting away from all the drama now he had Jase's blessing but it was beginning to look like a pipe dream with everything happening around them. Jase stirred, his words incoherent.

"What?" Sam snapped, his temper rising again.

"She's got a kid," Jase repeated fiercely, his voice cracking at the end. Sam's indignation crumbled. Jase spoke again, louder this time, the words tumbling out of him uncontrollably. "She's got a kid and she's moved on and it's been over three years and it still sucks. It still sucks that I didn't get to love her for longer." He only got this way when he was beyond drunk and it had been a few years since then. Janine quickly closed the bedroom door. Jase would hate himself enough in the morning for his emotional outburst, he didn't need the embarrassment of knowing any of the girls had heard him.

"I knew her being around again would start shit," Sam mumbled, folding his arms and leaning against the chest of drawers. Janine tutted at him as she perched on the edge of the bed by Jase's knee.