Page 12 of Devoured

Stop.

I parked outside of Dr. Clark’s office. I already knew what he was going to say. That I was spiraling. That I needed to get my act together before I slipped. But I’d already slipped. I stared longingly at the bar down the street. It would be a lot more bearable if I just blacked out for the rest of Penny’s birthday. But the last time I blacked out I wound up naked next to Isabella.

Fuck my life.I climbed out of the car and went into Dr. Clark’s office.

The receptionist looked up at me. “Oh. Mr. Hunter. I don’t have you on the schedule today.” She started flipping through some papers on her desk, like she’d made some kind of clerical error.

“I don’t have an appointment. I just need to talk to him real quick. Is he in?” I started walking toward the door.

“Mr. Hunter, wait! He’s with another patient right now.”

I stopped even though I wanted to just storm in. “I really need to see him.”

She nodded. “Okay. But do you mind taking a seat and when his current session is over I can let him know you’re here?”

“How long will it be?”

“Um…” she looked at the clock behind her on the wall. “His session just started. It’ll be at least 50 minutes.”

Seriously? There was no way whatever whack job was in there was paying him more than I was. I sighed when I’d realized I’d basically just called myself a whack job too.

“There’s some magazines,” the receptionist said. “To keep you occupied.”

“Okay,” I said and sat down, when really I just wanted to storm through the door. But it’s not like I had anything better to do anyway. I picked up one of the worn magazines and flipped through a few pages before discarding it on the table.

I leaned back and closed my eyes.

Ellen was the worst.

No,Iwas the worst.

But it was her fault I was sitting in this shitty waiting room.

***

Someone cleared their throat.

I sat up with a start. Dr. Clark was standing in front of me.

“You requested a word?” He continued to just stand there staring at me.

“Yeah,” I said with a yawn. “Just real quick.”

“It doesn’t have to be quick now. My last patient for the day just left.”

The last one for the day? I glanced over at the clock behind the receptionist’s head. It was after six. Had I seriously been asleep for three hours? And no one thought it was a good idea to wake me up?

“Come with me,” Dr. Clark said. He turned on his heel and went back toward his office.

I grabbed my phone and looked at it quickly before following him in. Penny still hadn’t texted. Because of course she hadn’t. I was the one that told her I needed time to think about things. The ball was in my court and I was seriously fucking it up.

I sat down in the chair across from Dr. Clark.

“Have you been sleeping well at night, James?”

Was that a serious question? Because I was pretty sure the fact that I’d just fallen asleep in the waiting room was answer enough. I glared at him.

“You came here because you wanted to talk. If all you can do is stare at me, I think I’ll call it a day.”

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