Page 11 of Healed
Olivia just barely managed to catch her balance, preventing herself from falling just outside the bar and grill, and turned around to shout at the man who’d just thrown her out, but he’d already closed the door. In a rage, she turned her fury on Remi’s car, grabbing handfuls of gravel and throwing it at his car, taking her house keys out of her purse and dragging them across the hood of his car as well as down the driver’s side door.
Vince, on the other hand, made a beeline for Remi after he threw Remi’s friend out. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” Vince demanded, as he stood right beside Remi.
Remi had laid his upper body across the table again, resting his head on his forearm. “Huh?” Remi asked, opening his eyes to see who was talking to him. “Uncle Vince.”
“Yeah, Uncle Vince. What the hell is wrong with you hanging out with somebody like that?”
Remi looked across the table he sat at, then around the part of the room he sat in. Confused at finding nobody there, he looked up at Vince. “There’s nobody here.”
“No, there’s not. She left! And don’t bring her ass back in here. I’ll throw you both out.”
Remi sat in his seat trying to figure out what Vince was talking about.
“Olivia? You called her Olivia,” Vince said, beginning to realize just how drunk Remi really was.
“Oh, shit! Yeah, Olivia. She’s my new girl,” Remi said, trying to stand up while he shoved the chair back so he could stand. He pried his keys out of his pocket and held them loosely in his hand while trying to balance himself.
“Where are you going?” Vince asked.
“To get Olivia.”
“She just left. I’m pretty sure somebody like that can find her way home without much help.”
“No, I promised I’d help her do something,” he said, struggling to remember what they’d talked about. “Oh! I’m taking her shopping. I think,” he said, his memory kind of fuzzy.
“You gave her a handful of money. I think that’s enough.”
“Oh. Well, I gotta go anyway. ‘S‘pose to be at work.”
“I don’t think so. Just sit right here for a while. You need to sober up,” Vince said, snatching Remi’s keys from his grip.
Remi flopped back into his chair, but shook his head. “Trying not to be sober. That’s when it hurts the most.”
“Tell you what. Sit here for a little while and I’ll get you something to eat. Alright?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Remi. You’re going to eat.”
“I’m not hungry. But I’ll take something else to drink.”
“Seems like a good compromise. Give me a second,” Vince said, going back to the bar and tossing Remi’s keys in the lost and found box before taking the rest of Daisy’s strawberry shake and pouring it into a glass and adding a tall straw to it. He carried it back to Remi and set it on the table in front of him.
“What’s this?” Remi asked.
“Looks like a strawberry shake, but it’s got tequila in it. Drink it up.”
Remi snickered. “Best kind of alcohol doesn’t taste like alcohol.”
“Exactly. When you run out of that one, I’ll get you another one.”
“Can the next one be chocolate?”
“Yep. I got some chocolate flavored vodka.”
“Don’t know why I didn’t think of this before,” Remi said happily, sipping on the milkshake that was just that, a milkshake.
Vince went back to the bar and shot a text off to Brandt. “Come get Remi before I whip his ass for being a dumb-ass.”
