If Only She'd Loved Him

Chapter 70

Saturday 5:50 pm

Sean moaned. Owww, what happened? His head banged at the back, like a jackhammer was doing a tap dance on it. He reached up his fingers and felt something sticky. Bringing his hand forwards, he saw the blood on his hand. His stomach flipped, once, twice, then he threw up on the floor. Erik, hands folded together, watched him from across the room.

"Hey, man, did you get the number of that truck? What hit me?" Sean asked. He stared across the room at one Erik, then at two Eriks, then again at one blurry Erik as the two Eriks merged back into his one friend. His head hurt!

Erik smiled to himself. At least one thing was going right tonight. Sean didn't know it was he who had hit him. "You've had a rough night. Want a beer?" he offered sympathetically.

"Yeah! Hell, yeah!"

Erik got up. Walking into the kitchen, he pulled out two cold beers, then took a roll of paper towels, a sponge and waste paper basket out from under the sink. He carried it all to the living room. Sean just sat there, feeling his head. Erik tossed him a beer and set another next to himself on the table. Pop! Sean chugged the beer down in two gulps. On his knees, Erik began to clean up. Dumping the dirty paper towels into the waste basket, he carried it back out to the kitchen.

"Need another?" he called out to Sean.

"Yeah, I sure could, thanks," Sean replied gratefully.

Erik returned and flipped him the second beer. Sean caught it with two hands, while Erik sat back down. Opening his own can, he sipped at it, staring at Sean over the rim.

"Better?" he asked.

"Yeah, thanks man. So what hit me anyway?" Sean repeated.

"Don't know," Erik said. "You were lying on the couch, soaking wet when I got here. Megan must have pulled you inside. You freaked her out, buddy. She got so nervous after seeing you that she just left."

"Oh, hunh, I remember Megan was here but she acted weird." Sean took another gulp. "She pretended to be scared, tried telling me some cock and bull story about you kidnapping her, once a bitch, always a bitch."

Erik's face tightened. "She wasn't a bitch." Sean missed Erik's use of past tense completely. Realizing his slip, Erik continued in a more normal voice. "No, we had a fight. I left to get some air and some more food. You know women, won't eat a thing when you first date them, but later on they can't shovel it in fast enough. Well, Megan must have still been mad and then you appeared, so she booked. What are you doing here anyway?"

Sean wasn't sure he liked what he heard in Erik's voice. He shrugged, finishing off his second beer before he answered. His skull hurt a lot less when he was through. "That bitch, Jean, got it in her head that Megan was in trouble, and that you had something to do with it," he said. His throat got tight thinking about what they'd done to him the other night. "She got that asshole Megan's dating now and some other guy to help her. They wanted to know where you were."

Erik bolted upright. "You didn't tell them, did you?" he demanded. The arms on his chair began to indent as he waited for Sean's answer.

"No way," he retorted. "I didn't tell those jerks anything."

"Good," Erik sighed, leaning back. "Another beer?"

"Yeah, and where's the pot? I forgot. I really gotta go."

Erik flicked his thumb towards the stairs. "Up the steps, first room on your right."

"Thanks." Sean clutched his legs together and hobbled up the stairs.