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Residents had to have a plan in place to either go to therapy or 12-step meetings. Hayes had chosen therapy with Dr. Ozbeck, as recommended by Dr. Rosa.
Residents agreed to participate in random drug and alcohol screenings.
There were to be no overnight guests, and any guests must remain with the resident in one of the common areas.
Residents were responsible for their whereabouts when they left the property, and residents must adhere to the 8 p.m. curfew.
Finally, residents were required to sleep at the property at least five nights a week.
Which left two nights a week wide open for him to spend with Ryan.
Ryan.
He took a peek in the private bathroom in his room, and though it was small, he was grateful that he didn’t have to share it with anyone. As he began to unpack his belongings, including all of his crochet materials and his bag full of completed little animals, he began putting his clothes into the dresser drawers as a wave of nervousness slammed into him out of nowhere.
Taking a deep breath, he began speaking aloud to himself. It still felt weird, but it was one of the coping skills Dr. Rosa had given him to deal with the anxiety that he’d begun to experience ever since coming off the maintenance meds.
“You can do hard things. This feeling will pass. You are stronger than whatever you are worrying about.” He shook his head, closing the drawer. “You sound like a fuckin’ whacknut.”
He knew he should probably talk to Ryan about it, since he was sort of the expert in the field, but there was a problem: Ryan was exactly what was causing this particular round of uneasiness.
Yesterday was Ryan’s birthday, so of course, as soon as 7:30 p.m. rolled around, Hayes called.
Ryan hadn’t picked up, so he’d texted.
H: Happy birthday, Rook. I love you and I can’t wait to see you soon.
Almost two hours had passed before Ryan responded.
R: Thanks. Love you, too. We’ll talk soon, OK?
H: OK. Can you text me your schedule so we can plan my first escape?
The last text had gone unanswered.
Hayes had called Amara to see if maybe they were doing something for his birthday.
“No, I actually haven’t seen him all day. This morning was the last I saw him. I know he had practice, but I’m not sure where he is. I know he leaves for a three-game road trip tomorrow. Minnesota, Chicago, and St. Louis, I think.”
This morning, when he’d received his phone back before leaving White Oaks, he’d checked.
Ryan still hadn’t responded.
And since this new place didn’t take away phones, Hayes did exactly what he shouldn’t have done: went on the internet to snoop around.
r/TampaBayLightning
He had to search around a bit for it, but when he finally found it, it knocked him on his ass.
The title of the post was, “What do we have here?”
And it consisted of two pictures: one of Ryan and Joss Koskinen entering Joss’s apartment with the timestamp of 8:25 p.m. from yesterday, and another one of Ryan and Joss Koskinen leaving Joss’s apartment at 6:37 a.m. from today. In both pictures, Ryan was carrying the same backpack.
Then he started reading some of the replies.
“Someone’s sure getting cozy with his new teammate.”
“Dude, he’s new. Maybe he’s just staying with him. Doesn’t mean they’re porking.”
