Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114467 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114467 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
“I’m available in the afternoon. I have work in the morning,” I tell her, and then she grabs the phone back, typing something in.
“Okay, I told him to hold off on posting it until tomorrow,” she says, looking down at her phone. “I’m going to owe him one.” She looks at me. “Which means you’re going to owe me DF.”
I look at her shocked. “I know what DP is. I definitely don’t know what DF stands for.”
She laughs hysterically now. “Oh my God, DF means double favors. Get your head out of the gutter.” She looks at me, her eyes a crystal blue.
“Double favor,” I repeat, getting it now. “But explain to me again how I owe you now,” I ask her as the SUV turns a corner and she falls onto me.
“I’m going to have to go on a date with this guy for keeping the listing a secret until tomorrow,” she says honestly, and I ignore the little ping in the pit of my stomach. “And I don’t really like him because he’s creepy and oily.” I watch her face as she explains what oily means. I don’t push her away from me, which I know is mistake number one. For the next forty minutes, she doesn’t move from beside me, her body heat on me, and her smell all around me. I pretend to be interested in her story, but the only thing I look at is the way her lips move, or the way she always uses her hands while she talks. She tells me story after story about all the times he’s tried to make her owe him. When we drop Vivienne off, I look around and then open my maps app while they hug goodbye. Knowing I need to get as far away from the two of us being alone as humanly possible.
When she gets back in the SUV, I look at her. “I’m going to get off here. It’s a forty-minute walk, and it’s a nice night,” I say, not disclosing the real reason I want to get out of here. She tells the driver to pull over, but she doesn’t get out like she did with Vivienne.
“I’ll send you the address and the time,” she says, and I just nod when the SUV pulls away. I make sure it’s out of sight before I make my way over to the church on the corner. I walk in the side door and down the stairs with the smell of incense all around. The wooden walls lead into the light room that even smells dusty. The curtains on the window look like they were white, then yellow, and are now a tint of brown. Hand-drawn artwork sticks to the white concrete walls.
I walk in and spot the circle of chairs; the meeting has already started, so I do my best to sit quietly while the woman tells us a story about how she was one digit away from scoring her next fix. But then her son called her, and his face appeared on the phone. When she finishes talking, the man running the meeting looks at me and smiles.
I nod at him and start. “My name is Viktor, and I’m ninety-four days sober.” They welcome me. “I went to a party today.” I look down at my hands. “Not that kind of party, a family party. I was there for six hours and not once did I think about getting high.” I smile. “Not once did I get the itch, but I know the night is coming, and with it comes the devils.” I look around while everyone just nods.
“One day, you’ll see the guy before the recovering addict,” the man in charge says, “and it’s going to be glorious.”
The rest of the meeting is uneventful. When we finish, I don’t stick around for the bad coffee at the back of the room nor do I talk to anyone. I walk out and make my way home, enjoying the semi quiet of the night. I walk into the loft and don’t bother turning on a light while I make my way to the shower. The night is a success if you count sleeping for four hours straight a good night. I mean, I can’t complain, and even if I do, no one is there to listen. I don’t get out of bed; I just toss and turn, and somewhere around three a.m., I fall back asleep, jumping out of bed when my alarm goes off.
I’m so excited to be getting on the ice today that I skip breakfast and make my way to the arena. I don’t know what I’m expecting when I walk in, but what I’m not expecting is for it to be so empty. I mean, no surprise here the preseason only starts next week. The tryouts are already underway, but contract players are asked to show up starting next week. I get up and make my way to the kitchen, seeing that at least the chef is there and so is Max.