Page 25 of Rough Night

Mia walked up to her and sat down next to her. She noticed a few shot glasses were lined up in front of her. Picking one up, Mia could smell the tequila. It was clear she had at least six tequila. It could’ve been more, of course.

“Hello, Lorraine. I thought I told you to leave and not come back," she said. It took a while for Lorraine to focus on her. She was completely drunk, and it wasn't even dark yet. It was pathetic.

"Oh, it's you,” she said, "little miss perfect. Well, you know what he'll come back to me when he's bored of you which will happen soon enough. Just look at you, you're nothing special," she slurred as she pointed at Mia who had no idea what she was talking about. It didn't make sense to her at all.

"I'm not surprised that you've been left by a man considering you're already drunk at this time," Mia replied. It was possible that in her drunken state Lorraine thought she was someone else, someone who had taken her man. She pitied the woman, but it wasn't enough to justify her actions.

"He's mine, he'll always be mine,” she continued as if Mia hadn't spoken at all. It was possible that she could be a raging alcoholic, no one who was happy with life would be drunk before 6 pm.

"Come on, let's get you home. Where do you live?" Mia asked. She wrapped one arm under Lorraine and guided her out of the bar. Reluctantly she gave Mia her address. It wasn't her responsibility to take her home, and she could've asked some of the Hell Kats to do it, but a part of her wanted to make sure that she got home safely without having to rely on someone else doing the job.

Mia put her in a cab and climbed into the front seat, giving the driver the address. She would make sure she got home safely, even if that meant putting her to bed herself. Lorraine sat in the back of the cab and continued to talk. Most of her words came out slurred, and Mia struggled to understand her, but she kept repeating, ‘he’s mine, he’s mine,’ as they got closer to her house.

“Who are you talking about?” Mia asked, frustrated with the woman when she refused to shut up.

“You know, you know,” Lorraine replied.

“You definitely need to sleep this off,” Mia said as she got Lorraine out of the back seat of the cab once they had arrived outside her house. “Where are your house keys?”

“Pocket,” was all Lorraine replied as she started to hiccup.

Mia searched her pockets for her keys and unlocked the front door once she found them. She carried Lorraine inside and placed her on the couch she saw in the lounge. She didn’t have the strength or energy to take her to her room. She covered her with a blanket and decided that she would have a real chat with her the next day. She would have to tell her again that she needed to move on and stop showing up at the club like she had been told. It wasn't just because she was drunk but because of everything else she had done already. She had seemed like trouble from the get-go and Mia had to protect the club.

Once she had Lorraine settled, she headed home. She wanted to be with Sage. When she arrived home, she found Sage in his study working.

“Isn’t it a bit late to be working still?” she asked.

“Work never stops, but I was just about to take it easy for the rest of the night. Shall we go watch some TV?” he replied.

“Why I like the way you think,” she said.

They made their way to the lounge and curled up on the couch together.

"Have you eaten anything for dinner?" she asked as she took notice of the time. It was still early, and Mia had begun to feel a bit hungry.

"I haven't now that you mention it. Shall we cook up something quickly and then continue watching the movie?" he asked.

"That sounds like a plan," she replied. They got up and headed to the kitchen.

Together they made dinner, laughing and messing around while they did. They seemed to be getting to a good point in their relationship, a place Mia had never been before with anyone in her past.

Mia had always wanted someone to love her for who she was, and she longed for someone to give her the chance for her to love them back. She had a big heart that had been through so much, and she knew she had a lot of love to give, and the more time she spent with Sage her hopes of them having some sort of future grew.