Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77717 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77717 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“What would you know?” I say to Joey. Or at least I think I said that. I’m swaying a bit on my feet, though hell if I admit that.
“Listen, kid,” Joey says and slaps me on the back, turning me away from the bar. “I don’t know what’s going on, but we’ll save that for another night. Find one of the stragglers, have her take you home and fuck you hard, then we’ll talk, all right?”
I grumble in response. I never got around to telling him about Lauren before I started drinking. “Can’t,” I slur, looking at the few women left at the bar this close to closing on a weeknight. “Gotta get back to Lauren.”
Joey raises an eyebrow. “You got someone steady?”
“In a way.” She’s not my girlfriend yet, but she will be.
He guides me to the bar to sit, then fills a plastic cup with water. “Have her come and get you.”
“No.” I shake my head. It’s too late to have Lauren leave the house. I think. Fuck. What time is it? I put the cup to my mouth and take a sip. And why the fuck am I drinking water? I’m not drunk. I can drive to Lauren’s. I want to see her. I need to see her.
I stand and pull my keys from my pocket.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Joey asks.
“Home. To Lauren.”
Joey snatches the keys from my hand. He’s too spry for someone his age. It’s not fucking normal. Even drunk, I know not to argue with him.
“Give me your phone,” he says. I’m hit with tiredness as I pull my cell from my pocket. Maybe I am drunk after all. I put the phone in Joey’s hand.
Joey just shakes his head and disappears into the backroom. I go around the bar and fill a glass with whiskey, slowly sipping it. A minute later, he comes back and hands me my phone.
“You better buy her some flowers, boy,” he whispers. “Make it up to her. You don’t want to lose this one.”
No, I don’t. I can’t. Because it’s her I love, her I need. It’s always been her.
Chapter 15
LAUREN
“HELLO?” I SAY, jerked into alertness the second I see Noah’s name pop up on my phone. It’s late. No one calls with good news this late. My heart instantly races.
“Is this Lauren?”
Uh, that’s not Noah’s voice. My mind gets ahead of me, and this is the coroner calling to tell me they found Noah’s body on the side of the road after he crashed his motorcycle.
“Yes.”
“This is Joey, from The Roadhouse. I got your man here trying to come see you. He’s drunk as a skunk. Any chance you can come get him? Already took his keys.”
“Yeah,” I say, heart slowing down with relief. “I’ll be right there.”
I hang up and swing my legs out of bed, too shaken to be tired. I pull on a sweatshirt, go to the bathroom, then take off, having to program the address into my GPS on the way. I’ve only been there once, and I wasn’t exactly in sound mind when I left.
Twenty-five minutes later, I pull into the gravel lot and text Noah. A minute goes by before he responds. Then it’s another two minutes before I see him stumble out of the bar. Tiredness has set in, and now I’m just pissed. It’s nearing three AM and I need to be at work at seven.
His face lights up when he sees me, and part of my anger melts away. He opens the passenger side door and gets in.
“You stink like smoke,” I blurt when he leans in to kiss me. His lips taste like whiskey.
“Probably,” he says and leans back into the seat. “You didn’t have to come get me.”
“You’re drunk. How else were you going to get home?”
“I’ll be fine in a little while.”
I drive out of the parking lot. “I don’t think so.”
His eyes close and he doesn’t respond. Just how much did he have to drink tonight? Neither of us speak on the way back to my house. Noah follows me inside. The dogs take advantage of his drunk mind to lick him to death as he just sits there and takes it.
“Last time I was drunk at your house, we made a baby,” he slurs as he struggles to his feet. He grabs me around the waist. “Want to make another?”
“We can’t make another. And no, I want to go back to bed. I have to get up and go to work in a few hours.”
He spreads his legs and pulls me closer. “Call off.”
“I can’t just call off for no reason.”
He moves his mouth to my neck and good god, even drunk, that man can work his tongue and make me quiver. “I can give you a reason.”
“As tempting as that is, I’m going to pass. Go take a shower, you smell.”