Page 33 of Your Biggest Downfall
I laughed. “No. We aren’t going to talk about that.”
He brought his fingers to my chin, rubbing, and then he turned back toward the table.
“How did you get in this room?” I asked.
“I paid the owner.”
“What?” I balked.
“Nah, Supernova. The team’s giving him a shit ton of business tonight, so he gave us the room to fuck some bunnies in if we wanted it. No one was using it, so it’s fine.”
Okay, so I guess if there was a silver lining to all this, being in here was probably the least illegal thing we were doing all night.
Yet all I kept thinking of from a PR point of view was that this was such a bad look. Anyone could walk in?—
As if Austin could read my mind, he walked to the door, locked it, and said, “Let’s reach the stars, Supernova.”
I giggled, realizing how absolutely cheesy that sounded. “Okay, Austin.”
I sank down into the wooden chair, a growing unease filling me as I waited for him to show me what to do. He picked his credit card back up and made sure the line was straight, then he grabbed a bill from his pocket and rolled it up tightly. He held one nostril closed while he sniffed the line off the desk through the rolled bill, leaving an amount no bigger than the pad of my pinky out.
“Fuck,” he said as he rubbed his nose.
“Does it hurt?” I asked, my eyes narrowing in on this whole situation.
If someone had asked me two weeks ago, I never would have expected that I’d be sitting in this room with Austin Hart, the famous hockey player, after he kissed me, and then doing a bump of cocaine. No. This wasn’t on my bingo card for the year, but neither was feeling like my world was suffocating me.
Truthfully, if anyone asked me if I was even hanging out with the team outside of work, I’d have laughed in their face. Sure, Austin and I always had a friendship, but I could’ve sworn this year was the end for us. Between Mami’s diagnosis, Aunt Mae moving in with her, and my internship, maybe it was me who was pulling away.
“Nah.” He shut his eyes. “The high takes about five minutes to hit. I wanna coach you through it, but we’re going to need you to do it now.”
I stood up from the chair. “Tell me what to do,” I said bravely, an instant numbness coating my logical brain.
He smiled and used his credit card to push the remaining white powder onto the crease in his hand where his thumb and index finger met.
“Hold one nostril and sniff.”
I took a few steps closer to him, and with his free hand, he snaked his arm around my waist again.
With wide eyes, I looked up at him. “You won’t leave me?” I asked.
“Never, Supernova.”
I leaned down, held one nostril, and sniffed on his rough, calloused fingers. The powder was a shock and felt coarse in my nose, but it wasn’t hard.
“Good girl,” Austin crooned. “You’remygood girl.”
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A bitter taste coated my throat, bringing a numbing effect with it. I grabbed Nova and held her in my arms as she waited for her high. Hers was not going to be as colorful, more like she drank a gallon of concentrated coffee, but it was coming.
I held her back to my chest, leaning against the desk. Energy buzzed into my veins.
“Fuck,” I murmured as my hands went down her chest.
“I feel like I could run laps,” she whispered.
