“Twenty one days left!” My friends cheer, breaking me out of my daydream.
Robyn, Sarah, a few girls from the club and Carter are here, holding sparklers in the dark parking lot, waiting for me to blow out the candles on my cake.
I can’t help but laugh at the design of it.
It’s a bottle of water with a green label that reads, “21 Days? Nothing Our Queen Bitch Can’t Handle!”
I blow out all twenty one candles to a loud applause and feel myself being pulled against Carter’s chest.
“Does anybody want cake now?” Sarah asks, waving a plastic knife around. “Or do we want to eat it after?”
“After,” everyone says unanimously.
She shrugs and closes the cake box, placing it onto the front seat of her car. “Fair time now? Emerald, you have to ride the Ferris wheel with me. If your boyfriend doesn’t mind that is.” She rolls her eyes at Carter, laughing.
As she and Robyn lead the way to the fair’s entrance gate, I look up at Carter. “I don’t want to go the fair. I want to have sex.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“You think we’re supposed to have sex every time we see each other?”
“Yes.” We haven’t missed a day since we first started and I will take him down in front of everyone if he even tries to deny me tonight.
“You can’t wait until after we ride a few rides?”
“No. I thought this celebration was going to be at your apartment.”
“And if it would’ve been?”
“I would’ve told them to leave after we cut the cake.”
“You would’ve put people out of my apartment?
“I’ve been looking forward to this all day.” I try not to sound needy, but I can’t help it. I’m damn near addicted to having sex with him. “I’ve never craved sex—like ever, but with you it’s all I think about lately...It feels like more than sex, you know?”
Shit...
He smiles, but he doesn’t respond to my rant.
“I’m not going to beg you, Carter.” At least I don’t think I will. “Can we go to your car for twenty minutes?
“Twenty minutes?”
“Ten?”
“It’ll be a lot longer than that.”
“That means yes?”
He laughs and grabs my hand, leading me away from the line. “We probably won’t be coming back...”
Chapter 15
Today is my final day of rehab and I can’t wait for this shit to be over. I’m so happy that I don’t even care that my probation officer cornered me as soon as I walked into the building, or that he forced an empty urine cup into my hand and demanded that I put it to use minutes before the meeting started.
Since it’s the “final showdown” he said he wanted to make his last appearance “Epic.”
“Well, well, well,” he says as I step out of the restroom, “Future Convict is clean again.”
“Sorry you don’t get to haul me off in chains like you’ve been dreaming about.” I roll my eyes.
“Never that, Future Convict.” He hands me a paper chart, confirming that I’ve passed all of my random screenings. “I’m proud. Between you and me, I think you liked me checking up on you. You wanted me to.”
I don’t respond.
“And that’s a good thing, Miss Anderson.” The fact that he calls me by my name makes me look up. “It means you’re not as terrible as you think you are. Can you do me a favor?”
“Depends on what it is.”
“I know you’re no longer required to attend these sessions after today, but I want you to consider coming back, at least once a week. If not for you, for me, and if not for either of us, come for someone else. No one deserves to be fucked up alone.” He pulls me into a brief hug and then he whispers, “I hope to never have to see you again.”
I laugh and watch him walk down the hallway, shouting, “You carry piss for a living!”
As he approaches the doors, he flips me off with a smile.
“Are we all set up for today’s meeting, Emerald?” Tim steps in front of me.
“Yep.”
“Well, thank you.” He sighs. “You are officially the first person who has managed to go through my rehab course without sharing.”
“Do I get a medal for that?”
He rolls his eyes. “You’re going to break down one day, Em. And then—”
“Em-er-ald.”
“Em-er-ald. I’m sorry. It’s better to do it around people who know you. I’d hate to see you being forced to come back because you haven’t learned what landed you here in the first place.”