Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Hank’s was slammed. The bar was packed wall to wall with patrons enjoying the finer points of the steady establishment. Ricky called out to me, but I didn’t even stop to see where he was in his game. I just needed a drink. Several drinks.
There were two bartenders at Hank’s tonight, and I slouched into a stool in Monica’s section. It took her a few minutes of pouring drinks to even see me sitting there.
“Camden,” she said in surprise. “Wasn’t expecting you in here tonight.”
“Me either,” I grumbled.
She reached for the scotch and slid a drink to me.
“Keep ’em coming.”
“Will do. Tequila tonight?”
I shook my head and downed the drink. “Nothing to celebrate.”
She frowned and passed beers to two guys nearby. “What’s up with you tonight? Thought things were going well for you. Did you tell your girl you loved her?”
“Sure did,” I said, reaching for the drink as she poured me another knuckle’s worth.
“Didn’t go as planned?”
“It did. But… it’s complicated.”
“Let me get a few more drinks covered for the tables, and you can tell Mama Monica all about it.”
I waved her off, burying myself in the drink instead. I could have played a game or two if there were any tables open, but there weren’t. It probably was for the better. With how morose I felt, getting competitive wasn’t a good idea. I might blow up on someone. Take out my anger on an unsuspecting victim. At the end of the day, I was still Camden Percy. I couldn’t do that for my image.
Monica came back fifteen minutes later and refilled my drink again. She’d pulled in a third bartender, who had been hanging out in the back. Everything seemed to be running much smoother with the help.
“Now, tell me what’s going on,” she said with a wink.
“My wife is… sick,” I told her reluctantly.
“That’s not good. Is she going to be okay?”
“I think so. She fainted, and now she’s in the hospital. But she’s terrified of being there after she had to stay in one when she was younger.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“It is. Well, I got mad at her for lying to me about her illness. So, I just kind of… made her go to the hospital. Even though she didn’t want to. Now, she feels betrayed that I did that without consulting her. That I had to be in charge and in control, no matter what.” I blew out a breath. “That I’m just like my father.”
“But you were doing it to help her?”
I shrugged. “Yes. I was terrified that she was going to hurt herself.”
“Sometimes, people don’t know when they need help. You can’t blame yourself for doing the right thing.”
“I don’t know. Was it the right thing?”
“You don’t normally second-guess yourself,” she observed as she added ingredients to a shaker for a pair of shots.
“No, I don’t. But then again, neither does my father, and he’s a jackass. So, maybe stopping and thinking might have been good for once.”
Monica leaned forward. “Do you love Katherine?”
“Yes.”
“Would you go back and change what happened?”
I hesitated. “No.”
“Then this sounds like it has nothing to do with that situation. You did the right thing by Katherine even if she doesn’t like it. You two can both be in the right in an argument. That’s allowed when things are complicated.”
“That’s true,” I said, downing another gulp.
Monica looked to the ground and then back up at me. “Finish up that drink, kid. Let’s go for a walk.”
I raised an eyebrow. I was pretty drunk. Walking didn’t seem like a good idea. But the look she shot me brooked no response. So, I finished the drink and stood unsteadily. I blinked a few times to force back the feeling of intoxication.
“Hey, I’m going on break,” Monica said to the other bartenders and then slipped under the bar to meet me.
She gestured for me to take the side entrance out the back. There was a couple making out against a brick wall and another cluster of guys smoking nearby. Monica dragged me away from them until we reached a beaten-in, old bench.
I was still in my tux.
It took me a minute to realize that I’d shown up to Hank’s in my tuxedo. What the hell had I been thinking? No wonder everyone was looking at me funny. Even Monica. I’d untied the knot at my throat and undone the first button at the hospital, but that didn’t seem to matter. I’d shown up here as Camden Percy from the Upper East Side. Not the pool shark that they were used to. I was me either way, but this… this outfit changed things.
Fuck. I hadn’t meant to do that. I was so fucking out of it.
I slumped onto the bench next to Monica.
“You’re a bit of a wreck tonight,” she said.
“Tell me about it. What are we doing out here?”