Page 80 of Best Man
“Yes, that’s what I told Katya,” he said. “But that wasn’t the real story. I can deal with things moving fast, as long it’s with the right person.”
“So what happened?”
“One night, she went to the club. A girl’s night out.”
“So she cheated?” Paulina said, trying to cut to the chase before they ran out of time.
He shook his head. “No. Not that. Belen liked to party—drink, I mean. Which I understand. I love to party myself, obviously—too much. That’s why I had to quit drinking.”
“But I drink too, Sasha. Not heavily or anything, mind you, but Idodrink when I’m with my friends. Just because I didn’t drink tonight doesn’t mean I never drink.”
“I know that. And I don’t have a problem with that, Paulina.”
“Okay. Sorry. I’ll stop interrupting.”
“I don’t expect everyone else around me to stop having fun, just because my mind is fucked up”—he tapped his head—“and I love having fun a little too much. But I don’t accept being lied to.”
“So she lied to you? About not drinking?”
He nodded. “Yes. She was with her girl friends that night at the club. Around two in the morning, she texted me and asked me to pick her up. I told her, ‘Sorry, not tonight, you are drinking.’ She replied, ‘Nope! I was a good girl tonight.’ She even added a little angel emoji. I believed her. So I rode my motorcycle down to the club to pick her up. I met her on the dance floor, and when she kissed me, the alcohol so strong on her breath, I couldtastethe vodka on her lips. One small taste, and it was like the urge to drink was as strong as ever—I almost caved.”
Paulina frowned. “That’s really, really insensitive and shitty of her. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m going to be honest with you, Paulina. I felt like I came to a crossroads in my life. I liked Belen. I liked her a lot—to the point where I was very, very tempted to toss my sobriety aside, just so I wouldn’t have to dump her. Hell, just tasting the vodka on her lips alone made me feel like I broke my sobriety—it was so strong, it was like taking a shot! I knew I couldn’t stay with herandbe sober. It broke my heart to dump her. But the alternative? If I drank?” He shook his head sternly. “My playing career would be over. And if that happened? I could very well lose my life.”
She thought he was laying it on a little thick—it was hard to believe his problem was that severe, considering how successful, insanely good at hockey, and in control of himself Sasha seemed to be.
He must’ve seen the doubt in her eyes. “Paulina, I was very, very sick before I got help. I experienced things I’ve never told anyone.”
“Like what?”
“The same night I trashed Reavo’s apartment”—when they were making lanterns last night, Sasha had told Paulina how he’d drunkenly destroyed Derek’s condo after he found out about him and Katerina—“I saw something in Cyrillic written on his ceiling.”
“Did you put it there?”
“No. Not me. In fact, it was so small I could not read it. I had to get a step stool to stand on to read it.”
“And what did it say?”
“‘Yesli vy chitayete eto, vy slishkom blizko,’”he said. “ ‘If you are reading this, you are too close.’ ”
Her skin crawled. “That’s so creepy. Who the heck wrote it there?”
“That’s the point. It wasn’t really there.”
“So it was a hallucination?”
“Yes. But I like to think of it as my guardian angel—my father, maybe—sending me a warning.”
“A warning about what?”
“My drinking. It had gotten out of control for a while, but after finding out about Derek and Katya, I really went crazy.”
“Then what do you think the message meant? What were you too close to?”
“Death, Paulina. I was that close to drinking myself to death. I almost died that night.”
A gasp escaped her. Her hands went to her heart. “Oh my God. Sasha.”
