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Chapter One

KENNEDY

Everyone has a ritual Today was no different from yesterday or any day before that, apart from the interview I had with the Capitals For a no nae score, a chance to help build my paper into a more reputable source for sports news

After a long drive back froer bag onto the dining roo it onto the couch My girls hate boob jail, and it has been a long ass day

Feeling free, I head into the kitchen of the one bedroom apartment I moved into lastAnd if you look close enough at the floor, the linoleu’s List It was one of those looks better in the picture type of deals Everything seemed fine at first Until I unpacked, and then the appliances and fixtures started showing their age

The only thing that works right is the coffee ht it with eable Even the hot water lasts for about twoout in pain

After I add the filter and grounds to the coffeeThen, I walk into e into a pink tank top and boy shorts I live alone, the crah room to house my stuff

While I grew up in a huge house, I prefer the comfort this small aparthborhood My dad would killor on this side of the city I lie to h-rise building I cannot afford just so I can avoid the same conversation we have every week Crooks squandered our family fortune, andin this du off leftover takeout and coffee

I stir creaht toroom doubles as aroom In an apartment this size, the rooms bleed into the other There’s no difference between the and overroom table

I have a view of the street through thein front of h I’m not so sure it’s the kind of view anyone would want Even in the darkness, the street is depressing, rundown and full of dilapidated rowhouses

After I settle into my chair, I call my best friend, Sydney Carroway My daily habits always re Sydney as I sit down to work is one of them

I punch the speed dial on

“I need another word for cock,” Sydney says into the receiver, her tone serious

What may appear to someone on the outside as one of the weirdest conversations of their life is in fact just an average day with my best friend

I chuckle and switchto open my beat up Macbook to type up my notes from the interview “You’re such a perv, Syd…but a loveable one”

“Don’t laugh” Her voice squeaks on the other end of the line “It’s for research purposes”

“Writing smut,” I deadpan

“Hey, that smut pays the bills, baby!”

Sydney is a ro Sticks and Hard Shots, the sport- theether I talk about my experiences with professional hockey players and love of their sticks Sydney uses her ords and obsession with sex to make our readers swoon

Bizarre conversations are par for the course After all, she writes ro and has her brain conditioned to write sex all day Conversations that are sexual in nature are expected and often welco about topics that would et our readers to open up and interact

“Maybe you should poll our followers to see how many words for cock they can come up with I don’t have the tihty words your skanky brain wants to hear So”