Page 72 of Clubs

Emory was tasked with getting rid of the footage, then beating the hell out of Mason. He managed that by noon, which was around the same time we sent Tyler on his way.

Sometime around one, Laila said she had to get back to the kids, but that she would send Wyatt and Celena. Or, Rion and Luna, as Brooke remembered them. She gave us all big hugs when she left. And, when she did, I worried less about my jealousy with Brooke and Jeremy. Because when she hugged me, I felt something too.

That sense of community, family, that Brooke seemed to be feeling. There was nothing romantic, certainly nothing sexual, about it. Even if Laila was pleasant enough to look at, it was like when I looked at Ria. While I didn’t barf at the sight of her, I cared for her. Which was bizarre, considering I had only met her today, but the fact remained.

When she kissed her husband goodbye, he said, quietly, that he would be home soon. He just wanted to enjoy this for a few moments. Laila expressed her understanding with another kiss and vanished.

Right around that time, Ria landed in the center of the bar with a small suitcase. And Jeremy just watched her. He stood off to the side while I poured us all a drink, watching her.

All, except for Ria. Felt a bit like a slap in the face to pour her one she wouldn’t drink.

When I slid the shots of whiskey down the bar, I held one up in the air for Jeremy. “You drink Crown?”

Chuckling, he sat on the edge of the table. “Not anymore, no. Thank you though.”

“Are you sure?” Emory asked. “We owe you for this. We owe you big time.”

“No, you don’t. If anything, you owe my wife.” His smile was soft. A bit solemn, but kind. “But don’t worry about it. I’m the type of person who can’t have one. Or two. Or three. Bottles, not shots.”

“Oh.” Suddenly, I felt very guilty for offering him even one. “Shit. I’m sorry.”

An uncaring wave. “You didn’t know. It’s not a big deal. Drink. I just can’t.”

“Really?” Ria asked him. “How long have you been clean?”

Flapping his lips together in a trill, he cocked his head to the side. “Almost three years? My longest stretch was six years. Life kind of blew up a few times, but it’s always better when I’m sober. So, I try to stay that way.”

“Well, shit,” Ria murmured. “Congratulations. Two years, that’s huge.”

“Almost three.” Despite the correction, that smile was an odd combination of solemn and soft. He gave her a once over. “Heroin?”

“How’d you know?” Ria asked.

“Restless legs.” He pointed to her foot tapping the floor. “You’ve run to the bathroom about ten times since we’ve been here. And you’re quiet, which means that’s either how you are by nature, or you’re irritable and don’t want to bite anyone’s head off.” Ria laughed, and his smile grew a bit more genuine. “And a junkie knows a junkie.”

Another laugh, but this one softer. “When do we stop calling ourselves that?”

“Probably when we stop seeing ourselves that way. But it gets easier. Every day when I go to work with my wife, or I’m playing with my kids in the yard, or anything else that distracts me from wanting a needle. Every day gets a little bit easier.”

“Until you relapse?”

“Well, once upon a time, I was clean for a couple hundred thousand years.” He shrugged. “I’m trying to beat that record this time around.”

Her face screwed up. So did everyone else’s in the room.

“Like I said,” Jeremy said, “we’ll all catch up eventually. Too much information to process in a night. For now, celebrate. I’m just gonna sit here and think about a time when Drogo didn’t hate me for hugging his girlfriend.”

I snorted, giving a half smile. “I don’t hate you.”

“No, you’re just a little worried. And I get it.” Holding his hands up at his sides in surrender, he returned my smirk. “I was hesitant, too, when I learned about all this. I didn’t always remember, you know. Laila, she saw more of the story than I did when it started, and even that messed with me. But soon, you’ll remember how good of friends we were.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” I said.

And I was.

I was looking forward to everything. Everything that came next.

Ria, getting clean. Brooke, and the new version of herself she would become as she remembered who she once was. Getting to know the man that I had once called a brother, or cousin, or whatever it was that we referred to ourselves as. Learning about a life that I lived apparently hundreds of thousands of years ago. Seeing the way that it changed me, the way that it changed Brooke, and maybe even the way that it would change my best friend.

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