Free Rock Bay 2 - Letting Go by M. J. O’Shea

the hospital. He’s okay, though. Asshole Brock hit him with a bottle. He’ll go home later today. I called in sick so you’re on Phyllis watch.
    Wait, what? How had they gone from drunk Brock and Lex at home to them being in some sort of brawl that involved bottles?
WTF?
     
He texted back. There was a long wait, then his phone beeped. He’d been about to call.
    Sorry. I was up all night. Tired. It’s a long story. Explain tomorrow. Lex is fine. Please watch Phyllis.
    Phyllis. The nurse who wasn’t. They’d had a few near catastrophes even in Mason’s short time at the hospital over Phyllis not doing her job. Mason knew Amy desperately wanted to get her fired and replaced with someone else, but there was some complicated political reason she was still there that he didn’t even want to deal with. Something to do with a cousin on the medical board or something.
Yeah, hon. I’ll watch Phyllis. You sleep. Keep me updated.
    Mason dragged himself out of bed. He felt even worse about the night before after hearing what Lex had gone through. He planned to text Lex the next day, as soon as they were both home, to see how he was doing. Hopefully Tally was taking care of him. Mason hadn’t gotten the best first impression of the guy. Maybe he was wrong, though.
    Work was long. It always was when he had a shift without Amy. He liked the other nurses, but they were professional. It wasn't like it was between him and Amy. He considered her a friend. They could joke with each other and be dumb, and it made the day go quicker. She was also far better at dealing with Phyllis than he was. Mason ended up doing half of the things that Phyllis was supposed to do. He couldn’t wait till Amy returned.
    “
L
EX ?” Drew knocked quietly. He wasn’t sure if Lex would be sleeping, or still on pain meds, or about ready to go nuts, like he would be if he’d been on apartment lockdown and mainly bed rest for two days.
“It’s open.” Lex’s voice sounded bored and weary.
    Drew tentatively turned the knob to Lex’s apartment and stuck his head in the door. Lex was sitting on the couch, flipping through channels. “Daytime TV sucks,” he muttered. The television went blank with a flick of his remote. “What are you doing here?” Lex didn’t look too thrilled to see Drew. He wasn’t exactly hostile either; Drew took that as a good sign.
“Um, hey. How are you?”
    Lex shrugged. “My head hurts, and I hate sitting still. On the plus side, I just broke up with the guy I love. I guess you could say I’m fantastic.”
    Ouch . “I’m really sorry, Lex. That’s why I came here—to tell you that.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry too. This isn’t how I imagined shit would be right now.”
Drew sighed and sank down onto Lex’s leather ottoman. “Listen, I feel like it’s my fault. I asked Tally to get involved with Brock. I should’ve dealt with my problems on my own.”
“What was all that? Why do you need to be friends with Brock?”
“I’m not really friends with him.” Actually, I kind of hate him . “Reality sucks. I got most of my business clients through him. I’m not in a place where I can afford to start over.”
    Lex looked at Drew quietly for a moment. Drew’s collar started to feel tight. “I don’t think you’re in a position where you can afford not to start over. We aren’t twenty anymore, Drew. Do you want to be playing this game when you’re forty? Fifty?”
“No.” He didn’t want to play it tomorrow.
    “Then it might be time to cut the cord and deal with your losses. You never know. The people around here might be more reasonable than you think. They’re all adults. They don’t have to do exactly what Brock says.”
    Drew and Lex both knew that was a lie. The people were sheep. If Drew was blackballed, he’d be blackballed but good. Shit .
    “So are we doling out advice here?” Drew asked. He was tired of talking about his problems; it was time to focus on someone else’s.
    Lex’s face grew