#elle10

The day had been hell. Since news of his parents passing there were so many phone calls. People coming and going from their house. And Harrison suddenly felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. Like there was some giant boulder sitting on his back and weighing him down. In and out the people went, all day long. All day long he heard I’m sorry over and over til’ he could no longer bear it and had his aunt take over while he went to the study where his father had regimented him to be better, to do more, to excel. To maximize his potential.

And what was he to do now? Suddenly the heir to an empire of things he didn’t care for, suddenly head of a company he knew so little about because his father didn’t want him to have the same burdens. Sitting in the office, he let his hands shake before he suddenly lost it. The chair before the great oak desk was thrown across the room, everything on the top cleared in one swift sweep of his arms, the roar from his chest mighty as he destroyed everything that he could.

Had he been able to turn back the clock he would’ve asked his father to not go on this trip. That the company was doing marvelously well, he didn’t need to pay any attention to the one convention of the year that always seemed to bore Jackson Cole out of his mind. Which is why his mother went. While the convention was a bore, it was one of their many little getaways. In one fell swoop, one silly accident... the world was less brighter for Harrison.

Taking a moment to breathe, he grabbed the whiskey from his father’s desk while tears started streaming down his face as he chugged. The shit had always bothered him before. It was too strong, it never satisfied. But now... Now the burn was a friend, soothing the ache of other things away as it tore a fire down his throat.