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a place that went far beyond the need that had strained his slacks. It was a new ache, one that was vaguely familiar, but so different from what he remembered.
    It reminded him of Claire.
    The last thing he wanted to remember was Claire.
    That was the last time he had abandoned Jackie.
    It wasn’t easy to find companionship when your every waking moment was spent on trying to find a way to feed, clothe, and protect three children. Augustus did not have the childhood that most men his age enjoyed. He didn’t go to school dances, didn’t take a pretty cheerleader to the movies. He never made out with some debutante in the back of his father’s Pontiac. He didn’t even know if his father owned a Pontiac.
    Augustus never kissed a girl, other than his sisters, until he was well into his twenties.
    There simply wasn’t the opportunity.
    And then there was Claire.
    Augustus and Dave had just begun kicking around the idea of putting together a software company. They met at the junior college where they were both taking night classes. Dave was a genius who played hooky one too many times during high school, so his parents sent him out into the world without support, forcing him to grow up and find his own way. Dave did that in spades. But first he had to get through school. That’s where Augustus came in.
    They were in the same study group. Dave and Augustus clicked from the beginning. And Dave was the only one Augustus trusted enough to tell about Charlie, Fontaine, and Jackie. Everyone else thought Augustus was stuck up, too good to go to the parties and the spontaneous coffee dates after class. Dave knew better. And Dave knew that Augustus needed a break. That was why he set him up with his cousin.
    Rachel was sweet, but not the kind of girl that made the exhaustion of staying out late on a school night worth the effort. Her roommate, however, was a different story.
    Claire was tall, model-thin, with boyish curves that only highlighted the amazing length of her coltish legs. She took his breath away every time he looked at her. When he finally got the courage up to ask her out, he thought his heart would burst with relief. They were rarely apart after that. Claire was at his side the day Pierce-Martin opened its doors, the day Charlie graduated high school, the moment Fontaine learned she had gotten a full scholarship to Brown. She was the one who rushed Jackie to the hospital the day she cut her hand on a broken glass and needed twelve stitches.
    He had thought she was there for the long haul. He was wrong.
    Jackie was sixteen the first time she was arrested. Tested positive for cocaine.
    Augustus was flabbergasted. He couldn’t imagine where Jackie could have gotten such a thing, let alone used it. Claire was less surprised. She told Augustus that it had only been a matter of time.
    “And now that she’s tasted it, she will not stop. So you have to make a choice, Augustus. Do you want to sit back and watch her dig herself an early grave, or do you want to make a good life for yourself? You can’t do both.”
    He thought he was doing the right thing. He thought putting Jackie in rehab would fix everything. Watching her scream in that intake room had been the hardest thing he had ever done. He walked away, Claire whispering in his ear that he had done the right thing. But it didn’t work. There was no magic pill, no magic program that could cure what drove Jackie to drugs. Claire couldn’t understand that. And leaving Jackie in that place…it had only made things worse.
    Until, finally, he had to make a choice.
    Claire or Jackie.
    Augustus felt like he was on that same precipice right now.
    But this time, the choice was blatantly clear.
    Jackie needed him one last time. She needed him to find answers, to understand what took her down this road. He needed to know who had hurt her, who gave her the drugs that took her life. He needed her drug dealer.
    The beautiful therapist might know the why, but she didn’t know the