Parked on a bar stool at the kitchen counter, Jack munched away on his cereal as he logged into his and Tara's phone game. He sighed in dismay at the splash page advertising the latest event. He was doomed to be at Tara's beck and call for the next five days.

Clicking on his inbox, he frowned and clicked in and out a few times. No flower crowns, no stamina packs, not even a little bit of pollen. Nothing from Tara. She hadn't logged in since yesterday afternoon, and the game had just started a new event. Something was up.

Jack now had an inkling of an idea of what Tara went through when he was running late with logging in. It was only nine in the morning, so she might be hungover on her camping trip. He didn't want to face her wrath if he woke her up, but he had to know that she was okay. He hoped she would be grumpy, but understanding.

His anxiety rose as Tara's phone rang several times. Finally, there was an answer. Given the shuffling of fabric, he had woken her up. He prepared himself for an earful.

"Wuz'p?"

She sounded even more hungover than he'd ever been. "I'm just checking in," Jack said slowly. "Since you haven't logged in, and that scarab event just started?"

"Scarab…" A sharp gasp and the hurried movement of tumbling out of a bed echoed over the phone. "You made me miss the start?! Fuck you!"

Jack jumped at the sudden shouts. Tara's voice became slightly muffled as her shuffling and clattering about became louder.

"You owe me fifty bucks to catch up! And you're banned from the gym! Not just the gym, all of Portswain, you fucker! Fuck you!"

Jack couldn't catch the mumbling from the other side, but his guess was that toned god Shane was cowering in the corner. He knew Tara was addicted to the dumb game, but her reaction was over the top. "So, yeah. I'm okay over here. Are you okay?"

"I'm… Yeah. Wild night last night," she said dismissively. Too dismissively. "I'm gonna take you up on the background checks from now on."

There was not wanting to talk about mistakes and heartbreak, and then there was whatever Tara was implying. Every little warning bell Jack could normally ignore was going off. "You sure you're okay?"

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Nothing I couldn't handle. But Shane's ass got kicked." She chuckled darkly then let out a disgusted scoff. "Oh, shut up, ass wipe. Be glad I didn't do more. Think I can't handle shit? I can take whatever you fucking dish and throw it back in your goddamned face! Go harem shopping somewhere else."

"Have you called Sam yet?" He had a pretty good guess on the answer.

"Naw, man, I'm good. Cops don't need to be involved and thinking self defense is assault. He learned his lesson."

"But…"

"I don't need the victim blaming for this," Tara said, her voice calm and soothing. "I took care of it, and there won't be any issues. Especially after I go hunt down some food. I am fucking starving. I think Sunrise is down the road."

"Okay. But I'm still worried."

"Now you know how I feel."

"I guess." He didn't need it pointed out.

"So how's Kiki working out?" she asked in a teasing sing-song.

"Great?" Jack couldn't hide the suspicion in his voice. It was some form of a trap. Or maybe just a simple distraction. He didn't know which he preferred.

"What happened? If he fucked up again, I'm in a mood to fuck back. I will put the fear of god in him."

"Uh, Augie showed up last night. I tazed him." And broke his neck, but Tara didn't need to know that part.

"Good on you!" Tara said between laughter. "Don't take no shit from no one."

"Yeah. Trying not to. Kieran's good, though. Really good. Earlier, he…" Jack trailed off as his cheeks burned at the reminder. "Yeah. Good morning. Whiskey kiss. It was good. I'm totally into whiskey mouthwash now, but don't tell him."

"I'm happy for you," she said softly, her smile ringing clear in her voice. "I'm gonna grab breakfast and catch up on the event. I need that slingshot. It flings shit. No damage, but it turns everyone's armor brown for six hours if you win."

"Great…" He wasn't particularly invested in the stupid game, but he rather liked his avatar the way it was.

"That'll teach tookylooky to ditch me in the middle of a run."

"I'm gonna go?"

"Do not mention anything to Sam or Candy."

"Same goes for you. Don't mention Augie," Jack shot back. From the sound of it, neither needed the cops involved. Nor did they need a nosy witch doling out much needed advice.

"Deal. Catch ya' later."

"Later."

He stared at his phone for a moment before moving on to call Benoit.

image [https://i.imgur.com/eZY0YUq.png]