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alcoholic.” Quinn cleared her throat, pushing back her memories. “The first few detox days will be bad. He’ll be sick a lot. It will take a couple days for it to fully kick in, then it will go on for a while. His body will be screaming for alcohol, and it will be difficult to watch. So, the best is yet to come. He’ll become much moodier than when he gets too, ahh…thirsty. If you need someone to talk to, feel free to pull me aside. I will be glad to help if I can.”
    “Thank you,” she murmured, full of shame. “I appreciate that.”
    Gunther strolled back into the cafeteria and saw Quinn and Elaina huddled together by the window, chatting. “Enjoy the show?” he asked as he approached.
    They nearly jumped out of their skins. “God!” Quinn put her hand to her chest.
    He laughed. “I knew I was good, but I’m not sure I would go that far.” After wrapping his arms around Quinn’s waist, he groaned into her ear. Then, of course, he gave her backside a bit of a squeeze.
    To break up the lovers’ moment, Elaina cleared her throat and Gunther spun around to look at her. “Well, I probably should go back and check on Henry.” She made a mad dash down the hall before either one could say anything.
    After seeing Gunther and Quinn practically making out, jealousy took over. Elaina needed Henry to hold her like he used to. Missing that kind of affection, she needed him to hold her like Gunther did Quinn. She opened the door to their room and he was lying face up on the bed, his ball cap over his face.

Chapter 3
    The light… Jesus Christ, there was too much light. Kind of ironic since we lived in a world lit with candles. A beam of dimming sunlight, streaming through a separation on the papered window, was hitting my face just right, taunting me. Someone needed to blow out that giant fucking ball of flame in the sky.
    With only one eyelid functioning, due to a mind-bending headache, I cranked it open and there it was. My trusty ball cap was laying on the desk next to the bed. I maneuvered my wretched body toward it and was finally able to snake an arm out and snatch the bloody thing. I laid it over my face with a sigh of relief, falling back into my familiar dark world.
    Brilliant.
    But then the door opened again. I lifted the cap just enough to peek out from under it. My love . Even with one squinted eye, she was stunning.
    “Hey.”
    “Shh…,” I shushed her. “My head’s pounding,” I groaned.
    “I can’t imagine why.” Crossing her arms and leaning into one hip, there was that anger that she wore oh so fucking well.
    “Please, don’t be angry with me,” I muttered.
    With a loud sigh and heavy footsteps, she came to the side of the bed. I swear she purposely was stomping around the room. “How are your other issues? Are you in need?”
    “Yeah.”
    Making enough noise to wake the dead, she grabbed my pack and pulled out what we needed to perform the draw. Claire always used to hook her up when I was too pissed-up to find a vein. She became really good at it. Most of the time, Elaina didn’t feel the needle go in. “Not sure if I can do this on my own,” she said as she settled into a desk/chair combo.
    “I’ll do it.” I tried sitting. “Fuck me,” I groaned and grabbed my head.
    Elaina laughed. “Nope, don’t think so.” Her laughter rolled through my bones, causing an ache worse than my need. It was rather cheeky of her, but she couldn’t always control her impulse to kick me in the bollocks when I was down. I suppose I deserved it.
    “Can it, Elaina,” I growled at her.
    “I’m going to get Gunther to hook me up.”
    I lifted my arm in the air, quite certain it weighed a metric ton. “I’ll be right here.”
    “I figured as much,” she muttered.

    Heading back to the cafeteria, Gunther and Quinn were nowhere to be found. Elaina wasn’t confident Josie or Nick could hook her up, so she jogged back down the hallway. She tried Gunther’s room, but they weren’t there,