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

Dennis clamped his lips shut and started leafing through the menu. “So, we just don’t talk about it again.” Owen nodded. “We just deal with it.”


Owen laughed. “You know what’s really good for that? Booze. It fucking wipes the nasty shit right out of your head. It’s an awesome coping mechanism.”


“Don’t give me that.” Dennis snapped the menu closed and shoved it away from him. It skimmed across the shiny wood of the table and upended the saltshaker. Miniscule crystals shot from the oversized holes and scattered, the lights above the table making them glimmer like diamonds. “I’mnot a fucking drunk, am I? I didn’t have to run to a bottle to keep myself alive. So, don’t make mountains out of molehills. And don’t—” Dennis huffed a breath and laid both palms on the table, flat, as if steadying himself. “Don’t you dare include me in this whiny woe-is-me shit that you’re trying to work up.”


Chapter 25