Mechanically, he walked barefooted across the wood floors into the living room. Preferably something that wasn’t going to make him puke. He took a piss and stumbled back out, his tongue rasping over the roof of his mouth. His reflection didn’t shock him, and he didn’t spare a moment to splash his face with water or wash out his mouth. He pushed himself up from the bed and staggered toward the bathroom. Just as quickly they shriveled and turned black as if someone had held the wings to fire. Her name whispered through his tired mind, conjuring memories of his laughing, smiling, beautiful wife. His palms dug into his eye sockets, and he massaged as if he could wipe away the cloud hovering in his vision. He’d sought oblivion, but all he had to show for the alcohol binge was cotton mouth and a stomach that felt like he’d ingested lead.Įyes closed, he pressed his fingers into his temples and then covered his face with his hands. Knowing there was no chance of him going back to sleep with a head that was split apart at the seams, he struggled to the edge of the bed and planted his feet on the floor. If it was one of his brothers calling, they’d ride his ass about when he was coming to work for KGI. He hadn’t liked the man he’d been.įrank Kelly would go on about how it was time to get on with his life. No, Rachel hadn’t liked the man he’d been. If it was his dad, he’d give Ethan a lecture about how Rachel wouldn’t like the man he’d become. It could only be one of his well-meaning family members, and the last thing Ethan wanted today was sympathy. When it didn’t quit in a reasonable length of time, he reached over and yanked the cord from the wall. Instead he listened as each ring pierced his skull like an ice pick. The phone rang shrilly from the nightstand, and he quelled the urge to smash it. June 16, the day everything went to hell.

June 16, the day his world irrevocably changed.

He could say something incredibly corny like.

Instead his eyes popped open at eight A.M., and sunlight promptly fried his retinas.Įthan Kelly threw an arm over his face and lay there as the reality of the day hit him square in the gut. HE’D hoped if he drank enough the night before he’d sleep right through today.

Darkest hour crash on startup