Page 96 of Forgiving Fate

The words barely leave my mouth before Landon is flipping on top of me and his lips are slamming against mine.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Allie

“Al!”

I jolt out of my seat at the bay window in my room and run down the stairs at the sound of Landon’s voice.

He has been gone for a few days on a mission and judging by his calls and texts, I suspect it was a bad one. And I know he is going to want to revert to his old ways, but I won’t let him. I can’t. We made a promise to each other, and I refuse to break it.

As I reach the last step, I immediately know that something is wrong. Landon is standing at the counter, his face in his hands and his legs are shaking.

Slowly, I approach him and gently place my hand on his back. He whirls around so quickly, I’m caught off guard and I stumble backwards.

“Jeez Lan. Slow down.” I say jokingly, but it fades quickly when I see how bloodshot his eyes are.

“Landon? What’s wrong?” I search his eyes for a clue, a hint, something, but all I see is a man that is trying to hold himself together with tape and glue.

“Alllllllll.” Landon stumbles forward and his words slur and my spine straightens as he practically falls into my arms.

I struggle to get his six foot tall body back into the upright position and guide him to sit down at a barstool. He practically falls off the stool and I have to run to the other side so he doesn’t fall off.

When I feel like he is stable enough to sit on his own, I move to the other side of the island to grab him a glass of water and medication for the wicked hangover I know he will be nursing tomorrow.

My back is to him when I hear a clank and I whip around to see Landon rummaging through the cabinet and pull out a bottle of whiskey.

Shock has me frozen and I watch as he flicks the cap off with his finger and tips it back into his mouth as he pulls himself up using the bar and moves to sit back on the stool, stumbling the entire way.

His eyes meet mine over the bottle, and he freezes.

Is this what he has been suppressing this entire time? Is this why he was so afraid to be alone, because he knew he could get to this point?

Taking a few cautious steps towards the counter, I wait for him to take a break from the bottle and place it on the counter before trying to reason with him.

Clink.

The glass of the bottle echoes off the granite countertop and he leans his face in his hands, his gaze meeting mine.

We stay locked in what feels like a never-ending loop of silence, Landon slowly draining the rest of what’s left of the bottle.

And as he takes his last sip, he stands and I know immediately where he is trying to go.

“Landon, sit back down, please,” I say, trying to keep my voice even and not show much emotion.

He flops back in the seat and leans back in the chair, almost falling out of it.

“For fuck’s sake”, I mutter to myself and scrub my hands down my face.

What the hell do I do?

I am trying to figure out what the best way to approach this is when Landon’s voice cuts through the silence. “Hey Al, do your best friend a favor and grab me another bottle from that cabinet p-pleaseeeee.”

I stare at him and shock must be evident all over my face because Landon just shrugs and points to the cabinet and my control snaps.

Clearly he isn’t himself right now and I do not have the capacity to deal with this at the moment, so I make a quick plan so we can stop this before it goes down a path I do not want to go.

I can do this.

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