by M. R. Joseph
Carter-
This is so you can have a little piece of home while you are away. At 6:15 every Wednesday, no matter where we are, we can get on our laptops and click on video chat and we can see each other and talk. Even if it's just for a minute, it will be the best minute of our day. I'm so proud of you.
Love Always,
Case
He looked up at her and felt tears threatening his eyes. Jane and Eva both had tears in their eyes. Carter closed the laptop, placed it on the table and rose. He stood before Casey and grabbed both her arms and pulled her up. He hugged her and she felt a warm tear upon her shoulder. Not her tear. Carter pulled away and smiled down at her. It wasn't the gift of the laptop that stirred his emotions, it was the gift of her just existing, being alive and a part of his life. He pulled away from her and he slid his hand under the table as well and pulled out a box.
"And this my dear is a little piece of me for you."
He handed her the box and she grinned excitedly at him.
She torn open the box to find a pair of white Converse with studded guitars and musical notes jeweled on the canvas. The inside of the tongue of the one shoe read:
Case-
Every time you wear these boy shoes, think of this boy.
Love,
Carter
XOXO
She laughed at the note and placed them back in the box and made her way to him. She bent down and kissed his cheek.
"You know me so well, London, don't you? Thank you. They are the prettiest boy shoes I have ever seen." She pressed her nose against his and he took a shuttering deep breath in. Magnolias. Casey and Magnolias. Two scents he will never be able to separate. Six months he would have to spend without the magical blend of those two perfect scents.
As the night went on, Casey spotted Tommy and Lyla in a heated discussion so she made her way over to them.
"Ly, I told you a long time ago that I was a stupid kid and I didn't realize what I was doing. I thought I was missing out on something else. It had nothing to do with my feelings for you. I was just... dumb. Please, when I get back can we give this another shot?"
Lyla threw back the rest of her drink and looked straight ahead effectively ignoring him. Casey hung back and Carter joined her and asked, "What's up here?"
"Well, all I got so far is that Tommy wants Lyla to give him another chance once you guys get back from the tour."
"Holy Shit!" Carter exclaimed.
Tommy put his hand on her shoulder.
"Ly, please. I still love you, baby. I made a mistake."
She shoved his hand off of her.
"Tommy, you gave me fucking crabs!"
Everyone turned to look at them and Lyla dropped her head to the bar. Carter and Casey rushed over and Carter got in front of Tommy.
"OK, man. Just leave it be. Let's get a drink and go sit and visit with my mom."
"Fuck that, Lond. Fine, Lyla. Slut. Don't expect to hear from me again. You were just a fuck. A rotten one at that!"
Lyla leaped off the chair and punched Tommy square in the nose. "Fuck you Lingetti. Loser piece of dog shit! Don't ever look my way again. You are nothing and always will be."
Casey led Lyla who was now crying off to the ladie's room. She called to Eva.
"Eva, can you come with us please." Eva made her way towards them. She stopped to speak to Tommy.
"Tommy, that girl has loved you forever and you treat her like yesterday's garbage. Someday you'll realize what your actions have cost you and for some people it's just, not forgivable. Maybe this time away will make you grow up a bit. I pray it does." She walked away from Carter, a bloody nosed Tommy, and her husband standing their wide eyed and jaws dropped.
"Tom, come on and let's get you some ice."
Tommy pushed Carter's chest and grabbed a napkin off the bar.
"Fuck you, Lond. Leave me alone."
He stormed off and Carter tried to see where he was going but lost him in the crowd.
A while passed and everyone was dancing, drinking, and having a great time when a waitress came running over to Carter while he was dancing with Casey and his mom.
"Carter, It's Tommy! He's unconscience in the parking lot. I went to take out the trash and there he was. He doesn't look good."
They all ran out towards the parking lot. Even Lyla. When they got out there Tommy was slumped against the outside brick wall of Beach Bums. Carter gazed down at him and Tommy began foaming at the mouth and coughing. Casey bent down and rolled Tommy onto his side. She took his pulse and yelled, "Call 911!" The ambulance came and they knew Casey from the hospital. She told them what she knew. " Twenty-seven year old man, pulse is weak and thready. He had what looks like a small seizure but that's all I know."
They belted him onto the gurney and placed an oxygen mask onto him and rolled the gurney into the back of the ambulance. Carter turned to Casey and whispered to her.
"Case, I'm scared. I think it's the drugs again. I've seen this before."
"Carter, what do you mean you have seen this before? You didn't do anything about it?"
"Please Case, not now. Just go with him and I'll ride with my mom. You will know better than me the lingo those medical guys were speaking." She nodded to him and climbed in the back. The ambulance sped off and Carter turned to see Lyla hugging herself and crying.
"Ly, are you coming?" he stuttered.
"I... I just can't, Carter." She ran away towards her car.
Hours passed and finally a doctor came out of the waiting room to talk to everyone. "Mrs. London, I'm Dr. Michaels. Your name was on his emergency contact sheet and it says that you are his next of kin."
"How is my boy, Doctor?" Jane asked.
"He is going to be ok. We pumped his stomach and gave him some I.V. fluids and we would like to keep him here overnight for observation and have a drug counselor come in tomorrow to talk with him and you if at all possible." Jane looked at him puzzled.
"Drug counselor? What do you mean? You found drugs in his system?"
"Yes. His bloodwork confirmed that he tested positive for several prescription drugs along with traces of cocaine. If we didn't pump his stomach in time, well we would not be having this conversation." Jane sat down and put her head in her hands and cried. Casey glared at Carter. Dr. Michaels told them that he could have one visitor at a time but they gave him something to sleep, so he would not be very responsive. Jane went in first, then Carter. Domenic and Eva took Jane home and Casey stayed with Carter. He went in to see Tommy. He was hooked up to a bunch of wires and he had a tube up his nose. He pulled a chair and scooted it close to the bed. Tommy stirred. Groggily he spoke.
"Lond, what happened?" His voice was low and hoarse.
"Dude, don't try and talk. You are in the hospital and they pumped your stomach. They found lots of drugs in your system. What the fuck, Tommy? Why didn't you tell me? How long has it been since the last time?"
"A year," he mumbled.
A year ago Tommy was taking Adderol, without anyone knowing freaked out. When Carter uncovered his secret habit, he took him to a hospital in Sarasota for two weeks. They just said they were going back packing in the Everglades. Everyone believed them. He detoxed there and then checked himself out in spite of Carter disagreeing with his decision. Casey walked in the room and placed her hand on Carter's shoulder.
"You are a good friend Carter but you should have said something. I could have helped."
Tommy moaned, "Please, Lond. Don't send me away. Help me, please. Get me out of here and help me at home. Please."
Casey motioned to Carter to go in the hall with her.
"Tommy, we will be right back buddy ok? I'm not leaving. I'm staying right her all night." He patted his hand and left with Casey. They began speaking quietly in the hall.
"Carter, we have to leave him here. He can't detox at Jane's. She will freak out. He needs to stay here." Carter shook his head no and began to cry.
"No, Case. No. It won't work here. We have to ge
t him out. Help me, please." He pleaded to her with his tear soaked eyes. She paused and blew out some air and placed her hands on top of her head.
"OK, Car. Here's the deal. We will detox him at my house then I want him in a facility for thirty days. You got me? I'll steal some supplies to help make it easier for him and I'll call out sick with the flu and we will do this together. Deal?"
Carter grabbed her and squeezed her tight.
"Thank you, sweetface."
The next four days were pure hell. Tommy admitted to Carter and Casey that he was addicted to Percocets, Oxycodone, and coke. He popped pills at least six times a day and snorted coke at least twice a day to keep up with the band's demanding schedule. Detox was a nightmare. Tommy vomited every hour on the hour. He had diarrhea, and had frequent nose bleeds. He broke out in cold sweats. Casey wrapped him in blankets and held him. She fixed him milkshakes and force fed them to him. He punched Carter at one point and freaked out and threw a bookshelf of Casey's onto the ground, breaking it in a million pieces. Glass pictures frames were flung around the room causing another episode. No one slept. They hardly ate. They tried to shower Tommy but he just cried and shook. Carter rocked him in his arms and Tommy cried out for his dead mother. Casey's heart broke for them both. They slept on the floor along side of Tommy. On the fourth day Tommy woke up and saw that Carter and Casey were still sleeping. He grabbed some sweats and quietly made his way to take a shower. When he got out he grabbed his duffle bag and packed it with his toiletries and some clothes. He gently went over and shook Carter awake when he was done gathering his belongings.
"Lond," he quietly whispered. " I'm ready to go." Carter looked up at him and smiled sleepily. "OK Buddy. Let's go."
Back at Screamers, Carter shook from his memory and turned to Ross.
"He is hanging in there, man. Thanks for asking."
He turned to see Ashby pouting as Ginuwine's "Pony" came on and he saw the lust return to her eyes. He guzzled down his beer and made his way towards her. He eyed her short black skirt and grabbed the strings of her corset.
"Follow me," he said in a low, smoky tone.
They reached the dance floor. Carter snaked his arms around Ashby's waist. He pulled her in close and he spread her legs apart with his knees. Carter began grinding his erection into her and he could feel the dampness from between her legs against his short clad thighs. They began to sway back and forth with the sexy music and he traced her erect nipple that was visible through the front of her shirt. He reached her earlobe and began licking it from the top to where her hooped earlobes were. She took her hands and reached behind him to squeeze his fine, firm ass. She nibbled his neck and licked the salt from his sweat. He was feeling the affects of the half dozen or so beers he had during the night, plus the shot of Jameson he consumed. He spun her around so that his hard dick was pressed up behind her ass. He snaked his hands around to her stomach and pushed his hips further into her tiny ass. He wrapped his fingers into her hair and pulled her head back towards his mouth. He shut his eyes tight, trying to block out the thoughts of what Casey and Jordan were doing at that exact moment, and it invaded his mind. The buzz from the alcohol was now replaced with torment and it sobered him up. He needed out of there. He had Ashby Evans hot and bothered like he said he was going to do. He wished with everything in him that she was Casey and he was going to take her to places she had never known existed. But it wasn't her, and he was a mixture of sad and angry. He needed to see if the look on Casey's face earlier, when she saw him and Ashby together, was anything other than the fact that Casey could not stand her. He needed to find out.
He got closer to Ashby's ear, "I need to taste you. Let's get out of here."
Before they left, they did another shot at the bar and headed to Casey's house. They entered not so quietly, laughing and making out in the process. Carter laughed and told Ashby to be quiet. He didn't hear anything coming from upstairs and he was almost disappointed that maybe she and Jordan were already fast asleep. It was only two hours since they had left Beach Bums. Could they really in all honesty be asleep?
He told Ashby to wait downstairs and he crept upstairs to listen for any activity in Casey's room. He backed up against the wall next to Casey's door and waited for any sort of sound. He heard an almost buzzing type snoring coming from the room. He could tell the T.V. was on through the bottom of the door. Damn it! Oh well, on to plan B. Get Ashby upstairs and start the moaning and groaning to wake Casey up. He hated to do it but it was a necessary evil. He went to the bottom of the steps and whispered to Ashby to come up. When she got to the bottom of the steps he crooked his finger in a come hither motion. When she came into sight at the bottom of the steps what he saw made his pants a little tighter but his heart ached at the thought of what he was about to do. It was single- handily the slimiest thing he could do and if he was going to do it, it wasn't going to be half-assed. He would try to make Casey fume with jealousy. Could he stir up those past feelings that she had for him all those years ago?
Time for the curtain to open and for Carter to take his place on stage. The sight his eyes were cast upon was that of Ashby standing at the bottom of the steps in a matching set of lavender and white lace panties and bra. Her breasts defied gravity and her tanned and well toned body spoke for itself. She seductively made her way up the steps, past Casey's bedroom towards Carter's. They giggled the whole way there. Once inside the room Carter acted drunk when he was really as sober as a Sunday school teacher. He flung Ashby into the room by her arm and she landed on the bed. Carter slammed the door behind him and pretended to fall against it. With that one slam, Casey sat straight up in bed.
"What the hell was that?" Then she heard the giggling coming from the next room. She rolled her eyes and sighed. Jordan stirred beside her.
Back in Carter's room he made his way over to the bed and in the process kicked off his large black combat boots and when he did so they flew across the room to impact the wall where Casey's bed was and they made contact with it in a fierce way. The boot connecting the wall was so loud, it woke Jordan up. He turned to Casey with sleepy eyes.
"What was that?" He rubbed his eyes and turned his naked chest over so he was now resting on his back.
"I think Carter is back. He must be drunk because he's being really loud and he usually gets that way when he is."
"Is he alone?" Jordan asked.
"I'm not sure but I thought I heard giggling." She silently wished he was alone and not with the tramp of the century, Ashby. Just then her fears were confirmed.
"Oh God Carter, yea do that again, baby. Oh yea I like it when you do that there. Oh yea, do it again. Don't stop."
Casey said aloud, "Oh shit." Jordan glanced over at her confused. She looked back at him.
"What? I'm not an Ashby fan that's all."
"How do you know it's her?" Jordan asked.
She just looked at him with pursed lips like are you kidding me? Then she started to mimic Ashby's sounds.She sat straight up in bed and let her sheet fall so her pink lace teddy was in full view for Jordan to see. Casey continued her exaggerated moaning.
"Oh yea baby, give it to me there. Oh harder, please. Oh that feels soooo good. Give me more. Oh God, Oh God, oh God!" Jordan sat straight up and stared at her with a mischievous grin.
She stopped imitating Ashby and asked, "What?"
He grabbed her face and said to her with lustful eyes, "That was probably some of the hottest things I have ever heard come out of that gorgeous mouth of yours, and right at this moment I don't think I've ever wanted you more." She smiled at his confession and she sunk down into her pillow as he made his way to lay on top of her. Jordan's lips met Casey's and their tongue began dancing around inside each other's mouths. His naked chest rubbed against her breasts and she felt his hardness against her leg. Jordan made his way down to the edge of her teddy right above her breasts. He tugged it down to find one of her soft pink nipples. He darted his tongue out to take a taste of her softness. She thread
ed her hands in his soft, blonde hair and when he took the nipple into his mouth, she instantly felt the dampness emerge from inside her. Jordan made his way back up to her neck and sucked and licked her earlobe. His hot breath rang through her ears and she began to moan in a low tone. Jordan's hand made it's way down Casey's body, over her stomach to rest on one of her inner thighs. He stopped for a second and pulled his lips away from her neck. He spoke to her in a soft, sexy voice. "You want me to stop, or should I keep this going?"
"Keep going." Was all she could get out in a breathless tone.
So he did. He slipped his hand to the outer corner of her panties and began to slide them down her leg. He continued to invaded her mouth with his tongue in the process. Once her lacy panties were down and off he made his way to her hot, wet flesh. He pressed his thumb to her clit and she let out and very loud moan. Louder than what she wanted? Maybe. His finger then made it's way into her wetness and he groaned.
"Jesus Case, you are so wet honey. I need to feel more of that." He slipped another finger inside and began to move it in and out in an equal rhythm. She bucked her hips up to meet his pace. His breath was hitched and her heart was beating out of control. He stopped and looked up at her.
"I need to taste you." His big brown eyes burning lustful holes in her. She pushed his head down in the direction she was wanting him to go. Once his hot mouth made contact with her aching, wet core she yelled out, "Oh God Jordan, don't stop. Holy shit!"
At that point in the next room, Carter heard Casey scream out and he raised his own head from between Ashby's legs. He looked around and realized that all of Ashby's moaning was not entirely hers but that of Casey's as well. Ashby protested. "What the fuck, Carter. Get back to work." She pushed his head back between her legs. Carter licked her from her clit down to her entrance then back up again. The whole time she screamed out his name, he wished it was another voice calling out his name. He pushed a few fingers into Ashby and began to invade her core.
"Oh fuck, Carter. Yea in and out, like that. That's it. Fuck me with those magic fingers!"
Casey heard Ashby's cries tearing her right out of her moment with Jordan. She stopped bucking her hips against him and he peered up from between her legs.
