“I’m good. I’m at a treatment center in Aspen for a few weeks. I’ll be here through Christmas time.”
“That’s good.”
“Are you and Heath doing anything for Christmas?”
“Same as last year.”
Guilt flashed through me as I remembered how I had canceled coming home to visit them last year. Instead, I threw a party at my house and dran
k myself into passing out in my bed with two young ladies whose names I didn’t even know. It certainly hadn’t been the best Christmas ever.
“Okay, well, I just wanted to check in. Tell Heath I called,” I said in an effort to get off of the phone. The uncomfortable feeling I had was overwhelming and I felt like it was getting harder and harder to breath.
“What is the name of the place you are at again?”
“Paradise Peak. It’s in Aspen, Colorado. You guys could come visit if you wanted,” I added before I could stop myself.
“Well, how would we afford something like that? Are you just trying to rub it in that you have money and we don’t?” he asked angrily.
I could feel his blood pressure rising through the phone and I knew I needed to get off the call. Out of all the conversations my father and I had had over the last few years, this one was one of the best. I felt it driving off course, though, so I ended it.
“It’s okay, I’ll see you when I get out. I’ll talk to you later, Dad. Tell Heath I called,” I said and then quickly hung up.
My chest hurt horribly and I went back to my room and tried to take a few deep breaths. My vision blurred as I steadied myself against the wall and tried to calm myself down. It shouldn’t have to be so damn hard to talk to your own family. I hated it. I hated that I couldn’t say “I love you” when I talked to my own father.
“Are you all right?” Cassidy asked as she stood in the doorway with a towel wrapped around her. “I’m sorry if I was rude to you. That was more about me than it was you.”
My adrenaline was up. I felt my blood throbbing through my system and as I looked at Cassidy’s erect nipples, I had to touch them. I had to get some sort of relief from the tension that had built up in my body.
I grabbed her by the hand and pulled her into my bathroom and around the corner so no one could see us. I felt energized as I held onto her. My mind focused on what I wanted and how I was going to get it.
“It wasn’t you. I’m an ass. I thought we had established this already,” I said as I leaned in close to her neck and smelled her delicious scent.
“I’m a recovering alcoholic; sometimes I get judgy of others. I shouldn’t have acted like that. I’m sorry,” she said as she licked her lips.
Fuck, her lips were so sweet and plump. My body was hard with desire, but I kept myself a few inches away from her. Instead, I gently let my lips fall to her neck as I kissed her softly from her clavicle up to her ear.
She liked it. I heard a soft moan and felt her body relax as she let me kiss her neck. I couldn’t stop myself. I needed a release. I needed something to take the edge off of the anxiety that rushed through my body after talking to my father. Cassidy was like a drug that I needed a hit of and she had just given me the tiniest of tastes. Enough that I already craved more.
My lips moved across to the other side of her neck and again I started at the clavicle and moved up toward her ear. She leaned back against the wall and pressed her chin up to allow me to navigate her delicate neck. I felt electrified as the release of tension in my body happened. She was exactly what I needed.
When I pulled away, I saw a dreamy look in her eyes and suddenly wished I had a damn room with a door on it. There wasn’t much we could do in this room, but at least I could feel her lips on mine.
My eyes focused on her lips and I moved toward them with the promise of a bigger release than her neck had given me. My aching need was building up and I had to find a release that would satisfy me. My hand moved to her nipple and I barely touched her before I was stopped.
“No,” Cassidy said as she pressed her hand against my chest and pushed me away from her. “I can’t.”
She quickly slid out of the bathroom and down the hall toward the nurses’ station. And just like, that she was gone and I was left in a state of absolute frustration. Not just sexual frustration, but a total body anxiety that I needed some way of releasing. There were no drugs around, no alcohol, nothing that I could reach for to give me the relief I desperately needed.
Chapter Eleven
Cassidy
I let him kiss me! How could I do such a thing? My mind and body had been total mush in his arms. Every bit of self-control that I thought I had was totally non-existent when his lips touched my neck. I was a horrible at self-control. I should have known better than to go into a room alone with him.
“I’d like to start training on the secure unit,” I said as I walked straight up to Mr. March.
“Is this because of what happened with Brianna? I just heard from the hospital that she’s in stable condition. Your skills and care really helped her, you know.”