Zenith in Love (Zenith Series #5) - Leanne Davis Page 0,15
kind-hearted to describe how Jim lived. However, this was much rougher than Kayla expected.
Jim flopped down on the black leather sofa and raised a glass to his mouth, taking a sip and sucking in a breath before he visibly winced.
“What do you want?”
“I just came by to check on you.”
“Why? Did you think my heart was broken? It wasn’t. I don’t have one, you see. But you already knew that. So, you may leave. You’re the last person I’d expect or want to check on me.”
Ah. There it was. That sounded more familiar. Much better and more Jim-like than he was at the hospital. Kayla slipped her left arm from her purse strap, setting it on the floor as she started to relax. His scowl deepened and he asked, “Did you hear me?”
“Yes. And I’m relieved to hear you sounding more like yourself.”
He blinked at her and his glasses were a bit askew. She stared harder at him before her gaze bounced around and she quickly spotted the open bottle of vodka. Startled by her discovery, she asked, “Are you drinking alcohol?”
He smirked. “Yeah. On the day you almost get shot in your own church, what else is there to do?”
“But you don’t drink.”
“No.” He enunciated his agreement so coldly and clearly that she could only wonder when the usual, know-it-all speech would arrive. “Kathy doesn’t drink. Or swear. Or have sex. Not me. I never said I didn’t drink. Or swear. Or—”
“Have sex? I didn’t think you did. Remember I was always Kathy’s confidante.”
Baring his teeth at her, he got up, grabbed the neck of the bottle and sloppily poured more inside his cup. Kayla took the moment to sit down while he was up. She had to sit next to him because there was nowhere else. The chairs to the small table were overloaded with books, papers and newspapers. Jim was a slob. A hoarder. But geez, all those books.
“Well, then, if you’re asking, get me a glass. I certainly like to drink.”
He scoffed, scowled and glared all at once at her. Pouring her some vodka in a coffee mug that was a complimentary gift from a bank that was now out of business, he handed her the mug.
She lifted it towards him as he stood there, seemingly unsure of himself. “Cheers.”
He perched on the edge of the couch arm. “Yeah. Fuckin’ cheers.” He lifted his glass and gulped it down liberally.
Kayla sipped hers and coughed. It was pretty strong as she didn’t usually drink hard liquor. She liked to mix in fruity, sweet, lovely concoctions that made it so easy to forget there was any alcohol involved. Her new reality wasn’t adding up. Jim drank hard alcohol? Liberally? And said fuck? Jim? Seeing Jim as he was now, all casual, sloppy and slouchy, was so unlike how she knew him to be. Stiff and starched, his posture nearly perfect with a ramrod straight back, and a direct, eye-staring gaze, Jim shook men’s hands vigorously and dipped his head towards women with old-fashioned reverence for acknowledgement. Not going quite so far as to take their hands and kiss the backs of them, Kayla would not have been surprised if he did.
She always regarded Jim and Kathy as being from a different time and era. Not sure when, but a more traditional time. When people always dressed up and spoke with polite manners. Formal speech and caring treatment of each other and anyone else. Kathy appreciated it and encouraged it with Jim’s influence. While Kayla laughed at him without making it a secret. She could be pretty blunt to his face.
But seeing Jim like this?
Brushing his hand under his glasses, he rubbed his right eye and stared down at his half empty cup.
“Repeating, what do you want from me, Kayla? Did you forget something about Kathy and Eric that I should hear to really rub the whole situation in?”
“I’m not a monster. I would never come here tonight of all nights and do that.”
He snorted and shot her a look that clearly said, yeah, right.
She conceded with a little smile of chagrin and a head tilt. “Okay, in the past, I might have reveled in your discomfort. But not like this. Not after observing so much violence. And blood in your church. I always did it in a teasing way. You were so disapproving of me that I liked to justify your opinion. Like a naughty child has to always prove how naughty they can be. You never gave