Intoxicated Read Online Free PDF

flickered and extinguished leaving him alone in the darkness. The only sound came from the bass drum inside the building, dull and muffled like a pulse through the thick brick walls.
    Long after the taxi disappeared, Jack stood on the sidewalk, mulling over the novel sensation of defeat. How long had it been since a female left him standing at the curb? Her absolute disinterest in him left him scratching his head. When he had pressed her soft body against the wall in the back hallway, he could have sworn that she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. The moans of pleasure when he cupped her breasts still echoed in his ears and the pent-up passion behind the heat of her kisses left a residual of gooseflesh on his forearms.  
    Maybe he’d lost his edge. The fingers of his right hand twitched over the breast pocket of his shirt in search of cigarettes. He wasn’t exactly a kid anymore. At his age he should be settled into a home with a wife and kids. Instead he slept on the fold-out sofa in his best friend’s apartment, drinking himself into oblivion with a different nameless, faceless girl every night. The notion brought weariness to his bones, deep and penetrating.
      “Are you going to stand out here all night or what?” Randy poked his head out of the door with the look of a proprietary parent.  
    “Got any cigarettes? I could use a smoke.”  
    Randy patted down his pockets, came up with a crumpled pack of Marlboro’s, and tossed them in Jack’s direction. “I thought you quit.”
    “Since when did you become my babysitter anyway?” He glared at his buddy, lit the cigarette, and took a long soothing pull on the filter.  
    “Right about the same time I became your damn secretary,” Randy said. With his right hand, he dug deep into his front jeans pocket, withdrew a crumpled piece of paper, and smoothed it out with thick blunt fingers. “Eleven times she’s called, man. And that’s just today.” He smashed the piece of paper against Jack’s chest. “I guess you didn’t take her phone call earlier?” Jack shook his head and Randy scowled again. “I’m telling you, Jack…you need to deal with this.”
    “Why?” Jack flicked away the ashes from his cigarette with a practiced hand. “She’ll get bored and go away. She always does.”
    “I don’t think so, man. Not this time. You’ve rained on her parade and she’s not going to take it lying down.” Randy shook a cigarette out of the pack for himself as two drunken patrons stumbled out of the door behind him, laughing. One of them unzipped his fly and leaned a hand on the brick wall to urinate. Randy cleared his throat and the guy hastily zipped up.
    “Does this look like a toilet to you? The owner doesn’t take kindly to people pissing on his building,” Randy said. He sniffed and inhaled in a way that made him swell to even larger proportions.
    “Sorry.” The two men hastily backed away. “We don’t want any trouble.”
    “You guys aren’t driving are you?” Jack eyed them up and down. He had a strict rule about letting patrons drive home drunk, going so far as to call cabs or arrange for sober drivers when necessary. Most taxis avoided that side of town, but he’d made a deal with one of the cab companies to service the bar patrons and gave them a cut of the door on busy nights.
    “Hell, no,” said the shortest of the pair. “We walked here.”
    “Good. Then get out of here.” Jack turned his attention back to Randy. “Maybe we should think about getting a van to cart some of these people home.”
    “That’s a good idea, but don’t think you can change the subject.” Randy took a long draw on his cigarette, the end glowing cherry red in the darkness.  
    “Look, I appreciate your concern, but I don’t need you busting my balls over Chelsea.” Jack threw the cigarette to the ground with more force than necessary and ground it out with his booted toe. “She and I are history. End of story. I have no desire to start