Following Me(50)

Devon’s eyes widened when she saw the label. She had seen people drink it, but it was usually served neat out of a fancy crystal decanter.

Who did shots off of a two-thousand dollar bottle of scotch? Apparently, they did.

Not being able to help herself, she asked, “Where the f**k did you get that?”

“I told you. I got a bottle.”

“From who?”

“My parents,” he said with a shrug.

“Should we be drinking this?”

“That’s what it’s meant for.” He poured another shot and handed it to her.

She stared at the liquid with a newfound sense of appreciation. Her shot alone was probably worth a couple hundred bucks. As the liquid slid down her throat again, she was glad that she hadn’t choked on it the first time. Were people allowed to choke on really expensive scotch?

When Garrett started pouring another, Devon shook her head.

“No more for me unless you want me throwing up. I need to stagger.” Her head already felt heavy.

He shrugged and took the shot without her.

“So, why are you home?” she asked.

“Got into a fight with my dad,” he admitted. The alcohol was clearly loosening him up some more.

Devon sat up as his head lolled backward.

“Tell me about it.”

“He hates Hadley. He thinks she’s a waste of time and a waste of space. He thinks I can do better. He thinks I stay in the job that he helped me get with no ambition and no motivation to move up in the company. He refuses to see that I hate the job and would do anything to get out of it. But the thought of disappointing him any further kills me,” he said in a rush. “He’s just a selfish bastard who hates his only son.”

Devon didn’t know what to say to that last part. Her parents had expectations for her life. How could they not? But everything they did was out of love. They would never push her so hard that they pushed her away. Even now, when she was lying to them on a daily basis, she never thought that they would try to force her into anything.

“I’m sure he doesn’t hate you,” she said softly, touching his hand.

Garrett scoffed. “You don’t know the man.”

“But I know you. I don’t know how anyone could hate you.”

“Well, I think you’re the only one left who doesn’t.”

“Garrett, what happened?” she asked. “It can’t be as bad as you say.”

He offered her another shot, and she took it from him only because he seemed so desperate.

“Hadley and I show up at my parents’ house in the suburbs for the holiday. Everything is going fine. We barbeque, play football in the yard, and the girls are laying out by the lake. Right before the fireworks, it all goes to shit. My dad asks me about my job, and I say one thing that he doesn’t like. One thing! He flips out and starts lecturing me. We start yelling back and forth loud enough for all of the guests to hear. I wouldn’t back down. I was tired of him always trying to assert his dominance over me. I’m a grown man! I told him I was going to quit.”

Devon gasped. “Quit?”

“I’m really thinking about it. I hate the work. But it gets worse,” he said miserably.

How could it get much worse?

“When I refused to take his shit, he brought Hadley into it.”

“Oh no,” Devon whispered, imagining Hadley hearing all the things that Garrett’s dad thought of her. She knew her friend too well to assume she would sit out of the conversation.

“Yeah. You can imagine the things he said about her. I’m ashamed to even repeat it. Small town, white trash, gold digger.” Garrett shook his head. “He even called her a f**king drug addict right to my face. I don’t know where he gets the nerve.”

Devon froze. So, Garrett still didn’t know. She wanted to tell him. She really wanted to, but he was already so down right now. She couldn’t be the one to break it to him.

“Hadley flipped out at all of his accusations. Her screams only fueled my father, not that she didn’t have every right to yell back, but I think it proved to him what he thought of her all along. And then she thought that I was somehow in on it.”

“What?”

“Her anger went from my dad to me, and then she just left. I was seeing red after that, and I ended up punching through a wall in my parents’ house. Hadley left upset and took my car. I took this bottle of scotch and my dad’s Mercedes and got out of there, too. Hadley won’t answer her cell. I think we’re done,” he said, ending his story.

Chapter Seventeen - Obsession

AFTER HIS DECLARATION, Devon and Garrett sat there in silence for a while. Hadley and Garrett were done. It couldn’t be true. Hadley was head over heels for Garrett. She had come to Devon just that afternoon, worried that he was cheating on her. Hadley wouldn’t have left him for good. She had probably just overreacted.

And that wasn’t a pleasant thought either. Hadley’s overreaction in her state of mind was a recipe for disaster. She had been trying to quit, but stress made people do stupid things. Who knew where she was right now? She could be out there somewhere overdosing on drugs.

Devon shuddered and pushed that thought out of her mind. No way would Hadley be that stupid.

Garrett poured them both another shot, and Devon gladly took it this time. She wanted to get that image of Hadley out of her head. Devon was all sorts of dizzy, and she dreaded the thought of standing. The scotch sure was potent. She hadn’t allowed herself to drink much ever since her last vomiting experience after she had first arrived in Chicago.