Her pink, full bottom lip sticks out into the cutest pout I’ve ever seen. “I’m gonna miss you.”
“It’s only a week,” I whisper, leaning down and pressing a kiss on her lips. “But, I’ll miss you, too. We can FaceTime while I’m there.”
“Kiss me,” she breathes, sitting up on her elbows.
Running my tongue along her bottom lip, she dips hers out to meet mine, eyes closing, and a soft sigh escapes her when I press my mouth against hers. She’s always been timid when it comes to intimacy or sex. Before me, she’d only been with one other guy during her senior year of high school. She has a normal, healthy sexual appetite, I suppose, but she generally prefers soft, sensual sex as opposed to the rougher, dirtier sex I tend to crave.
Which is fine, I guess. I don’t mind toning it down for her. I’d be lying though if I said I didn’t crave a good, hard fuck every once in a while. Or a wet, sloppy blow job… she’s rarely down for that—her jaw gets tired.
Based on the way she’s kissing me, she isn’t in the mood to fuck, so before I get too riled up, I pull away, lying on the bed beside her. “You staying over?”
“I don’t think so, don’t really want to wake up as early as you are.”
“Okay. Wanna go get some dinner?”
“Yeah, let’s get pizza.”
“You got it, baby girl.” Placing a kiss on her cheek, I get up and grab my phone to place the order.
Chapter Two
Crew
My skin’s crawling and I’m pacing my room. Looking at the clock on the wall opposite me, it’s only eleven.Fuck!There’s still an hour to go before I can head to Anderson’s house.
It’s been like eight fucking months since I’ve seen him, and I’m going out of my mind. I never used to be this incessant, desperate friend who needed constant contact and reassurance, but something shifted in the last year. Being alone is fucking impossible. My parents are hardly ever here anymore, and when they are, it’s like I don’t exist.
Plus, after the overdose last spring, I’m subconsciously terrified that Anderson is going to see through me, get sick of my shit, and dip. It’s like if I go more than a day without talking to him, my mind assumes the worst and I panic. He’s the only person on this fucking planet who has loved me and never left.
His tired, terrified eyes when I woke up in the hospital have haunted me every single day since. I never want him to look at me like that again. He made me promise that after I went to rehab last year, I’d stay clean.
It isn’t a promise I’ve kept, but he doesn’t need to know that.
Entering rehab, I never planned to stay clean. It was something I did to keep my parents off my back, ease Anderson’s mind, and ensure my parents didn’t take my credit cards away. My drug use is nothing like it was back then; Ihaveslowed down. Kind of. It’s not like I need it to survive. It’s just something to fill my days and pass the time. He wouldn’t get that though, so he can’t ever know.
I can’t lose him. But I can’t lose the feeling the drugs give me—or the feelings they take away—either. My two vices.
My phone rings beside me, startling me out of my thoughts. Glancing at the screen, it’s Anderson. I press accept, bringing the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Hey, man. What’s going on?” His smooth, deep-toned voice relaxes me almost immediately. Never fails.
“Not shit. Chillin’ at my house. What about you?”
“Just got to my parents’ house. We made good time.”
“Right on. That’s awesome.”
“Still want to come over?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Cool. You can head over whenever.”
“Okay. I’m going to shower, then I’ll leave.”
“Sweet. Just come on in when you get here. My parents are gone.”
Hanging up with him and taking the world’s quickest shower, I pop a couple of percs before climbing into my stone-gray Audi and heading to the Walker residence. His family lives in Bellingham and mine live in Camano Island. The drive takes about forty-five minutes and has me pulling up in front of their house just before twelve-thirty.