Prologue
Dax
“Please tell me you’re getting laid right now.”
My best friend Kai’s voice comes through the phone, and I am two seconds away from ending the call.
The only thing that stops me from doing it is the Old Fashioned the bartender just set down in front of me.
I take a sip before responding.
It’s in the best interest of everyone involved that I don’t have this conversation sober.
“Would I be talking to you right now if I was in the middle of getting laid?”
The bartender, a slender, cute, but too young for my 45-year-old ass bites her pierced lip to hold back a laugh.
“Listen, you’ve gotten kinky in your old age. And who am I to judge?”
Kai is ten-ish years younger than me and reminds me of that constantly.
And when we go to the gym together, I remind him who’s still in better shape.
“Remind me again why you called?” I ask, taking another sip.
“Because I know this day is extra shitty for you seeing as how it’s the anniversary of–”
“Don’t say it out loud,” I warn him.
“The worst day of your life. Respectfully so. And I just wanted to check in. And remind you that no one would blame you if you drown your sorrows,” Kai goes on.
“That’s exactly what I am doing,” I tell him, glass nearly empty.
I’m not a heavy drinker by any stretch. I’m usually a one and done kind of guy, especially with the hard stuff.
But this day is the exception.
This day is the exception to most things.
Because like my alleged best friend just said, it’s the anniversary of the worst day of my life.
Two to three drinks is merited.
“I know you’re drinking,” he says. “I meant drowning your sorrows another way… perhaps in a tight pussy or–”
“Fucking another woman isn’t going to heal my heart, jackass,” I snap.
It earns me another smile from the bartender, although this one is more sympathetic than amused, and I realize the liquor is already making me sappy.
I’m in the dangerous gutter of buzzy right now, where your feelings are loosened up enough to be heightened.
Drink two should do a nice job of inching me over the edge into numb and muzzled.
I am a lot of things, but heart-on-the-sleeve is not one of them.
Especially when it comes to memories of her.
“Are you sure about that?” Kai is stupid enough to go on.
