4 Past - 2

"Jason, what's your problem?" In response to her, he took another drink of his beer.

"You're like a zombie around here. I didn't have a lot of patience with people when it came to bad attitudes. You need to get over whatever bothering you and move on. Whatever hardship you think you're going through, I have gone through worse, you know that. So just talk to me and tell…"

"I sold the club today." He finished the beer before he dropped the empty bottle in the sink. It clanked loudly as it spun around until it came to a stop in the drain.

She shut her mouth when his words reached her. It explained his closed-off behavior the second he walked in the door. He grabbed another beer from the fridge and twisted off the cap.

"I'm going to shower." He downed all of it before he tossed it in the sink. This time, the bottle shattered, leaving broken pieces of glass everywhere. He left the kitchen and headed to the hallway.

"Don't you want to talk about it?" Right now she had totally forgotten about the strange man who came by the apartment. It didn't seem important anymore. And to bring it up would be insensitive.

"No." He didn't turn around. His back was to her, his shoulders wide and powerful. Even from behind, he looked like a man who had nothing to believe in. Hopelessness radiated from him.

A week went by since that incident. Jason stayed at home every day. He was not even trying to look for a job. He just sat in front of the television and drank beer all day long.

Ever since Regina had married Jason, she left her pleasure-provider job at the club and had started working as a daily wager. Most of the time, she worked during the day, but sometimes, she had to go in during the evenings.

When she came home that day, she tried to hide her irritation. Jason had turned the apartment into a mess. The sink was full of beer bottles, and the trash can was overflowing. He didn't even look at her when she walked inside.

"In case you do not know, the sink isn't a garbage can." Saying that she cleaned up his mess after a long day of work but still held back the words she wanted to say.

"Sorry...I meant to take out the trash."

She picked up all trash in a plastic bag and went to put it outside the apartment. When she came back, he was still sitting there and again ignored her. She took a deep breath, opened the fridge, and looked for a snack. Inside the fridge, there was some food prepared by Jason's aunt.

Even though he was perfectly capable of cooking for himself, he was just sitting on the couch all day long.

"Jason, some strange guy came by the apartment the other day. Said you owed him money or something."

He didn't react at all. The only motion he made was a quick shift of his eyes but then turned back to the TV almost immediately, like that information didn't mean much. "I played poker one night and didn't have the cash on me."

"So you paid him?"

"Yeah, I took care of it."

'He is lying', her intuition told immediately told her. Living her whole youth on the streets and having to survive at a foster home had taught her how to read people with unusual precision.

"He made it sound like you owed him a lot of money." The guy was six-two and rough. He didn't seem like the kind of guy Jason would hang out with.

"I told you I had taken care of it." He sighed while his eyes remained glued to the TV.

Regina placed her hands on her hips as she walked farther into the living room. "Are you telling me everything?"

Jason sat up straighter, rolling his eyes. "Would you get off my ass? I just lost everything and you're nagging. I hate it when you nag." He threw the remote and stormed to the front door.