I felt like a teenager who was at a resort with his friends. I could certainly see why the treatment facility had a heated swimming pool. Even though I had a pretty rough experience in my own pool, swimming generally brought about very good feelings for me.
“So, is this how you act with women outside of this place?” She turned to confront me when we were far enough away from everyone else.
“No. Outside of here, the women throw themselves at me so I don’t have to work as hard.”
She didn’t hide the surprised look on her face. But it was the truth. I didn’t have to chase them: they came to me. But that meant I didn’t get to pick the caliber of the women I slept with either. If they showed up for me, I banged them; there was no picking and choosing which ones I wanted. I had them all.
“Oh, wow, this is you working hard? It seems more like a teenager trying to show off for his high school crush.”
“Ouch. Are you always this mean to men? Or is this just for me?”
“I’m always this mean.” She laughed.
I got a quick glimpse of her tongue ring and it sent shivers through my body. I had to feel that damn thing on my shaft, and soon. Or at the very least, I wanted to slip my tongue into her mouth and feel the weight of the silver as it moved and touched me.
“When did you get the piercing?” I asked as I looked at her mouth.
“A couple of years ago. It was one of the worst nights of my life.”
“Then why did you keep it?”
“Because it reminds me of how far I’ve come.”
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t imagine you drinking like a wild woman. You seem so nice and so sweet.”
“It’s an illusion,” she said and playfully pushed me away from her. “I’m not this sweet outside of here.”
For the briefest of moments, her hands had been right on my chest. I saw a flash of something cross her face as she pulled her hands back into her own personal space. Instead of staying away from her, I moved back toward her. She wanted me near her; I felt it. I felt the desire she had building for me. There was no denying she was flirting with me, too. Her flirting wasn’t nearly as overt as mine was, but Cassidy was looking at me like she wanted to drag me into her bed and play with me all night long.
She was playing coy and I understood that. We probably shouldn’t have even been talking. But the more I talked with her, the more I felt like she was someone who I’d like to get to know.
Of course, I wanted to get to know her naked in my bed. But that wasn’t the only reason I wanted to talk to her. Cassidy was interesting and fun, and I really needed that kind of conversation at the moment.
“I don’t think it’s an illusion. I think you really are a nice girl and maybe the wild girl wasn’t you, but I still wish I would have known the wild version of Cassidy.” I laughed.
“No, you wouldn’t have wanted to know me back then. I was horrible. I was mean and bitchy and didn’t have a moral compass at all.”
“So, like I am right now?”
We both laughed and leaned against the side of the pool as we continued to talk. Cassidy looked over at Melanie, so I moved a little farther away, just to make things seem a little more professional between us.
“Yeah, you were a giant ass when you got here.”
“I didn’t want to be here at all.”
“Then why did you come?”
“Well, I want to have a career and I want to invest in this movie studio. So, I guess technically, I wanted to be here because I wanted those things. But it was my best friend Spencer who really wanted me here. I had almost drowned in my swimming pool and he rescued me. Thought I had a bit of a problem and didn’t want me to die, so I came here.”
“Do you have a problem?”
It seemed like a trick question that one of the therapists might ask me. But my answer to the question changed on a daily basis. I could see how Cassidy had viewed me when I said I didn’t have a problem before, and I was starting to see her point. I did have a problem; I just wasn’t fully ready to admit it yet.
“I didn’t think I had a problem. I thought I could control it. But I’m starting to see that maybe I couldn’t control it. So, yeah, I did have a problem, but I’m in control now.”
“Oh, that’s funny,” she scoffed.
“What?”