An Ounce of Hope (A Pound of Flesh #2)

by Sophie Jackson

  Max laughed at the enthusiastic cleanup job. Meeting through mutual friends, Max had only known Riley for a couple of years. Nevertheless, Max had learned pretty quickly that, despite not knowing too much about the man’s background, Riley was always the life and soul of any shindig and was a monster when it came to drinking. He drank damned near anything as long as it was alcoholic, yet always seemed to stay resolutely sober no matter how many bottles sat around him. He was crazy, but he never touched anything else. Not even weed. Riley always turned it down, saying it never interested him. Max had always been silently in awe of his self-restraint.

  No, Riley’s vices were cars and women. Lots of women.

  Max’s elbow was bumped hard. He turned to see his best friend, Carter, high and drunk, with his arm wrapped around a cute brunette who was wearing very little.

  “Cheer up, man,” Carter said with a wide smile. “Come on. It’s a party.”

  Max nodded and lifted his beer bottle, tipping the neck toward his friend. “I’m all good,” he replied, draining his beer, knowing that the line he’d done not an hour before was losing its edge. “Can you hit me up?”

  Carter nodded and fumbled in his jeans pocket, pulling out a small Baggie. “Have at it, my friend, and then get drunk, get laid, get something to put a smile on your fucking face!”

  Max laughed as he watched Carter stumble over to one of the couches, where he collapsed with his new friend and began sucking face. Bastard was right, though. Max was almost twenty-two years old. He needed to cut loose, have some real fun, and snap out of the grief that still hung around his neck after the loss of his father a year and a half before. He just didn’t know how to do it without a couple of lines and a beer. He knew his partying was teetering on the very edge of dangerous, but, ironically enough, that thrill alone kept Max’s nose in the powder and a drink in his hand.

  “You came!” The squealing sound of one of the half-naked vodka shots girls brought Max’s head up from the bag in his hand. The skinny redhead scrambled from the table, pulling on her T-shirt—much to the annoyance of the men in the immediate vicinity—and hurried across the apartment to the open doorway.

  Max watched her with a small smile that immediately dropped when he saw the girl she was greeting. Jesus. She was . . . tall and blonde. Very blonde. And natural blonde, too. That shit wasn’t out of a bottle. It was honey and ash and sat on petite shoulders dressed in a red short-sleeved top. The jeans she wore were black and clung to her legs like a second skin. She was . . . Christ, she was lovely.

  “Come and meet Riley! We’ve been doing naked shots!” Redhead bounced on the balls of her feet, dragging the intriguing new addition back toward the kitchen.

  From Blonde’s expression, as she looked around the mayhem, Max could tell she wasn’t the type of girl who would disrobe and allow random men to shoot drinks off her tits. Bizarrely, that thought comforted an unfamiliar spot in Max’s chest. She was lithe and elegant as she crossed the room, and Max found himself craning his neck to watch her over and around the other people at the party. People he’d forgotten about, didn’t give a shit about.

  “Riley, this is my best friend, Lizzie. Lizzie, meet Riley.” Redhead draped herself over Riley’s arm while Lizzie smiled.

  And what a fucking smile it was.

  All white teeth, sparkle, and fucking rainbows.

  “Hey, Liz.” Riley grinned. “You want a drink?”

  “It’s Lizzie, and, no, I don’t drink and drive,” she remarked. Max chuckled at her sass and the surprised look on Riley’s face.

  Riley’s laughter exploded out of him. “Well, shit, Lizzie, let me get you a Sprite at the very least.”

  Before she could respond, Riley had poured her a Sprite and handed it to her with a wink. The smirk that graced Lizzie’s face was sexy as hell. Max shifted closer to where they all stood, pushing the forgotten bag of coke into his back pocket, his attention well and truly diverted.

  He observed Lizzie for the forty minutes she stayed, captivated. She was charming and funny, giving as good as she got when the banter started in earnest. She even glanced in Max’s direction a few times. He smiled gently and nodded in reaction. The pink hue that lit her cheeks when he did was delicious.

  Ordinarily, Max would have been at her side chatting up a storm with charismatic lines of flowery shit that, experience had taught him, chicks loved.

  But something held him back. Something foreign and scary. Something that told him this Lizzie would hand him his balls if he tried to be anything but real and honest.

  So he watched, knowing as she left that he had to see her again.

  The grounds of the rehab center were vast. Fifteen acres, to be exact. Before the south-central Pennsylvania snow had gotten too deep, Max had meandered about the lands, stopped for a smoke, and meandered some more. The quiet was ear piercing and made him twitchy as all get-out. He was used to the hustle and bustle of New York City life, and the sprawling fields and fresh air were hard to get used to.

  When he wasn’t at one of his fifteen sessions a week with Elliot, with his sobriety counselor, or wandering aimlessly, Max sat in his room, listened to music, or read. And that was just fine when he was going through the initial cocaine withdrawals, which were fucking awesome and slowed him down to a damned snail’s pace. Two weeks on, however, and he was starting to get itchy feet. Elliot had promised that, once he’d plateaued on his meds, Max could start working out with a personal trainer. Frankly, Max was dying to get into the gym to work off some of the tension and stress that curled his shoulders inward. But he had to wait. As an alternative, Max was offered the chance to join a yoga class.

  Something slow. Something easy.

  He’d laughed in Elliot’s face. No, he’d explained. He wasn’t a yoga type of guy. Instead, he’d retired back to his room.

  Not that he minded being in his room. And honestly, “room” was a broad term. It was more like a hotel suite. It was fixed up sweet with a huge bed, comfortable chairs, nice artwork on the walls, and an en suite bathroom. Apparently Carter had picked the joint because of its more relaxed, homey vibe, as well as it being small with only seventeen “clients” at any one time, ensuring one-on-one, twenty-four-hour care and support. Max knew Carter had paid through the nose to get him in on such short notice.

  Although the Narcotics Anonymous twelve steps to recovery were very much part of Max’s healing process, the facility also offered more holistic-type therapy, which Max was sure would benefit someone. Just not him. He wasn’t into all that mind, body, and soul mumbo jumbo. He just wanted to get clean the fastest way possible so he could go home.

  Still, after fifteen days, Max had to admit, somewhat begrudgingly, that rehab wasn’t all bad. He missed his friends and the comforts of home like crazy, of course, but it was kind of like being in prison. Only cozier. With nicer smells, nicer drapes, and easier smiles from the staff. Sure, the sessions with Elliot were a heinous chore that made Max want to do nothing but go fetal, and the group sessions were even worse, but the guys he’d met in group had definitely made his stay more interesting. Talk about crackpots.

  Take Stan, for example. Stan was twenty-eight years old and a coke addict. Like Max, he’d delved into the white powder time and time again as a way of forgetting life and all the bullshit that came with it. He was a five-foot-six, tenacious Puerto Rican who could talk the hind legs off a motherfucking donkey. And he did. Regularly. But that was just fine with Max. If Stan was talking, that meant Lyle, the group leader, and Hud, a sobriety counselor, weren’t looking in Max’s direction expecting him to say anything.

  For the ten group sessions the seventeen of them had had, Max still hadn’t spoken a word. Didn’t want to speak a word. Didn’t know where the hell he’d start putting that shit in organized, fluent sentences. Jesus, being sober and lucid did nothing but encourage his once-quieted thoughts to relentlessly hammer his tortured brain from the minute he opened his eyes every morning. The luscious coke blanket he’d use
d unashamedly every day, numerous times a day, to silence the fuckery taking place in his head was a distant memory. Max simply pulled the substitute blanket—the hood of his sweater—farther around his face, burrowing deeper into the fabric, and tried to relax.

  Easier said than done with Stan waxing lyrical about his regrets. Oh, the regrets.

  “I swear to fucking God, does he never shut up?”

  Max’s eyes slid across to the owner of the whispered complaint, Dom Hayes, another fellow cokehead with a history of dealing, misdemeanors, time inside for stupid shit, etc. He was twenty-six and, his criminal history notwithstanding, a fairly stand-up guy. He’d shared his smokes with Max on one of the first days at the joint when Max was about ready to bust out of the place and beat a hasty retreat back across the state of Pennsylvania, home. They’d been tight ever since. Interestingly enough, Dom reminded Max a lot of Carter, which was as unbearable as it was comforting.

  Christ, Max missed his best friend.

  Even if Carter was an asshole. An asshole who had been there for Max for nearly twenty years. An asshole who had done time in Arthur Kill prison for Max when shit went tits up. An asshole Max had pulled a gun on when he’d finally hit rock bottom. An asshole who, at the end of his patience, had picked an unconscious Max up off the bathroom floor and begged and yelled at him to get a grip, to go to rehab and get clean. An asshole who drove him for nearly four hours to the rehab facility, paid for everything without question, and hugged him hard before he left with tears in his eyes, telling Max that everything would be all right.

  Max sighed and closed his eyes briefly, zoning out Stan and the other seventeen men in the room. Max knew that, without Carter, he’d be dead. He knew that, without Carter’s finances and Riley’s business know-how, his father’s auto shop would have been lost along with the reputation his dad had worked so damned hard to build. Without Carter, Max would never have survived losing Lizzie.

  As always happened when he thought about her, severe pain sliced through Max’s stomach, up to his chest, clutching his heart and lungs, causing him to sit forward in his seat. He gasped through the unrelenting agony, thankful that everyone’s attention was still on Stan.

  Everyone’s except Dom’s. “You okay, man?” he muttered at his side.

  Max nodded, cleared his throat, and tried to breathe just the way Elliot had shown him. Slow and steady. Deep and gradual. In. Out. In. Out.

  Once such a simple motion and now, without her, and without any white lines, an enduring struggle.

  “So tell me about your episode in group.”

  Max was starting to realize that Dr. Elliot was fucking omniscient or some shit. Nothing got past him. Bastard must have cameras in every part of the damned center. He knew everything! Either that or his small “episode” in group wasn’t as subtle as Max had hoped.

  He shrugged. “It was nothing.”

  Why he continued to lie, God alone knew. It certainly didn’t make him feel any better and it certainly wasn’t going to get his ass home any sooner. And wasn’t that the endgame, to get better and then get home?

  Scribble. Scribble. “Max, it will help to talk about it.” Elliot sipped from his always-present Phillies mug. Max wondered if it was coffee or something stronger, like cognac. Or whiskey. Dammit, a shot of Jack would have been a real fucking treat right about then.

  “It was the same as before,” Max murmured with a slow exhale.

  Elliot’s eyes softened. “Lizzie.”

  Max’s chest gave an ungrateful squeeze at the sound of the two syllables.

  “Tell me,” Elliot said quietly. “Whatever you can. Tell me.”

  Whether it was the soft coaxing of Elliot’s voice, or the need to show everyone he could recover, or whether it was the urgent need Max had to not let Carter down, the cracks in his emotional dam slowly started to give way. He began by telling Elliot about the party, the first time he’d seen her and not spoken to her because he’d been too chickenshit. The lighthearted abuse he’d received from Riley and Carter because he wouldn’t pick up the phone and call her for weeks after, despite his desperate need to see her again. Jesus, the need. The need that still crippled him. Fuck, and then there was the sound of her soft, eager voice when he’d finally plucked up the courage to dial the digits written on the battered piece of paper he’d had in his pocket since Riley’s shindig. Their first date at a bowling alley where she whipped his ass by nearly fifty points and then let him kiss her. The kiss, her lips . . .

  . . . Max could barely breathe. His chest constricted as the memories pummeled him in torrents, unyielding and fierce. His heart thundered in his chest, causing his vision to tunnel and his face to burn. He had to get out of that fucking office, but his brain couldn’t send the signals to his feet quick enough. And there was pain in his chest. He rubbed at it, while trying to tell Elliot that he thought there was a high chance he was having a heart attack. But no words came from his breathless mouth.

  He didn’t see Elliot move, but there he was, kneeling at Max’s side, imploring him to breathe deeply, calmly gripping his forearm. Although Max could feel his psychiatrist’s urgent fingers, he couldn’t answer. The panic choked him. It was almost funny. Here was his shrink, begging for Max to talk, to open up, and the one time Max wanted to, he couldn’t. Now, that shit was ironic. He collapsed in his chair, aware of voices, but unable to respond. It was almost as though he was outside of himself; floating above his body, watching the tsunami of emotion drown him.

  And that was his last thought before the jaws of suffocation consumed him completely: I’m dying.

  “I was wondering when you’d call.”

  Max blinked. “You were? But . . . how did you know I got your number?”

  She laughed. It was a lush, sweet sound that made Max smile. “Riley may have told Amber. Amber told me.”

  “Amber?” Max frowned. “Oh, you mean body shots girl.”

  She laughed again. “That would be her.”

  Max chuckled. “Fuckin’ Riley.”

  The silence that overtook the phone line was hesitant but exciting. Max’s mouth was suddenly very dry. He pinched the bridge of his nose, silently pleading for a rush of testosterone or something to help him grow some balls and ask the girl out.

  “So you called . . .” Lizzie prompted.

  “Yes!” Max exclaimed quickly. “Yes, I did. I . . . well, I didn’t get a chance to speak to you at the party the other week and—”

  “Yeah, you stood on the other side of the room smiling at me all night and never made a move. Were you waiting for an invitation?”

  Max barked a laugh. Her attitude was incredibly sexy. “Well, damn, woman, don’t go easy on me, huh?”

  Her laugh got louder. “I won’t! Am I really that scary?”

  “No! No, you’re gorgeous, I mean, you know, and not scary and, fuck, I mean, I just, well, you were with your friends and I didn’t want to interrupt.”

  “Max?”

  The way she said his name made the muscles in his stomach tighten. “Yeah?”

  “I’d love to go on a date with you.”

  Max awoke slowly. Sounds, smells, and sensations nudged him into consciousness, where, for two awesome seconds, he forgot that he was a zillion miles from home and in a strange bed. Wait. He was in bed? He glanced around. Yep, he was back in his room. What the hell? The last he remembered, he was in Elliot’s office—

  “You had a panic attack.”

  Max startled at the sound of Elliot’s voice. He lifted his head from the sumptuous pillow and, through tired eyes, searched the room for him. Elliot was sitting in one of the fancy, high-backed chairs on the far side of the room, right leg crossed over left, watching him carefully.

  “I gave you a shot of midazolam, which made you sleep.” He waved a hand, gesturing to the bed. “I thought you’d be more comfortable in here, rather than the sofa in my office.”

  Max rubbed his face, a dull ache tapping at his forehead. “Great.” He sat up gradual
ly, his surroundings swimming. “I forgot how fun they could be.”

  Elliot didn’t miss a beat. “You’ve had panic attacks before?”

  Not like that.

  Elliot nodded into the ensuing silence, his jaw twitching. “It can be caused by any number of things. In your case I think a combination of your low blood sugar and the topic of conversation contributed to an attack of considerable severity.” He sat forward. “You need to make sure your hypoglycemia is under control, Max.”

  “I know.” Max’s appetite had been through the damned roof thanks to his coke withdrawals and his meds and, despite the clucking of the kitchen staff, he’d been eating all the wrong shit and not testing his bloods regularly. He just ate. And ate. Dammit, he’d be going back to New York looking like the fucking Pillsbury Doughboy. Hoo-hoo!

  “Check bloods. Eat better,” he muttered. “Got it. Anything else?”

  “Yes,” Elliot replied sharply. He stood quickly from his seat and approached the bed.

  Unused to hearing Elliot so annoyed, and feeling less than golden, Max snapped, “What’s your problem, Doc?” Elliot was usually so calm, so passive.

  “I don’t have a problem, Max,” he replied quietly. “You do.”

  Max snorted. “I only have one? You need to get with the program, man.”

  Elliot ignored his attempts at levity. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Max in a way that made him want to hide under the covers of his bed. “Do you realize that today was the first time since you were admitted that you spoke at length about your past, about Lizzie?”

  Max swallowed the bile that crept up his throat.

  “Max, brief comments about your father aside, today you unleashed a decade of grief in fifteen minutes. Grief that’s been sitting inside of you, festering, buried under a quick wit, a ton of coke, and emotionless fucking.”