The Last Harmon [Complete]

Chapter 19

"Morning. Do we have any coffee left? Or vodka? Is the pot boiled? Lovely. Where's the vodka? Anyone?"

Megan gestures for me to sit at the kitchen table while Sophia rushes around the kitchen opening cupboards in a frenzy. Curtis is here, which puts me at ease, but the two others that stare at me the moment I sit down put my blood pressure even higher.

"We had vodka yesterday!" Sophia screams.

"Check the bar," a man says, he is half-cast with trimmed, dark hair and a beard that rests on top of the edge of the table.

"I have," Sophia mutters. "I need vodka with my coffee. I need rum. Where's the rum! We had rum yesterday too!"

"Okay," Curtis says, taking a sigh and placing his cup down to look at Megan. "What happened?"

"She had a fight with Milasia," Megan says.

"Well that would do it," Curtis says. "Sophia it's seven in the morning, you don't need rum."

"Shut up, Curtis. You know, you spend years dedicating yourself to your unit, going on week-long errands and putting your life at risk, and for what? What are the thanks I get? Morning, Sophia, enjoy this punch to your head! Where is the rum!"

"Far left cupboard!" the woman yells.

"Thanks, Jo, someone that actually gets me," Sophia mutters as she finds the bottle. She starts tipping it into a mug and I watch with my mouth half open. She then adds coffee and boiled water, stirring it angrily. "I don't understand that girl. I never have. Why is she here? Can someone tell me why she's here?"

"And I take it she lost?" Curtis whispers to Megan. Megan nods.

"Milasia is a piece of work, but the art of handling her is to be better than her in battle," Jo says, quite thoroughly. "Look at Megan, Milasia doesn't dare go near her, because she knows she'd lose."

"Well we'd all lose against Megan," the man chuckles.

"Sophia, I've been offering you extra training for months," Megan says.

"Yeah, like I have time for extra training," Sophia hisses, finally taking a seat at the table, with the bottle of rum. "Between running around for Sam and watching Theresa, I don't have time for anything. I gave as good as I got, didn't I, Theresa?"

Everyone looks at me for an answer, I just subtly nod my head and glance away.

"Crap, I forgot about you," Sophia says to me. "What do you want? Coffee? Orange? Rum?"

"Coffee is fine," I say.

"I got it," Megan says, pressing down on Sophia's shoulders. "You stay sat down before you give yourself a seizure."

"Whatever you want to eat, Curtis will make it for you," Sophia says. "We have fresh rabbit, deer, elk, chicken, lamb."

"You eat that for breakfast?" I say.

Sophia nods, gesturing to the half-cast man. "Yeah, Cain's a hunter."

"I usually wait for everyone else before I start cooking, but I'll make an exception." Curtis stands. "How about some chicken breast and eggs?"

"That sounds delicious," I say. "Thank you."

I focus on Sophia with concern as she tips the entire cup into her mouth and then pours herself more. I think I'm beginning to understand her frustration. She's mad at herself because Milasia beat her, because she lost, and to them that must mean something big. She has a bruise on her jaw and a gash on the side of her head that's gently bleeding, but it's like she doesn't care. She doesn't care about her injuries; she just cares about losing.