Karma - Forbidden Hearts Series Book 3

10| Missed Opportunities

"Give me another one, Rog."

Roger leaned against the bar and arched a brow. "I think you've had enough, Nate."

"I'm leaving, Nathan. I'm going back to Florida." Karma's voice whispered thorugh my mind.

I looked up at Roger and tapped my empty glass. "I'll have another one, Roger."

My friend held out his hand. "Give me your keys, Nate."

With a frustrated sigh I grabbed my keys from my pocket and handed them to Roger. Without saying another word, he went to make my drink. After Karma told me her dad had a heart attack and was she was leaving for Florida, I didn't know what to think, what to feel, or what to do. I didn't even say anything. I turned away from her, got in my car, and ended up here at Down the Rabbit Hole. That was three hours ago.

Roger bitched at me about my drinking and tried to kick me out a few times. I didn't leave. I couldn 't leave. She was leaving. Again. What the fuck? Why did this feel so...wrong? She had just come back into my life and I haven't had a chance to make up for all the fucked up shit I did. In a few hours, she was going to be on a plane headed for the sunshine state.

"Here you go, Nate." Roger sat another glass of whiskey in front of me. "This is against my better judgement, by the way."

"Thanks."

"I'm going to get some food cooking for you," Roger added. "It's not good to drink on an empty stomach."

"Fine," I grumbled. There was no use arguing with Roger about this. He was going to force feed me if I didn't eat. Whatever. Besides, if I ate, then I could just drink more. Right?

I rubbed my hand over my face. Fuck. I was a mess. What the hell was wrong with me? Why was I taking this so hard? Maybe because of what she had said about her dad. I knew her parents well growing up, and her dad was a great man. He wasn't even sixty yet. He was still young and he definitely didn't deserve a fucking heart attack.

Hank Fitzgerald was a burly man. A man's man. He was build like a linebacker and had that classic New Yorker personality. I tried to picture hum in a hospital bed, hooked up to all those wires, and it was fucked up. That man was no someone who ever looked weak. He was the type of man that you would think would live forever.

I thought back to when my parents had passed away. I never thought I would survive their death. Both of them gone, just like that. But I still had Lanie and that's what gave me the strength to keep going. We were all each other had after that, besides our close friends. I remembered getting a certain voicemail a week after their funeral...

"Hey, Nathan. It's-it's Karma. I heard about your...I heard about what happened. I spoke to Lanie today to offer my condolences. I'm so sorry, Nathan. I can't imagine what you're going through. Listen, I know we left things between us in a bad place, but I'm still here for you. They were like family to me, too. I'm going to be in New York next Saturday. Just for two days. I have some things for school I need to take care of. If you want to get a drink and talk, I'll be staying at The Hilton. Take care, Nathan."

When I had gotten that voicemail, I was already in a bad place mentally. I wasn't prepared to see or talk to Karma. Not after...everything. So, I listened to the message fifty times before I deleted it. I never went by her hotel. I never spoke to her. I never saw her. I didn't regret that until a few months later. But there was nothing to do about it then and I brushed it aside. Just like everything else, it was a missed opportunity.

"I'm leaving, Nathan. I'm going back to Florida."

"Fuck!" I slammed my hand down on the bar before I ran both through my hair.