Owen has been struggling with addiction since he was a teenager, but it takes a DUI involving another vehicle for him to finally face his issues. The road to recovery is a rough one, and for Owen it's a journey made harder by bankruptcy, loneliness, and repressed memories.<br><br>His new apartment doesn't help either. It's small, worn, and hot as hell. The only way to reach it is a tedious stretch of stairs that seems like the final insult on top of a whole pile of misery.<br><br>Thankfully, the mess comes with one bright spot: intense, pretty Sebastian, who seems to have a knack for keeping his head up and finding the beauty in everything.

Forty-Two Stairs

Sebastian squeezed Owen’s hand. “I have real iced tea. Like, the kind from the store, you know? That tastes good.”


Owen grinned and adjusted his hand to lace their fingers together. “Was my homemade stuff really that awful?”


“Horrifying,” Sebastian nodded. “Would you like some?”


And for all the talk about staying away, about not getting close, and avoiding making mistakes—conversations that Owen had not only had with himself, but that Craig had been spewing all morning—it never even crossed Owen’s mind to decline.


“I’d like that.” His thumb traced the delicate build of Sebastian’s hand. “I’d like that a lot.”3: Examining the Past


Chapter 17