Page 40 of Revealing Mark
Slowly he realized he wasn’t alone and his glazed-over eyes met mine. He was drunk.
“What are you doing here?” he asked tersely.
“Checking up on you because you won’t answer your phone,” I lectured, taking in the state of him.
“I don’t want to talk.” He swirled the contents in the glass, the ice clanking against the glass as he gulped half the drink down. He winced.
“Don’t you think you should take it easy?” I felt compelled to warn him. I’d never seen him like this. It was more thandisconcerting to see him drunk. I’d never seen him drink too much before.
His eyes lifted to meet mine. The sadness in them pulled at me.
“What’s going on?” I asked, unsure of how to deal with him.
He momentarily closed his eyes like he was in pain. I gravitated closer.
“I don’t want to talk,” he whispered before opening his eyes again.
I stopped. “Yeah, I know. You never want to talk.”
“What do you want, Tracy?” he asked absent-mindedly as he studied the contents of his glass like it held the answer to all his problems.
“Matthew wanted me to check on you.” I shrugged. I certainly wasn’t here for any reasons of my own.
“Tell him…I’m fine.” He leaned back and pinned me with a look that told me I had outstayed my welcome.
“You sure you don’t want company?” I don’t know why I offered. Maybe it was because of the state he was in. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving him like this.
“Leave, Tracy.” There was no mistaking the distaste in his tone.
I felt torn between the relief I would feel if I followed his instruction and the guilt at leaving him like this. I got my phone out of my pocket and dialed my brother.
“And?” Matthew asked anxiously when he picked up.
“He’s drunk and won’t tell me why.” I held Mark’s steady gaze as I spoke.
“Give him the phone.”
I walked over to Mark and handed him the phone. For a moment he hesitated before he greeted my brother.
“I got some stuff going down.” His eyes took me in while I listened. It made me feel uncomfortable listening in on them, soI began to walk around the room, taking an interest in a painting.
“Yeah…I’m fine.”
I snorted at that. He was anything but fine. Even I could see that.
“Yeah. See you then.”
He ended the call and held my phone out to me. “You’re off the hook. You can go.”
I took my phone but I didn’t head to the nearest exit. Instead, I sat down beside him.
“I’m not going to talk about it,” he restated, staring straight ahead with his drink still held in a tight grip.
“Who said I wanted to know?” I shot back as I propped my feet up on the table.
I wasn’t going to leave him like this. If it had been me, there would be no way he would leave. It was the decent thing to do.
We sat in silence as he continued to nurse his drink. His features were tight but I held my tongue. I made myself comfortable as I stared up at the ceiling. This was going to be a long night but luckily I didn’t have any work commitments the next day.
