Poison & Wine - Melissa Toppen Page 0,54
the engine.
“You can wait here,” Jace tells me, shoving open the car door.
“No, I’ll come up and help you.” I unlatch my seat belt and climb out of the car.
“I don’t need a babysitter,” he tells me as I join him on the sidewalk.
“I’m not babysitting you. Just thought maybe you could use a friend.”
“A friend?” He eyes me curiously. “Oh, that’s right. We’re friends now,” he says more to himself than to me.
Without another word, he turns on his heel and heads to the door, punching in a passcode before tugging it open. He waits until I step inside before following me in.
The apartment complex isn’t the nicest in town, but it’s not the worst either. The buildings are a little old and weather worn, but for the most part have seen proper up keep. It’s not a bad neighborhood either.
I don’t know why, but the thought makes me sad. I knew Tommy was doing well before he relapsed but seeing just how far he had come to lose it all in one moment of weakness, really does go to show that no one is ever out of the woods. At least not when you’re an addict.
As I follow Jace up the staircase to the second floor, I wonder what that means for me and Ellie. Will it always be like this? Us waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for Jace to give into temptation and fall back into his old habits? Or worse, have him end up dead.
I know what a risk this is. Trust me, I do. But there’s something inside of me that keeps whispering in the back of my mind that I need to try. That I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t.
Jace stops in front of a door with 2E bolted on the front. Jamming a key inside, he turns the knob, and pushes the door open, hesitating in the open doorframe.
“You okay?” I ask after several long moments have passed.
“What?” he questions like he doesn’t understand why I’m asking. As if in that moment he realizes that he hasn’t moved, he steps forward. “Let’s make this quick.” He flips on the light which illuminates the bare apartment.
“Where is everything?” I ask, gesturing around the living room.
“A few of the guys at the shop cleared Tommy’s stuff out a few days ago. They put it in storage for me.”
“That was very thoughtful of them.”
“Yeah.” He blows out a breath, taking a long look around the room. “Come on. My room is back here.” With that, he takes off down the hallway toward the back of the apartment.
Veering into the first room on the left, he flips the light switch and enters the space, with me right on his heels.
The room is pretty bare. An old bed. A few unpacked boxes. It’s clear he wasn’t here long. Another wave of sadness washes over me.
After Tommy left, all Jace wanted was to have his brother back. He didn’t talk about it much but I know how badly he missed him. Then, well, everything happened. It wasn’t until this past stent in rehab that Tommy and Jace reconnected. How little time he got with him before he lost him forever.
I know deep inside he’s probably barely holding on, but as he always did when we were kids, he puts on a brave face for me. Or at least I think it’s for me. Hell, maybe at this point it’s for himself. Maybe he’s trying to convince himself that he’s okay.
I know if I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t even be close to okay. I’m not close to either of my siblings, yet the thought of anything happening to them guts me.
“I just have these boxes here.” He gestures to a stack of three boxes in the corner. “And what’s in the closet.” He tugs open the door and pulls out some clothes, hangers and all, tossing them on the bed.
Turning, he picks up an empty box off the floor and begins shoving the clothes inside, not bothering to fold anything.
“I’ll take these out to the living room,” I say, grabbing the top box from the corner. It’s surprisingly light and doesn’t take much effort to carry to the front door.
When I reenter the bedroom, Jace is coming out, two boxes balanced on top of each other.
“There’s just the one with the clothes on the bed left,” he tells me.
I nod, grabbing that box before following him back into the living room.
“What about the bed?”