It took a few seconds for the knocking in her dream to become a real sound as Jacky slowly awoke in the early morning sun. She moaned and turned around on her side, wrapping her naked body further into the warmth of Adam’s figure that still lay slowly breathing in heavy sleep pressed against her. She never wanted to leave the comfort of the mattress. For an instant her world was okay. But only for a moment. The knocking on the door grew more insistent.

Adam groaned, rolling over as he slowly woke from his slumber. His entire body was in pain. The whiplash from his drunken excursion had finally sunken in.

The knocking carried on, almost violently.

“Jesus,” Adam moaned, forcing his body up from the floor. He sleepily picking up the towel from the floor, only noticing it because he stumbled over it. He wrapped it around his naked waist as he walked to the door.

Jacky sleepily rolled over, slowly waking up, trying to piece her surroundings into a story. All it took was Adam’s smell on the bedsheets to remind her of where she was. She smiled, despite herself. It smelled like soap and passion spent.

She was shaken out of her sleep instantly when she heard the familiar voices shouting downstairs.

It was Nick. Fuck.

She jumped up, pulling her dried green dress over her head and zipping it up as best she could.

Jacky ran downstairs as fast as she could. But by the time she got to the two men, they already had one another by the chest. Rather Adam had Nick by the shirt, seeing as Adam wasn’t exactly wearing a shirt, or anything else except the towel that was still somehow tied around his waist.

“Stop it!” she shouted at them but neither paid much attention to her desperate cries. It was like they didn’t even notice her there, despite her being the object they were fighting over.

“What the fuck, Nick? What are you doing here?” Adam shouted, pushing Nick. He stumbled backward, the door hitting him between his shoulder blades.

“You’re such an asshole!” was Nick’s only response as he ran towards Adam again, trying to punch him in the face. Adam ducked. They knew each other too well. Too many years of play fighting together; they knew the other one’s next move. Still, they tried.

“I’m the asshole? You’re the one who can’t help but stick your dick into anything that moves,” Adam retorted, this time actually landing a punch on Nick’s jaw, albeit a sloppy shot that didn’t do much damage. His body was still in slow motion after the chaotic day before.

Nick wasn’t in much better shape either. He’d been up since Jacky sped away from him in the taxi. He knew where she was going but there was nothing he could do. He pretended that he didn’t care. She was just another hookup. He went to the strip clubs. He saw his usual women. But nothing could get his mind off Jacky and the time they shared in Prague. Nothing had ever felt so real before. No other woman could erase that feeling, or at least the memory of that feeling, from his mind. It was the first time in his entire life that it all finally made sense. He felt comfortable in his world, content. The only feeling better than fleeting happiness.

But she was gone. She’d run away to Adam. The only woman who’d ever mattered and she chose his best friend instead. Serves him right, he thought. All those years of treating women like amusements…

Still, he couldn’t get the feeling of Jacky on his skin out of his mind, no matter how much he drank, no matter how much he stared at naked has-been-goddesses parading their worn-out naked bodies around the scarcely lit poles.

By the time the sun came up and the barman ushered his drunk, exhausted ass outside, he was near mad with confused rage. Or at least it felt like rage but he had no idea what it was. He had never felt this feeling before. But all he knew was that he had to have Jacky; his life would be meaningless without her.

He knew he’d find her there. Part of him had hoped he wouldn’t. But he knew enough to go to Adam’s house before even checking hers. He still wasn’t sure when he used his remote to get onto the property. But when he saw Adam open the door in that towel, deep claw marks running down his naked chest, that’s when he knew.

But it wasn’t the scratches that gave Jacky’s presence away. It was the look on Adam’s face; rather the aura radiating from him. He’d never seen his friend look so relaxed, so at peace, happily spent. He recognized the look instantly.

He was never normally a violent man but something inside him snapped and he flung himself at his friend and business partner. He felt betrayed.

“Guys!” Jacky shouted again. They took no notice of her.

Luckily there was no real furniture in Adam’s house so there was nothing to trip over as they pushed each other around semi-violently.

“Like you didn’t stick yours right up there too, you cunt!” Nick shouted, pushing Adam into the wall right next to Jacky on the stairs.

“It wasn’t like that, don’t cheapen it!” Adam retorted angrily.

“Oh so when I do it, it’s cheap, but when you do it, then it’s suddenly all deep and meaningful? Fuck that!”

They were so busy with their petty, childish fighting that they didn’t notice Jacky storm out the door in tears. They didn’t even notice the door slam behind her as she ran away from the house, sobbing.

“Why do you always want every damn girl I like? Like it’s some competition? You always get whatever you want. But not this time. She’s mine!” Adam shouted.

“Well, what does she want? Let’s see who she picks. I can bet my half of the company that it’s not going to be you!”

This was the exact moment that they noticed that Jacky was no longer there.

It broke the spell. Adam sighed and sat down on the stairs, dropping his head into his hands. “This isn’t getting us anywhere,” he said.

“What are we going to do, dude?” Nick asked, his anger subsided. Neither were ever very good at acting tough. They’d grown up too cushioned and nerdy for that. He sat down on the singular couch in the room, not too far from the stairs. Somehow, neither had fallen over it during their struggle. But then again, none of that was very coordinated.

“This is silly,” Adam said. “We’re completely fucking this up. This isn’t going to make anyone happy. Poor Jacky. She must feel even more confused right now.” He was always too empathetic for his own good. He was genuinely concerned about Jacky.

“What happened to your face, by the way? You look like shit,” Nick said, getting up and grabbing two beers from the fridge. He handed one to Adam on the stairs.

“Thanks. You don’t exactly look too hot yourself. You smell like smoke and cheap whores.” He opened the beer and took a deep swig.

“Yeah, that about sums it up.” Nick sat back down on the couch, opening his own beer. “Christ, we’re both useless at being billionaires, aren’t we?”

“It’s gone right to our heads,” Adam admitted.

“We need to fix this,” Nick said.

“Yeah, but can we please get something to eat first. I’m famished. Neither of us is in any state to do anything about this now.”

“Fair enough. But I’m driving. Your car is fucked up, man. You could’ve just told me you didn’t like the color.”

“I did, you never listened.”

“Sounds like me. Guess breakfast is on me then.”