Free Race to Recovery (Full Throttle) by Megan Faust

to pour your heart out to me. We’ve only just met.” I wouldn’t mind if you did though, he added silently. “So, where are you from?”
    “Oh, right here in Utah. My brother and his wife live in Brigham City, not far from my mother. I’ve lived all over, Salt Lake City, Ogden, a few places in between; I was adventurous; my brother said I was reckless. I guess he was right. What about you?”
    “Michigan. My father grows potatoes and we all still live on the farm.”
    “All? How many of you are there?”
    “Just one more. We have a sister, Chloe, but Brant had a falling out with her recently. She has a steady boyfriend now and is planning to travel with him.”
    “Business or pleasure?”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Does this boyfriend travel for business, or is he taking her on a cruise or something?”
    “Oh, it’s for work, but you only go into a career like this if you don’t mind travelling.”
    She shivered and pulled her sweater tighter. “I like listening to you talk, Seth.”
    “I like this too.”
    “I never know what to say to people anymore. My last boyfriend preferred it if I didn’t talk at all.”
    “That’s too bad. I think you’d have some interesting things to say.”
    “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know much about anything. Not talking was just, well, safer.”
    Seth didn’t like how carefully she was choosing her words, and he really didn’t like the idea that silence had been her safest option in life. He knew better than to press and turned the subject elsewhere. “Brant said you liked books.”
    She smiled. “Yeah, I guess I do. There’s not much else to do in this place.”
    “You don’t watch TV?”
    “There are always too many people in the television room. I don’t mind. I haven’t had access to books really since I left home at sixteen.”
    “Sixteen, wow, that’s pretty young.”
    “That’s what my mom and brother said. They were right, of course, but at the time I just wanted to be free.”
    “I guess we all want to stretch our wings at some point.”
    “You’re being sweet. I was stupid. But I don’t like talking about it. Tell me about growing up on the farm.”
    “I don’t know what to tell you. It was chores and family and my dad swearing at the weather.”
    “You never played? You never had a day off? Tell me a happy story; I like happy stories.”
    * * * *
    Brant sat in the arm chair in Dr. Keaton’s office, glaring as Dr. Keaton got organized and took a seat. “Okay, it’s obvious, even to me, that you’re upset about something so why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you and we’ll go from there.”
    “No.”
    Dr. Keaton arched an eyebrow. “All right, let’s start with something more conventional then. How are you sleeping?”
    “Fine.”
    “Any bad dreams?”
    “Sure, doesn’t everyone?”
    “Strange dreams?”
    “Sometimes.”
    “Since you’ve been here?”
    This time Brant only shrugged.
    “What about your appetite? Do you find you’re eating more or less than normal?”
    Another shrug.
    “Have you been sick?”
    “Why do you care about any of that? Aren’t you supposed to ask how often I have cravings?”
    “Okay, how often do you have cravings?”
    Brant sank lower in the chair. “Too often for you to let me go home. Are we done here?”
    “Not quite. Does your foot ever hurt?”
    “No,” Brant snapped too quickly.
    “Brant, I need to chart your symptoms so I can track your progress through the withdrawal. Think that over. I’ll see you in two days.”
    “Great.”
    He made it as far as the door before Dr. Keaton said, “Brant, why are you so against talking to me?”
    “Was Penny kicked out because of what I said?”
    “Partly.”
    “That’s why. You can’t enforce your own rules effectively. You know nothing about me or the hell of addiction. You can’t help me so why should I talk to you?” He left without an answer.
    Brant came into the Common Room to the sound of female laughter. He spotted Seth on