Page 2 of Trip

He sat up and scrubbed a hand down his face and winced at the tiny cuts plaguing him. How the hell… oh, his eyes drifted to the bits of glass on the table. He snagged the picture again and stared into the brandy-colored eyes of the woman he hated that he still loved. Her smile was blinding, and rich chocolate curls framed her perfect, heart-shaped face. The longer he stared at the picture, the more details he noticed, like a snowflake stuck to her right eyelash. He caressed the image with his finger as if he could thumb it from her eye.

Goddamn it.

Being alone here at Christmastime would destroy him. At least drinking was still a great option to occupy his time. Not only had he brought his own, but it also looked like his sister had stocked the cabin just for him.

After he cleaned up the broken glass, he folded and tucked the picture into his wallet. He settled his gear into the first of the smaller rooms before heading to the attached bathroom for a shower. It wasn’t like he could get too clean with one arm. So pretty much he stood with his back to the water, drinking and smoking.

After he was semi-clean, drunk, and stoned, he wrapped a towel around his waist and settled in on the couch. He planned to binge-watch some series on Netflix until the combination of alcohol and pot made him forget.

Easier said than done. Everything reminded him of the last Christmas he’d spent there. The smell, the sights. Hell, even the damn show on TV made him think of her and the pain that followed her silence.

Everything changed that year, for all of them. The sad part was he seemed to be the only one holding on to it. He cursed out loud at how it had affected his life. A string of women who all melted together. No face stood out. No encounter memorable. It was years of meaningless sex and pretense. Trip was fucking tired. Tired of living with one foot in the past. Tired of pretending he was happy and didn’t want to settle down like some of his brothers.

Tired of tripping and landing dick first into pussy he had no business being in, as his brothers described.

He was just plain tired.

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