Fractured Hearts (Shattered Lives, Book Three) (3 page)

Gunther was walking down the hallway when he met up with Elaina. “Hey. Is he still in there?” he asked.

Her face was angry, and her tone was irate. “I don’t know,” she growled. “Henry and I have talked about his drinking a thousand times! I’ve tried to dump as much as I can, but he won’t leave me alone long enough so I can dump everything.”

“I was coming to check on him. See if you needed help since he could barely stand before,” Gunther offered, not knowing what else to say about it.

“I appreciate that,” she said.

“How long has this been going on?”

She sighed. “Do I really want to answer that question? I feel somewhat responsible.” She swallowed. “He started his really heavy drinking when we were broken up, shortly after all this began. His drinking before was more of a casual kind of thing. Although, on several occasions, he could really pour the drinks back.” She paused for a moment. “I suppose he was what’s called a ‘functioning alcoholic’. He did tell me he started drinking after his first severe beating that hospitalized him.”

Gunther knew she must have been wondering if that was because of him. It was. He fucked him up big time—fractured his skull. It was a beating that got out of control. If it hadn’t been for the quick actions of the clinic nurse, he probably would’ve had a true death.

Holding back the tears, she spoke again, “But the drinking increased dramatically after Sophie died.”

With a genuine concern for Henry, Gunther mumbled, “I’m sorry.” She put her face in her hands in an effort to hide her red-cheeked humiliation. He squatted down to her, putting his face in front of hers, then peeled her hands away. “Hey. Come on. It’s going to be okay. We’ll get him cleaned up. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“You would do that?” she asked, as they headed off to fetch Henry.

Embarrassed, he replied, “I owe that, and so much more, to him.”

Her voice broke, “I love him so much.”

“I know. I can see that. We’ve been through a lot and, obviously, I’m not innocent here. I have affected him, too. Before he came to the States, we had a few encounters that were…less than polite, shall we say. This may be the wrong time, but I feel I need to say this to you. I’m very sorry about what happened to Claire and the baby.”

Waving her hands to make him stop, she said, “Please. I can’t talk about that right now, and I’m not sure if I will ever be able to. I need to focus on Henry. His health is my main priority.” More tears trickled down her face, followed by more sniffles.

“Right. Yes. I’m sorry.” Gunther patted his pockets. “I’d give you a tissue but, sadly, I seem to be fresh out.”

Through her misery, she laughed, enjoying his quirky sense of humor. “I miss that in Henry. He hasn’t made me laugh in a really long time.”

“We will get that back for you. I promise.”

When they made it to the door of the mechanical room, Elaina stopped and took a deep breath. She paced in front of the door for a few moments before Gunther grabbed the handle.

Opening the door, they were struck with the stench of liquor and vomit. “Ah, yes. My two favorite smells combined in one aromatic delight closed off in a small, tight space. Refreshing. Glade should patent it,” Elaina grumbled.

They stepped in. Henry was lying on his stomach, seemingly unconscious, next to a puddle of whatever he ate and poured down his throat.

It truly was a sad situation to see and Gunther felt horrible for his role in it. “Shit,” he muttered, looking down at the wreck on the floor.

Elaina began to cry again, but she sucked it back. Strong woman. However, her eyes said it all. There was nothing but hopelessness. In a whisper, she said, “Look at him… My heart goes out to him when he’s like this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found him in this same position. He’s so broken and I don’t know how to fix him.” She knelt and ran the back of her hand over his cheek. “Henry…” She shook him, but he was out cold. “Henry…,” she said again, a little louder. “I think I’m going to need some help getting him back to our room.”

With a sigh, Gunther said, “Let me try. I’ll pick him up first.”

Gunther bent down and picked Henry up, pressing one palm into his chest, holding him against the wall. He was like a ragdoll just flopping about. “Henry!” Gunther hollered, causing Henry to startle—limbs windmilled for a split second before they went limp again. “Henry, wake your arse up! You need to get back to your room.”

Gunther lightly slapped Henry’s cheek, causing his arms to flail about as he mumbled something that was nothing more than a drunken slur. His legs, seemingly made of rubber bands, were fighting for purchase on the vomit-covered floor. There was no way he was going to be able to walk on his own.

“You take one side. I’ll take the other,” Elaina muttered. “I hope no one sees this. He would be humiliated.”

Gunther and Elaina wrapped their arms around Henry and dragged him back to their room. He helped her strip him out of his clothes, then put him into bed. It was like dealing with a two hundred pound sloth on downers.

Standing over Henry, her hands on her hips, Elaina examined him. The tears started to flow again.

“Hey, now. Come on. Let’s step outside so we can chat.”

She followed Gunther out the door, closing it with a click behind her. She waited quietly but anxious.

Elaina wanted life for him. Henry needed to open his eyes and see what he was doing to himself. She wanted to love him back into health, but, at the same time, beat the shit out of him until he promised to change. Most of all, Elaina wanted him to love and believe in himself. She knew he could, backwards and hopping on one leg, carry everyone to the finish line, but he didn’t see that in himself. Henry only saw the devastation, the pain, and the insecurities, which made him lift the bottle to his lips.

“I don’t know how to fix him,” she whispered.

Gunther stood in front of her. “Let’s start with this. You can’t. You can only support him.”

“He used to be my rock. I desperately need him back. I can’t take much more of this.”

He grabbed her shoulders, causing Elaina to shiver. “I understand that. We need to dry him up.”

She still couldn’t believe the burden Gunther was placing on himself. “You’re genuinely concerned for him, aren’t you?” He nodded and pursed his lips. “You two have been through a lot. For you to put aside all the bullshit and fighting is huge to me. It says a lot about you as a person. How do we dry him up?”

Unsure of how to handle Elaina’s compliments, he skipped over them. “Dump his booze, of course. Where does he hide his stash?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered, her gaze dropping to the floor. He placed his hands on his hips, cocked his head to the side, and quirked a brow with that annoyed “I’m trying to help you” look. She muttered under her breath, “At the general store.”

“I know exactly where that is.” Gunther stormed off to the storefront he and Josie had first run into Henry when they came to town.

Second thoughts paraded through her mind, so Elaina chased after him. “Gunther! Wait. Please, don’t. Let me talk to him first.”

Gunther continued to walk, not even turning around. “How many times have you talked to him about this?”

“I don’t know!” she yelled at his back. “Too many, I guess. But…”

He stopped suddenly and looked at her, thinking,
What the fuck is wrong with her? She’s enabling him?
“But what, Elaina? But what?!” Gunther yelled. “Do you want to help him or not?”

“I do, but I don’t want him to go on a rampage. You don’t know what he’s like. I hate when he rages because he hurts himself every time. The last really horrendous rage, he broke his hand, then re-broke it after another one. I’ve found him with a gun to his temple.” She sagged and her knees began to give out. “I can’t do this anymore,” she cried, her hands covering her face.

Hearing her obvious despair, Gunther rushed to her before she hit the floor. “Then we need to put a stop to it. I will take care of it, even if I have to tie him up and hold him down. Once we get him dry, maybe I can whip him back into shape. He’s gone soft in the belly.”

“Yeah, he has. He always took such pride in his physique, but he hasn’t even done a single crunch lately. I just don’t want him to be upset with me. I can’t handle that right now. I can’t lose anyone else, especially him.”

“Then pretend you have no idea what I’m doing. Let him take his anger out on me. I can handle him. You just support him.”

Turning away from Elaina, Gunther stormed to the door. She watched him push it open and disappear. “Shit.” She turned around and dragged her ass back to their room.

Opening my eyes, I found myself resting my sweaty head on the cool tile floor in the loo. Unsure about how I got from Point A to Point B, I was praying to the porcelain god that my epic “vomit-fest” would end soon. There was nothing left to give. How many times would my body do the evacuation dance before it would say, “Oh, yeah, you’re empty”?

My gauge read empty. Nada. Zero. Finished. Fucking
beyond
E.

Being a clean freak, the toilet, along with everything else, was spotless at all times; otherwise, I would have never rested against it.

In contemplation, I lay on floor for a few minutes. I felt like I was destroying everything…myself and Elaina included. I loved her more than anything and there I was, killing her right along with me. My pain was turning into her pain, and the abuse I induced upon myself was also abusing her.

“Fuck me,” I mumbled. Lifting my head, I rubbed my forehead with my arm.

The door to our room opened, then another wave of belly-clenching fun hit. Let the heaving commence.

“Henry?” Squinting, trying to shut out the light and focus on one Elaina at a time, I looked up at her in the doorway. She had a bottle of water in one hand. Or maybe it was three. I couldn’t be too sure. “Hey, lover.”

“Hey…,” I choked out. “How did I get to our room? I was…” I coughed.

“You stumbled in and lay down.”

“I did? I thought…” I looked down at my nearly naked, puffy body, disgusted at what I saw. “And I stripped?”

“Yeah. That looks to be the case.”

“I’m sorry,” I muttered, wiping the excessive drool off of my lips with the back of my hand, unsure of why I was apologizing. I didn’t deserve her forgiveness.

“Gunther found Silas…just in case you were wondering.”

“Huh?”

“Silas went missing, remember? Josie told you.”

“Shit. Right.”
How could I have forgotten something so important?

“He’s fine…in case you were curious.”

The inflection in her voice told me she was pissed, but hurt at the same time. “That’s good,” I mumbled in relief.

“It’s going to be okay, lover.”

Despite Elaina’s words, the devastation rolled off of her. Shaking my head, I crawled over to her and she ran her fingers through my dirty hair. The emotions were becoming too cumbersome for me to contain.

It was me who was killing everything we had. Pressing my face to her jeaned thighs, I mumbled, “I need to clean up my act, don’t I?”

“Yeah. Yeah, you do. You can’t lead like this. And we can’t continue on this path of self-destruction because you aren’t just destroying you. You’re destroying me. But worst of all, you’re destroying
us
.”

“I know. I’m so fucking sorry. I’m struggling. I’m an alcoholic. I need help, Elaina, but I have no idea where to find it or how to go about it.” And then the floodgates opened.

“I know, lover, and yes, you are an alcoholic. But I’m going to help you, okay? We all are going to help you through this.”

My forehead rubbed against her thigh as I nodded. She lifted my face to hers. From her despondent facial expression, she reflected that what was overwhelming me was invading her soul.

I didn’t want her to have a sense of loss, but it was inevitable. She grabbed me and held me close. “We will beat this together. I’m going to help you every step of the way. I’ve been waiting for you to come to this moment. To understand you need to change. This behavior will kill you and I don’t want to see you succumb to it. You are so much more than you believe, Henry. I wish you could see that.”

This was a task bigger than life and I wasn’t sure she was strong enough to take it on. I wrecked her spirit, crushed her dreams, and made her feel hatred.

I wrapped my arms around her and, collapsing into her, I fucking cried at great length about everything that had affected all of us…Elaina, me, Nick, Claire, Willow, Sophie, everybody. My meltdowns usually consisted of some sort of violent outburst, but this was emotional turmoil.

Once the emotions drained from me and exhaustion riddled my entire being, Elaina helped drag my trembling body back to bed. She knelt next to me, brushing away the few stray hairs clinging to my sweaty forehead.

“Are you okay, lover?”

“Yeah, just… I don’t know,” I groaned as I rolled onto my side, wrapping my arms around my gut as it twisted.

Running her fingers over the dark edges of my tribal wing tattoo, she murmured, “You need to sleep off some of this. I’m going to leave you to rest. I’ll come back to check on you in a while, okay?”