Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 90098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
This was better. I should focus on my problems, not the life Trace had. Not him, period. What the fuck was I thinking about him for anyway? It’d do me no good. It wasn’t like I had shit to offer him anyway. I was a fucking loser. I couldn’t take care of my own boy. I couldn’t take care of myself.
I was definitely leaving tomorrow. First thing in the morning, before Trace woke up.
This was his goddamn fault anyway. It wasn’t like me to fantasize about human touch or even an ounce of happiness. I’d gotten a couple years of sporadic exploring after the divorce, and that was evidently it for me. The sooner I got that through my skull, the better.
The kitchen door opened with a creaky protest, flooding this part of the alley with light, and I recognized the dark silhouette of Trace.
“There you are.” He looked down, and I noticed he had a smoke between his lips. He chuckled. “You made a doorstop outta snow. Who the fuck are you, man?”
Someone was lit.
CHAPTER FOUR
Trace Kalecki
Thank fuck. He hadn’t taken off.
“There you are.” Relief filled me, and I checked—oh damn. He’d already made sure the door couldn’t shut us out. But seriously, that icy pile of snow looked like he’d worked hard on it! “You made a doorstop outta snow. Who the fuck are you, man?” I grinned and dug into my pocket for a lighter. “I wonder what else you could do around here. There’s a big crack in the bartop—probably three feet long. It’s a bitch to get clean. Got any solution?”
I lit the smoke and coughed on the first drag. Shit. It’d been a minute.
“I don’t know if you’re serious or just rambling because you’ve had a few, so I’ll refrain from responding,” he answered. “Is this the best time to pick up a new habit?”
I waved him off and stopped at the first step. “I only smoke when the stars align.” I ticked three things off my fingers. “When I’m doing shots and the Hawks are losing and someone lets me bum one.”
Ben’s mouth twitched with mirth, and he looked down and scuffed snow off his boot against the stoop. “You and I are alike in some ways. I used to do that too. For me, it was only during football season, only if all the bills were paid, and only when I was drinking.”
I grinned and blew out some smoke.
That made perfect sense to me.
“Are we still down by four?” He jerked his chin at the door.
I puffed out a breath, and it misted in the cold. So far, it just felt good. Shit got sweaty in there. “It was when I left, but it could be five—hell, why not six or seven? Only fuckin’ thing we’re rakin’ in is minutes in the box.”
“Mm.” He dipped his chin and held out two fingers for my smoke.
I smirked and handed it to him. “Football season is over.”
He grinned faintly and took a drag. “Not for the Chiefs and…whoever the fuck they’re facing this year.”
I sucked my teeth. I didn’t wanna talk about it. Bad enough we were fully booked and had to show the nonsense on all screens in a few weeks.
“Speaking of not that, the realignment notwithstanding—who do you see as our biggest rivals?” I asked. “For the Hawks, I mean.”
He returned the smoke to me and grew pensive.
It was as if every little fucking thing he did was sexy. Even how he blew out smoke.
I was a head case.
“The short answer is Detroit,” he said. “That’s not an opinion—it’s a fact.”
I chuckled and rolled my eyes. He thought I didn’t know? But that era was history.
“With that said…” he went on. His gaze followed me as I took a pull from the smoke. “Some of my favorite memories are from when we had our rivalry with the Canucks.” Aw fuck yeah, those were good times. Ben grinned a little. “They got PTSD just from hearing ‘Chelsea Dagger.’”
I let out a laugh. Too fucking true. “We went to a lot of games in those days,” I admitted. “My old man took me—said he wanted me to see it live whenever we beat those freckled fuckin’ Swede twins. In his words.”
Ben laughed softly. “Ah, the twin sisters. They were annoyingly good.”
Right. The trash talk back then was something else. I smiled and shook my head, so many fond memories rushing back. Each one kinda made me miss Dad.
Fucking Florida.
I took another drag and let out a long breath as I peered up at the night sky.
Aside from missing my dad, I was more and more determined to ask Ben to stick around. I really liked him. We couldn’t afford another employee right now, but it was only a matter of time. Adam and his family went back to California in a few days, and Sandy’s wife was pregnant. Said wife was also the main breadwinner, so it wouldn’t shock me if Sandy took paternity leave.