Darkness Before Dawn

speakerphone.
    "You're the blackest white guy I know, dude, that's for damn sure," Greg says, laughing into the phone.
    The five of us fall into a fit of laughter, theirs dying out before Aubry and mine. Greg hangs up the phone and Aimee announces that she has to get home soon.
    "But you just got here," I whine annoyingly, immediately cringing at how needy my voice sounds.
    "I know, Blakey, but I have to study," she replies softly.
    "Ugh. The Bar," I groan. "I don't even know what I'm going to do anymore."
    "You could always take it," she chimes.
    "No, I don't even wanna be a lawyer anymore," I slur as I sway to get more whiskey.
    "What!" she shrieks. "You went through three years of law school and now you don't know if you want to be a lawyer? Are you fucking crazy?"
    "Babe, just leave her alone. Talk about this tomorrow," Aubry says before he kisses Aimee's lips shut. She shakes her head in disbelief as she tells us to be careful and says goodbye.
    Connor heads out shortly after she leaves, and as I lock the door behind him I realize that Cole hasn't called me all day. I groan loudly as I flop back on the couch across from Aubry and sip on my drink. Maybe I should go out tonight. I mull over reasons why going out wouldn't be a good idea and come up short. Then again, I am justifying everything with "Cole screwed that Barbie bitch while I was kidnapped." My stomach turns at the thought. What an asshole. I was kidnapped, living in a fucking basement and he was screwing around with other women. The more I think about him being away so much in the past weeks, the angrier I get at everything. The rational person in me knows that he wouldn't cheat on me, but I wasn't gone long enough for him to have to...whatever.
    "Aubry, we're going out!" I announce as I walk to my room, tipping my cup a little too much and spilling some whiskey on my feet. "Fuck," I grumble as I wipe the top of my barefoot clean with the bottom of the other. Aubry says something behind me and when I walk out of my room I find him on the verge of falling asleep on the couch. I wake him up with a couple of light slaps on the face and lead him out of the apartment.
    "Where are we going anyway?" he asks sleepily.
    "Out. Anywhere that has a bar."
    He shrugs his answer and we ask Spencer to drive us to a small place nearby. Cole is supposed to get in later tonight and I do not plan on being home at that time, I'm afraid of what I'll do when I see him.
    We sit around the bar, and to my dismay, there's a Cubs game on TV, which means my drinking partner is solely focused on that. I roll my eyes and take my phone out of my purse. I find two missed calls from Cole and a text message that says he'll be home at nine o'clock. I ignore him and call the last person on my call log instead.
    "Two calls in one day? I feel honored," Dean says in an amused tone.
    "Shut up. I had no one else to call," I reply. "Besides, we haven't really gotten to talk."
    "Not my fault," he quips.
    "I forgot how annoying you were." He laughs loudly into the receiver, making me back it away from my ear. "I met my dad today."
    He lets out a low whistle on the other side of the line. "So you know."
    My eyebrow lifts and I remember he can't see me. "Know what?"
    "About your dad and Alex."
    My heart drops. "What about them?"
    He exhales sharply. "Where are you? I'm assuming lover boy isn't with you since you're calling."
    "No. I hate him. I'm at a bar."
    "Hate him, huh?" Dean says in a playful tone.
    "Don't start. I'm at Jimmy Green's. You coming or not?" I ask shortly.
    "Be right there, Princess."
    An unwanted shiver runs through me. "Don't call me that. Ever."
    He hangs up the phone on me so I turn my attention to Aubry, who, of course, was listening to my entire conversation.
    "You told him to come here?" Aubry asks angrily.
    "Maybe?" I whimper.
    "I can't fucking believe you, Blake. I can't fucking believe you." I cringe at his tone. He never calls me by my name unless he's beyond pissed off.
    I try to appease him by finishing the story and making him feel guilty for not wanting Dean to tell me what he knows. I really need to know, now more than ever.

 

    I rub my forehead trying to contain the impending headache that I feel coming my way as I pace our empty apartment.
    "Call again," I growl at Bruce who has been trying to reach Spencer for the past half hour.
    As usual, when my flight landed I called Blake, and to my pure horror, she didn't answer the phone. She hasn't been answering her