Page 22 of Wild Weekend
I keep checking his pulse and trying to get him to wake up until the ambulance arrives.
But when it pulls in, I stand up and fade into the background, letting Will give an account of what happened.
I don’t want to be associated with a person ODingeither, even if it has nothing to do with me. I can’t afford for it to get back to my parole officer.
The paramedics administer Naloxone then load the man into the ambulance. They take off with sirens wailing and I watch with my hand to my chest, hoping the man’s going to be okay.
“That was pretty impressive.”
I turn at the sound of Will’s voice, and the sight of him helps calm my nerves. “I did some volunteer work with a War on Drugs street team.”
I leave out the fact that it was part of my community service. Will doesn’t need to know about that.
The man’s friend comes stumbling back from wherever he was hiding when the ambulance arrived.
“Is he going to be all right?”
Will turns to him, and there’s fury in his voice. “What were you thinking, bringing gear to a family festival? There are kids around.”
The man holds up his hands, but Will doesn’t back down. “It’s irresponsible. You want a kid to see that happen?”
“Chill out, bro.”
“I’m not your fucking bro. You’re lucky I don’t know any cops around here, or I’d have them take you in.”
The man’s face goes red. “You need to relax, smoke a joint or something.”
“You need to get the fuck out of my face.”
The man backs off, and Will strides up the street. I’ve never seen him so angry, and I have to jog to keep up with him.
“Are you okay?”
He shakes his head. “If there’s one thing I can’t tolerate, it’s drugs.”
He strides off up the street, and this time I let him go. It’s lucky this is only for the weekend, because if Will knew about my past, he wouldn’t want anything to do with me.
8
WILL
Iwake tangled in Stella’s limbs, her warm sleepy body crushed against mine. We spent last night together in the motel room while the festival carried on without us.
My appetite for her is insatiable, and I took my fill last night.
Sunlight falls over her cheeks, highlighting her smooth fresh skin. Her hair fans out across the pillow, encasing me in her floral scent.
I could get used to this, waking every morning with Stella next to me. My chest constricts knowing this is our last morning together. In a few hours, I’ll be on my bike heading back east, and she’ll be heading west.
I should have gone yesterday. I have clients to get back to, but having one more day with Stella overrode any client commitments.
Carefully, I extract my arm from around her and grab my phone from the nightstand.
There are two missed calls and several emails.
I scroll through them, trying to get my head back into work mode. Maxine has done a good job of responding for me. I make a mental note to buy her some of the donuts she likes when I get back.
I’ll have to make some client calls today, but as I glance down at the sleepy-eyed woman looking up at me through thick lashes, all thoughts of work flee my mind. I’m not giving up any of my time with Stella to speak to a client.
