Page 18 of Absolutely Pucked
He’d been my best friend once before middle school social pressures and our shitty parents ripped us apart. He was the person I thought would always be here. But we got older, and he got angrier, and it was my fault for not seeing why. It was my fault for leaning in when my parents shit on him and spoiled me.
I couldn’t imagine a world in which he was going to forgive me, but the very least I could do was become a better person.
“How long have you been up?”
I glanced over to see Damir walking into the living room in only his boxers, holding a cup of coffee with one hand, using the other to scratch his balls. I rolled my eyes and looked away as he shuffled toward the front window and yanked up the shades.
The sun did little more than cast filtered light over his living room. It was the epitome of bachelor pad, which wasn’t a surprise. It was a wildly expensive, luxury Manhattan apartment paid for by his current salary and his parents, who came from old money. It was everything Delia had wanted and everything I knew I’d never be able to give her.
Damir would have been the better choice, and if she hadn’t been so stuck-up with her head up her own ass, she might have left me for him long before this whole mess began. But it was what it was, and at least Damir was on my side.
He had been the nicest guy in our frat—the onewho’d grown up with a sense of empathy and moral conscience, but he was still a frat boy at heart. And that was obvious by the fact that he’d never settled down, and instead of doing his laundry, he threw everything out and bought new clothes every few weeks.
“I didn’t sleep much.”
He sighed and dropped into his recliner. “Dude. I told you to start taking the bed some nights.”
“It’s not going to help.” I stretched my arms high above my head, and for a brief flash, I saw Ford’s face behind my eyelids. It was weird to miss a guy I’d known for a handful of hours, but there was something about him that stuck with me.
Maybe it was that he was my first guy—at least, the first guy I’d gone that far with. Maybe it was the fact that he knew my brother.
But I think, most likely, it was that he was kind. The world was lacking men like him. Deeply. Desperately. I hadn’t met many over the years, and it was easier to just allow myself to sink into the stereotype.
Except easier was also so much more miserable.
“You’re making that face again. Bro, seriously, just let me?—”
“I’m fine.” I stood up and glanced across the room at my suitcase. I knew what he was going to say. He told me he would sponsor me to take the bar here in New York. That he’d hook me up with a job when it was done.
That I could be his little charity case puppet, and I couldn’t deny it was tempting. But from the bottom of my soul, I also knew it wasn’t what I wanted.
I needed to settle in somewhere. I had to make achoice about my life. Whatever Delia was going to do, I couldn’t just sit on my ass and play her dutiful little husband any longer.
I had more than enough amends to make without letting her delay me.
“Look, I got a call from Rob—remember him? He was Johnston’s intern?”
I did. He was older—a man who had changed careers and was only a year ahead of us in school. At the time, everyone laughed at him for being grey at the temples and divorced two times. God, if we only knew then what we knew now…
“What about him?”
“We’ve been getting lunch every now and again. He works at his uncle’s firm. They do mostly family court stuff, but the pay’s decent, and the work is literally nonstop. He said he’d be willing to set up an interview for you. Legal secretary shit, but at least the pay will be decent.”
Blowing out a puff of air, I turned to face him. He was still scratching his balls. Christ. “I don’t know, man. I’m not sure I want to be here. It’s expensive.”
He shrugged, knowing I wasn’t wrong. Even though his parents paid for most of his life, Manhattan was still hell on the bank account, which meant I wouldn’t survive. Right now, I had access to zero dollars and zero cents. I had no idea when I would be able to get my accounts unfrozen, and when that happened, I had no idea how much Delia was going to be able to take.
“So what is your plan, then?”
I bit my lip, then said, “I don’t know. But if I try toget a job, I’m afraid Daniel will go out of his way to fuck me over.”
Damir gave me a look, then leaned over his thighs. “You can’t let your fear ruin everything. And you can’t sit here and rot.”
That much was true. At some point, Damir was going to get tired of me, and I was done being that guy. “Let me see what—” My words were cut off when my phone began to buzz, and my heart hammered in my chest when I looked at the table and saw Daniel’s name on the screen.
“Don’t answer it,” Damir said flatly.
I shook my head. It wasn’t like I had a choice. They had me by the fucking balls. He walked out of the room when I reached for the phone, and I ignored the ache in my chest as I swiped the screen to answer.
