In Your Wake

Mark's Drunken Words

Emily's POV

"Emily...." Mark buries his face in the crook of my neck, "Do you know what happened to us?"

I am going to punch him in the curb first thing tomorrow morning for making me struggle like this. I could barely keep him standing up straight. I cannot believe for the life of me that I turned down Eras's offer for helping me with Mark. What was I even thinking?

"Mark..." I groaned and tried to push him up so that he could stand straight, "Help me or I swear to all the gods out there I will wipe out everything that makes you a man."

"Ouch." He leans his weight on me, ignoring all of what I had just said, "That is a little bit harsh, don't you think?"

"I will drop you if you do not walk with me, Mark." I know that my threats are all pointless and unheard, and I am sure that he is well aware that I am definitely not going to drop, but if I don't, I might just crumble beneath him.

"I'm trying." He whines and attempts to stand on his own.

We manage to walk a good several steps further into the house before he supports his weight on me again and whines.

"Do you know what happened between us?" He whispers softly in my ear, "What happened to us, Emily? Tell me because I have no f*cking idea."

"Mark, can you please--" I started but he interrupted me again.

"Emily, I love--"

"Do you need some help?"

His voice reaches my ear and it irritates the hell out of me. I can hear his footsteps getting louder as he descends the stairs. I focused on Mark and I tightened my grip around him. He is going to create a very big scene now that he is drunk and it might end up with him calling Jake a r****t again. I grimace as I say the word in my mind.

"Of course I need help, Emily. That is not a question that you should ask me." Mark blindly answered.

He is drunk. He is just drunk. I need to remind myself of the fact that he is drunk and his mind is not even functioning to help him think or differentiate between a man's voice and mine.

"I said that." Jake waves a hand in front of our faces and I am forced to look up.

I breathe. Once Twice.

I slowly lifted my eyes up from his feet and made my way up to his face. He is wearing a pair of black jeans that fit him just right, and his signature long sleeved white shirt that perfectly outlines every plane of muscle of his biceps and chest. I forcefully drag my eyes up and the moment our eyes meet, all the air leaves my lungs. I am left completely breathless. His hair is longer now, and his curls are falling down framing his contoured face. My fingers twitch by my side, wanting to thread themselves in his hair.

We are absorbing each other and the anger inside of me is simmering in my blood when it replaces the air that he knocked out of me. His musk. What were unrecognizable whiffs seconds ago are now circling around me and replacing all of the fresh air that is in the living room. It is wrapping me to him. His cologne washes over me and when the smell hits my nostrils it brings back some of the memories that I had buried all year.

I hate everything about this situation.

"I don't need your help!" Mark spits and waves his arm around as though to push Jake away.

"I think Emily does though."

"I will manage." I said and try to move Mark and me around Jake.

"Look, I will just help him to his room and then--"

I cut him off, "I said that I don't need your help."

"Yeah, get the f*ck away from her." Mark moves his arm off my shoulder and lunges for Jake. "Everything is ruined." He fists Jake's shirt and pulls him down.

"Mark!" I grabbed his arm and tugged at his sleeve to pull him away from Jake, but his grip was too strong and tight.

For someone who couldn't stand on their own two feet just a second ago, I must say that I am impressed.

"I am sure you ruined it." Jake says, which just spikes Mark's anger up.

"You know I can k*ll you right here, right now." Mark's face was really close to Jake's.

"I'd really like to see that now." Jake wraps his arm around Mark's torso and pulls him up, keeping him upright.

He turns himself around, forcing Mark to turn towards him. He helps Mark step onto the first step.

"I can take care of him." I told him, standing on my ground.

"I know that you can." He glanced at me over his shoulder, but only for a second.

I follow them and I hear Mark's slurred words that keep tumbling off his lips, continuously, and I can sense the hurt behind his words.

"I don't know how to fix this." He shakes his head and throws his head back, "She hates me now."

"I am sure she does. Who likes a f*cker like you?"

Mark chuckles as though Jake is joking, and if Mark hadn't been drunk, he probably would have insulted Jake back.

"I know, right?" He says, almost painfully, "I love her though."

Jake momentarily lets go of Mark and he tumbles over face first onto the floor. Mark rolls around on the ground and groans painfully.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" I yelled and pushed him aside, reaching for Mark.

"I deserved that." Mark wiped his eyes and smiled at Jake.

I can't believe he is smiling at Jake. JAKE. He is smiling at Jake of all people. The guy who hates his guts, the guy who just dropped him on the floor, the guy who can't even stand to look at him. He is past being extremely drunk, now he is just mental.

"No, you didn't." I pulled both of his arms up, pulling him off the floor, "You are sleeping beside me tonight."

"What, why? Doesn't he have a room of his own?" Jake asks and his musk is now closer and I can feel his body behind mine.

"Can you go to wherever the hell you even came from?" I snapped at him, anger boiling in my veins.

"I was trying to help you."

"You were trying to help me? By dropping him!" I nearly shouted and I forgot everything and dropped Mark's hands and he fell back onto the ground with a thud.

"F*cking hell." Laughter roars out of Mark and he rolls onto his side.

"Seriously, Mark?" I ran my hand through my hair as I looked down at his helpless, drunken, mental body.

"I'll help him for real this time." Jake's tone is promising and the only reason why I am letting him do this is because I can't carry Mark's drunken a*s to my room.

"I don't want your help." Mark pushed Jake's chest to move away from him.

"Yeah, you said that last time and you ended up on the ground. So let me help your sorry a*s to your room."

Mark shakes his head and attempts to pull away again, "I'm sleeping with her. Right, chérie?"

Jake freezes on the spot , and so do I. I have worked so hard to bury this nickname deep down, under untouched grounds, and I have almost forgotten about it completely. Now, with Jake back, watching him react to Mark's words and Mark's drunken words, brings everything back to life again.