Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
The door swings open, and Nick stands there with a huge smile. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asks, taking me in. But instead of answering him, I walk past him straight to where he keeps his whiskey. I grab the bottle and think about getting a glass when I just say fuck it and put the bottle to my lips and take a gulp. The amber liquid burns all the way down to my stomach.
Nick stands there with his arms folded over his chest, watching me and waiting for me to tell him what is going on. “I just met my son,” I say quietly, and he takes out his phone. I have no idea what he is doing until, all of a sudden, I hear Jason’s voice.
“Wait, I have to connect Tom also,” he says, and then the next thing I know, they are all on video chat. While we wait for them to all get connected, I take a couple more shots. Better to tell the story once instead of repeating it over and over.
“How are all of you on at the same time?” I ask them.
“It’s called group chat,” Nick says to me. “You really need to up your social media game.”
“So to what do we all owe this meeting to?” Tom asks, and I see that he’s still in bed.
“Well, it’s Sunday, and Luca said he couldn’t come because he had to go to his boss’s barbecue.”
“I did have to go.” I look at him. “Where is Mona?”
“She’s at the grocery store,” he answers me and then turns back around. “Luca has a kid,” he says and laughs while the other two on the phone all gasp. I take another shot, waiting for their reactions.
“Shut the fuck up,” Tom says, his voice almost shrieking.
“Holy fuck me,” Jason says next, putting his hand over his mouth. “You like, don’t even really date.” I want to roll my eyes at him and tell him he’s lying, but I don’t.
I take a deep breath and then look at the phone. “It’s Eli,” I tell them quietly.
“Who the fuck is Eli?” Nick looks at me confused.
“Wait a second,” Tom starts, then his eyes go big. “Eli, as in Eli, the one from the cruise?”
I just nod my head, and Nick turns to me. “I told you to get condoms,” he says, and I flip him the bird.
“I did have condoms every single time,” I tell him. “Well, except that one time in the shower, but I didn’t, like, penetrate her. I just, like, rubbed myself on her.”
“Dude,” Tom says, snickering. “How can you graduate from Harvard law first overall and be that dumb?”
“Hey”—I point at the phone—“you are one to talk.”
“Yeah,” Jason says, “at least he got a kid out of that cruise. You got fucking chlamydia.” We all laugh.
“Don’t fucking remind me,” Tom says. “My balls were the size of golf balls. And the burning. Shit, I thought my dick was lit on fire.”
“Okay,” Nick finally says, “how did you see her again?”
“I was at the barbecue, and I was talking to Leonard, and then all of a sudden, my eyes just landed on her. Then he introduced me to his daughter. And his grandson,” I say, looking down at the whiskey bottle in my hand.
“Holy shit,” Tom says, sitting up. “She’s your boss’s daughter? You fucked her on a cruise, knocked her up, and now you work for him.”
“This is a fucking soap opera,” Jason says. “The days of Luca’s life.” He slaps his legs. “Or the bold and the Luca.”
I groan and throw my head back, closing my eyes. “This isn’t a fucking joke. She had my kid.” I put the bottle down and run my hands over my face again. “Alone.” I say the last part so low I don’t know if anyone can hear me.
“It isn’t your fault,” Nick says, slapping me on the shoulder. “Remember when we came back, and you called Carnival and asked for the manifest?”
I put my hands on the counter, and I hang my head down and laugh while he continues. “When they told you no, you told them that you were going to subpoena them, and they went so far as to have you blocked from going on another one of their cruises for a year.”
“We don’t know that,” I tell them as they all laugh at me. The day after I got back from the cruise, the only thing I could think about was Eli. I hated that I didn’t have her number or even her last name to look her up. I hated that in just four days, she had wormed her way into me.
“Honey, I’m home,” Mona says when she walks in the front door.
“In the kitchen!” Nick yells, and she walks in, dragging four bags. She smiles when she sees me, but then looks worried when she sees the whiskey bottle on the counter. Nick walks to her, bending down to kiss her lips.