Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE Send Me the Break I WAS WORKING a landscaping job making $19.25 an hour, burning daylight for just enough to cover rent and split the bills. It wasn’t glamorous. But it was structure. I had a gym routine, I was getting lean, I was disciplined. I was also running on fumes, slamming diet pop like it was water, burning through nicotine like oxygen, and surviving off adrenaline, caffeine, and unresolved trauma. The holy trinity. I lived in a two-bedroom apartment with Zack and Dylan. Dylan had just come up from Florida. He and Zack shared a room. I kept mine. We made it work. Rent was cheap, utilities split, and there was a little bit of joy in the chaos. But underneath all that? I...