Page 4 of Trucker
At nights, I drank to soothe the ache, the numbness the uncertainty.
I drank to not remember—to not remember the exhaustion that pulsed through every part of me. Though hungover most mornings, I was able to hide it all.
I couldn’t go on like this.
Though I had times of craving a cigarette, times when I found myself walking into a store with the purpose of purchasing a new pack, I usually exited with gum, candy, soda or bottles of water. I would end up buying things I didn’t need to keep my mind off the addiction that had taken me so long to kick.
“Uncle!”
Arching a brow, I looked away from the report I’d been agonizing over before rising and walking to the balcony. Lena waved up at me, grinning from ear to ear and lifting a bag up to show me.
My heart immediately soared—happily.
Her dark hair was tied up at the top of her head as she was dressed in a Thai dress our friend Storm had sent her from Thailand. Gold and black, it looked lovely on her.
Smiling, I jogged down the stairs to hug Lena Forsythe. She wasn’t my DNA niece, but no one could tell her differently.
She hugged me back then lifted the bag once more.
“I thought you could use an uncle niece date,” Lena told me. “I figured there will be less time once school starts.”
I pouted at the thought of her going away.
“You have time?” Lena chuckled. “Are you on call?”
I shook my head.
“Not on call but if I get a call out?—”
“Got it.” Lena wrapped an arm around my hips to lead me toward the lunch space. “We need to hurry then. I was told you were down and needed a hug.”
“Have you been talking to Kaos and Zoom?”
“Not a chance. If there isn’t some kind of emergency, they were told not to be on their phones.” Lena set the bag on a table and began removing burgers.
“You stopped at Bucky’s!” I grinned.
“Aunty Zoom said they were your favourites.” Lena spoke. “I wish I could have tried their milkshakes. But their ice-cream machine was being serviced and it would have been an hour to wait.”
“Next time.” I reached for a french fry.”
“Yeah.” Lena nodded. “Anyway, uncle Kaos and aunty are on their honeymoon. I was talking to aunty Pen and uncle Moose.”
Figures.
But I wasn’t going to complain. Of course, Moose was going to talk to Pen about it.
I didn’t expect they’d talk to Lena. She’d be going off to college soon and we were all going to be cranky not having her around anymore.
“How’s Kid?” I asked, picking up a wrapped burger with my name tape to the outside of the wrapper.
Kid was Bishop, Lena’s boyfriend.
Though he’d wanted to start university a year before, his portfolio wasn’t up to speck and the universities he’d applied for all rejected him.
He’d been heartbroken when Lena started school. He worked hard, taking on freelance work. Kaos hired him to rebrand the club and with word of mouth, he was able to build a better portfolio.
“He’s okay.” Lena eased a wrapped burger across the space to me then dropping a pack of fries on one of the paper plates. “Just received his university acceptance in the mail and he’s acting a fool.”
