For the Love of His Life by Fiona McGier

ten…west coast is two hours earlier, so it’s only eight out in La-La land. Jared probably won’t be awake yet. Guess I’d better go and try to wake the big guy up and see if I can get him sober enough to apologize to Gram-Marie. Then I’ll get Jared on the speaker phone and see if we can’t all learn to get along.
    Her lips curled up as she imagined how pissed the biker chick must have been when Raul turned her down. She hummed to herself as she got into her car and headed towards the resort.

Chapter Nine
    Raul was having the dream about his father again. This time the tall dark man with long black hair was chasing him while riding a Harley . He was on a smaller motorcycle and having trouble staying on the road as they drove through hairpin turns with huge drop-offs on either side of the mountain. He looked up in horror as the Harley pulled up even with him then swerved, forcing him off the road. He was air-borne for a second, then began to plummet down to the jagged rocks below…
    He sat up suddenly and the change in altitude made his stomach lurch as if he really was falling off a cliff. He pushed himself off the bed and barely made it to the bathroom in time for a bout of projectile vomiting. He leaned his forehead weakly against the sink afterward, enjoying the coolness of the porcelain.
    I’ve got to go lie back down! I think I’m done barfing. ¡Dios mio! Did I even eat anything, or did I just drink? I don’t remember…
    He stumbled weakly back over to the bed and fell onto it, realizing that he was on top of the covers, but too exhausted to do anything about it.
    My head! It’s going to explode!
    He ground his teeth against the blinding pain of the pounding, but that just made his face hurt.
    The pounding! It’s probably just my blood pulsing through my brain, but it’s so loud! Make it stop! Stop pounding!
    Miraculously the pounding stopped. He heard a key opening the door of the cabin and turned his head towards the sound, but the bright sunlight blinded him and he moaned in pain, turning his head quickly to face the wall.
    “Yeah, I figured you’d be in this kind of shape,” Veronica said matter-of-factly as she strode in carrying a small cloth bag. She smelled of sunshine and the outdoors and Raul was dismayed to discover that even his nose hurt.
    “Just kill me now,” he groaned, putting the back of one hand over his eyes.
    “Sorry, dude. This time you have to face the havoc you wrought last night. Probably not the first or the last time, but this is gonna be a tough one.”
    She put a plastic glass full of ice cubes on the side table next to the bed and he heard the impossibly loud noise of a can being opened, before she poured the liquid onto the ice. The popping sounds let him know it was soda of some kind. He agonized over how loud that was too.
    “I’ve got some pain pills for you.” She sat on the side of the bed and pulled his hand back.
    He had to fight the nausea that roiled through him at the slight movement of the mattress under her weight. He moaned again.
    “Come on, take it like a man. Swallow the pills and drink the coke.”
    “No! No coke! I don’t wanna do any coke!”
    Veronica snickered. “Not that kind of coke. You need something on your stomach and cola is the best thing to settle it down.”
    Reluctantly he raised his head and opened his lips to let her push the pills into his mouth. She held the glass and he took a quick sip, then another, before flopping back down onto the pillow, groaning in pain.
    Veronica sniffed experimentally. “I guess you already puked up some of last night’s over-indulgence, huh? I’m going to open the window, so get your eyes ready for a little light.”
    He put his hand over his eyes again and heard the squeal of the sash as she pushed the window open. There was a cool breeze and he inhaled deeply.
    “See? You’ll be better in no time!”
    “Just let me die in peace.” His tongue was uncomfortably large in his mouth but he