Terri grabbed my waist and steadied me. “I don’t think you should be driving. You got anyone we can call to pick you up?”
The thought of Jay or Katrina driving out here to pick me up made my stomach clench once more. “No. I’ll…I’ll be fine.”
“Oh, shut up.” Keeping one hand wrapped around me, she palmed a cellphone from her purse and with one hand, typed a short text.
I gave her a weak smile. “You’re bold now. I like it.”
With an eyebrow raised in my direction, she gave me a pointed stare. “There. I told Lana you were sick and I’m going to take you home. She said she hopes you feel better and that she’ll take my car home when the show is over.”
With her at my side, I felt better, stronger, and I savored the contact of her skin against me, the soft brush of her curly hair swiping across my shoulder, her occasional glance of worry.
How long has it been since someone truly worried about my health? Not because they were worried about my performance, but because they cared about my wellbeing.
Sure, Katrina and Jay wanted me to be in top shape, but they had an end goal: their bank accounts.
Cotton Candy, even though we hadn’t been in contact for twelve years, seemed to have truly forgiven me.
As we approached her midnight-blue Yukon, she unlocked the doors and stepped inside.
I paused, assessing the state of my innards. My earlier puke fest seemed to have helped it settle. I stuck a hand into my pocket. A small circular pill brushed against the tips of my fingers.
A virus. Just a virus. It has nothing to do with the medicine.
Taking one last breath of the dry air, I jerked open the door and slid inside, settling myself into the leather seat and pulling the seatbelt across my chest.
“Which hotel are you staying at?”
“The Condor.” Suddenly, I remembered leaving the baggie of drugs in the bathroom, out in the open for anyone to see. The thought of CC walking in, of her knowing… Panic flooded through my chest.If she wants to come in, I’ll have to get to the bathroom first.
Because Iwantedher to come in. I hadn’t felt so calm and collected in years, and it wasn’t just the new med. Cotton Candy soothed my soul, and I didn’t want to fuck up my second chance with the woman I’d always loved.
Chapter thirty-two
Terri Kingston
Afterseveralminutesofbouncing over the narrow road, I came to the main highway intersection leading toward Mesa Palms.
As I sat at the stop sign and waited for a break in traffic, I glanced at Paxton’s face in the glow of the passing headlights.
His cheekbones had always been sharp, his jaw angled, but there was something sickly hovering over his skin...a shade paler than I remembered when he’d been at the station.
He has the look of a user.I shut that thought down.He said he didn’t use, and he’s never been a liar.
Besides, as he’d pointed out, what sane person would touch drugs after stumbling upon their dead father with a needle still in his arm?
“Have you been eating healthy and taking care of yourself?” I turned onto the highway and pointed the vehicle toward Mesa Palms.
“I just grab whatever I can. We’ve been on the road a lot for the past two or three years.”
“No wonder you’re sick. Do you have someone…” I cleared my throat, rethinking how I wanted to approach my next question. “Someone who can help you out if you’re not feeling well?”
A corner of his mouth lifted. “CC, Icantake care of myself. Been doing it since I was fourteen. But if you’re offering to tuck me into bed, I won’t refuse.” He lifted an eyebrow. The earring dangling from his ear flashed each time we passed an oncoming car.
An image of Paxton in my bed years ago, his mouth and hands worshi ping every part of my body, flashed in my head. Blood rushed to my cheeks, and I swerved onto the shoulder. Firmly peering at the road again and determined not to lose my cool, I fiddled with the radio, settling on “Saviour” by Black Veil Brides.
He snickered. “I’m kidding, CC. I’ll be fine.” His hands ghosted across his thighs. “I’ll see if the hotel store carries anti-nausea meds and then crash. I’ll be back to normal tomorrow.”
The scattered houses on the outskirts of town appeared and I slowed to match the posted speed limit signs.
