Cigarettes and mildew. It was a distinct smell that I recognized from a friend's apartment I used to visit a lot when I was in college. I wondered for a moment if I had dreamed of getting the job with Alessandro, falling for him, and going to jail. I considered the possibility that I would wake up in my friend's shitty apartment after a night of studying for finals.
I opened my eyes, a dull throb behind them making me consider it was genuinely possible I'd drank too much last night and that I really was about to wake up and need to rush to class.
This was not my friend's shitty apartment though. This was a motel. I looked down to see I was still wearing the gray jumpsuit from the jail, and reality crashed down onto me like lightning striking a tree.
My hands were tied behind my back. My
