Baby, you gotta c-call an ambulance, baby. Call an—
Callie picked up the straw. She leaned down. She snorted up all four lines in quick succession.
She sat back up, eyes watering, heart tripping, ears buzzing, bones shaking.
“Fuck.” Sidney wasn’t going to be left out. She dumped the second eight-ball onto the mirror. She cut out the lines quickly, so eager to join the fun that she skipped the ass-pushing-out and the wink and hoovered up four lines herself. “Jesus! Fucking! Christ!”
Callie gummed the residue. She could taste the fentanyl like a hidden message to her body.
“Yes!” Sidney yelled, dancing around the kitchen. She disappeared into the living room, screaming, “Fuck yes!”
Callie felt her eyes wanting to roll back in her head. Sidney had left the knife on the counter. Callie saw herself in the Waleskis’ kitchen, soaking the handle in bleach, picking around the crevices with a toothpick. Her fingers went to her throat. She could feel her heart pushing its way up toward her mouth. The coke was settling in, the fentanyl chasing its tail. What the fuck had she been thinking? The videos were here. Sidney was here. Andrew was in court but he would get out and then what would he do? What did he have planned for Maddy?
She found the Xanax in her purse and popped three before Sidney came back into the kitchen.
“Maxie, come look at the fish,” she said, taking Callie’s hand, pulling her into the living room.
The music got louder. The lights got lower. Sidney dropped the remote on the coffee table as she tugged Callie down to the couch.
Callie sank back into the soft cushions. The couch was so deep that her feet would not touch the ground. She curled up her legs, resting her arm on a pile of pillows. How the hell she recognized Michael Bublé on the speakers was a fascinating puzzle until she saw a lionfish scuttle behind a rock, the multiple spikes showing off red and black bands. The venomous fin rays made the fish one of the most dangerous predators in the ocean, but it only used the weapon defensively. The other fish were safe so long as they were too big to fit into the lionfish’s gawping tunnel of a mouth.
“Max?” Sidney asked, her voice low and sultry. She played with Callie’s hair, her fingernails gently scratching the scalp.
Callie felt a distant trill from the sensation, but she could not break her concentration away from a short-nosed unicorn fish flitting past a startled-looking starfish. Then the tang joined the party. Then the seagrass started to wave its slim fingers in her direction. There was no telling how long Callie sat there watching the colorful parade, but she could tell by the dulling colors that the Xanax was finally taking her down a notch.
“Max?” Sidney repeated. “You want to shoot me up?”
Callie’s attention strayed from the aquarium. Sidney was leaning against her, fingers still stroking through Callie’s hair. Her pupils were blown wide open. Her lips were lush and wet. She was so fucking ripe.
Callie had syringes in her purse. A tie-off. Lighter. Cotton. This was what she’d planned, to talk Sidney into more, then a little more, until she was sticking a needle into Sidney’s arm, giving her a taste of the dragon she would chase into a deep, dark well of despair.
If it didn’t kill her first.
“Hey there.” Sidney bit her bottom lip. She was so close Callie could taste the tequila on her breath. “Do you know how fucking adorable you are?”
Callie felt her body respond before her mouth could. She ran her fingers through Sidney’s thick, silky hair. Her skin was unbelievably soft. The color of her eyes reminded Callie of the expensive salt in the hand-carved cellar.
Sidney kissed her on the mouth. Callie had pulled away the first two times their lips had touched, but now, she let herself give in. Sidney’s mouth was perfect. Her tongue was velvet. Tingles ran up Callie’s spine. For the first time in twenty years, there was no pain in her body. She laid back on the couch. Sidney was on top, her mouth pressing against Callie’s neck, then her breasts, then Callie’s jeans were unbuttoned and Sidney’s fingers slipped inside of her.
Callie moaned. Tears wept into her eyes. It had been so damn long since she’d had someone inside of her who she really wanted inside of her. She rocked against Sidney’s hand. Sucked on her mouth, her tongue. The sensation started to build. Callie felt dizzy as breath flooded into her open lungs. Her eyes closed. Her mouth opened to call Sidney’s name—
Breathe into it I’m almost there come on.
Callie’s eyes opened. Her heart slammed against her chest. There was no gorilla, just the clear sound of Buddy Waleski’s voice.