A Fighting Chance Read Online Free

alone at all, ever since I was rescued. I know I’m not technically alone right now. I have a house full of people. But, here in my room by myself with the silence, in the dark, my mind starts to play out in vivid color the attack and the kidnapping. That man’s eyes and the gun that I fired that took my kidnappers life rings out in my ears. It plays over and over again like a bad movie. I start to break out in a cold sweat and beg for it to stop.
    I didn’t get any sleep that night. To make matters worse, someone is in the hall bathroom getting it on. I get in my own shower and strip out of my wet, sweat drenched clothes. I have a long shift at the hospital today and without any sleep last night, I’m going to need a caffeine drip to make it through the day. I don’t know how I’m going to explain a black eye either. At least I can keep myself busy at work. The busier I am, the less my mind will have time for my demons to consume my every thought.
    Everyone is gathered at the table drinking coffee, except Adrian. I fill up the biggest mug I can find and take a seat with every eye following my every move. I hate the looks of sympathy and pity they’re all giving me.
    “Has anyone seen Adrian this morning?” Shay asks.
    “I think he took a phone call outside, he kicked me on the floor on his way out,” Aiden says.
    Shay gets up from the table and goes to find Adrian. I continue to drink my coffee with my head down, pretending that as long as I don’t look at anyone, then they don’t see me either. Adrian and Shay come back in the house holding hands. Adrian looks like he’s in a pissed off mood too, I wonder who he was talking to outside.
    “Earth to Adrian,” Shay says, then kisses him on the cheek. She takes a seat in the chair next to him. He smiles at her, and that smile, my word if I could only read what was behind those lips. The look he gives Shay is one that I’m familiar with. Max used to look at me like that all the time. He grabs her arm and pulls her in his lap.
    “My coffee is over there, let me up so I can drink my coffee,” she says pointing at her coffee.
    He leans forward and pulls her coffee cup in front of her and says, “There you go, drink up.” She gives him a smirk, wiggles her ass in his lap and tries to hide her smile in her coffee cup. Extreme jealousy wraps its ugly claws around my heart and digs in deep. Why did Max break up with me? What did I do? What am I going to do? How can I fill that big chunk of time that I used to spend with Max?
    At least I have a brutal day ahead of myself at the hospital. We’ll see if I can tack on a few extra hours there too. I wonder if I should join a gym or something. I need to keep myself busy.
    I was able to tack on an extra couple of hours, and I’m exhausted by the end of my shift. I don’t have anywhere to go either. I’m too tired to even think about going and joining a gym. Between not sleeping last night and work today, I don’t think the gym will ever happen. On my way back to my condo, I pass a bar. I know I shouldn’t. I know drinking isn’t the answer. I long for the numbness that it would bring, but I can’t put my career in jeopardy by drowning my sorrows in alcohol and becoming an alcoholic. It still doesn’t stop my car from pulling into the parking lot though.
    The bar is dark and dingy. It smells like old men and stale beer. That smell stops me in my tracks, and I instantly break out in a sweat. An older, rather plump, and nasty smelling gentleman wearing a wife beater with a mouth full of chew brushes past me in the doorway pulling me out of my frozen trance.
    “In or out young lady, but don’t stand in the doorway,” he barks.
    “S...Sorry,” I mutter. I see one lone seat left at the end of the bar, and I quickly take it before anyone else does. I look around and this place is not a nice place. It’s filled with mostly men. Most of them have their heads bowed searching the bottom of their beer mug, probably