Free Last Call (Bad Habits Book 3) by Staci Hart Page B

shrugged. “Free for me. Anyway, my sponsor found this gig for me. Feels like a fresh start. Like a get out of jail free card. Been there six months — I think that’s the longest I’ve held a job since Bartalotti’s too.”
    I smiled over at him. “I’m proud of you, man.”
    He smiled back, but there was pain behind his eyes. “Does it get easier?”
    I thought about it as we walked for a moment. “Yes and no. I don’t think about it as much, not anymore. But every once in a while …” I let out a breath. “Sometimes you can’t hide. It’s part of who you are. You just have to want to be sober more than you want to use.”
    He nodded as we crossed the street. “That’s what I’m afraid of. I quit drinking and everything though. I don’t even go out, which is fucked up. I basically just watch Netflix every night.”
    “You found normal.”
    Seth laughed. “Jesus. So what the fuck is new with you?”
    “Same old. Working a lot. Painting.”
    “You still at our old place with West?”
    I thought I picked up a little bitterness at the mention of West, but when I looked over, it seemed to be gone. After I’d left Joel’s, Seth said he wanted to get clean, so we moved in together. Within a year, I had to kick him out, which was when West moved in. Seth never forgot it, either, that I’d made a new life, one without him, without drugs. “Yeah, still in the same place. Sorta, at least.”
    He raised a brow. “How’s that work?”
    “Long story. I’ve been crashing at Rose’s.”
    He smirked. “Oh, man, Rosie Fisher. Tell me you’re banging her.”
    I sighed. “Not anymore.”
    He gaped at me. “Shut the fuck up, man — are you serious? You bastard. I remember when she dated Jackie boy, that fuck.” He shook his head, smiling wistfully. “It feels like a million years and yesterday. It’s been a blur, the last few years especially.” He paused for a beat. “Remember that cat Sarah and Shane had?”
    I chuckled. “King Fluff? How could I forget?”
    “He was the fattest motherfucker I’d ever seen. Best cat I ever met.” Seth shoved his hands into his pockets and cleared his throat. “Shane called. Sarah … she passed.”
    Cold snaked through my chest. “Yeah. He called me too. Have you seen him?”
    “Not since before I got sober. We were on a bender. She looked bad, man, even then. Shane too.”
    I nodded, feeling somber. “You don’t go that hard for that long and make it out the other side in one piece. It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
    “She looked like she was already dead. Her arms were so thin, and her face …” His brows dropped, pinned together. “I’ve been around junkies half my life, but to see Sarah and Shane where they were, after knowing them when we started this? When we were young and … I don’t know. I looked in the mirror and I didn’t know myself.” The words were quiet. “I’m sorry, Patrick. For everything I’ve put you through, for everything I’ve done. You don’t owe me anything, and I don’t want anything from you other than to try to make it right.”
    We walked in silence. I wasn’t sure what to say.
    “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, and I let you down, over and over again. Now, I’m clean. Now I can be the friend to you that you were to me. I just wanted you to know, in case you wanted to take me up on it.”
    I looked over at Seth, the kid I met when I was sixteen, alone in the city, in the world. When I had no one, I had him. The friend I’d been trying to save for the better part of ten years.  
    I couldn’t deny him. I never could.  
    “Of course. You know I’m always here.”
    He smiled, his eyes shining. “I won’t let you down. Not this time.”
    I smiled back. “So, we’re going to Habits for my birthday in a couple of days, if you want to swing by.”
    “Fuck yeah. Still have the same number?”
    “Yeah.” I nodded. “Hit me up.”
    “I will.”  
    “Tricky?”
    I looked up to find