Page 49 of Rematch
“Well, just so you know, if you did ask, I might say yes.”
His brow rose. “Might?”
“Yeah. Because you, sir, still have some making up to do.”
He grinned. “I think our plans for tonight are perfect for that.”
Releasing me, he put the car in gear and started driving to our first destination.
It was a small restaurant with a Halloween overlay. The bulbs were filled with red lights. Cobwebs with fake spiders hung in the corners. The wait staff shuffled around in gory makeup, resembling an ensemble of zombies. The music playing from the ceiling speakers were all eerie instrumentals. Even the menu was altered to reflect the horror theme.
Not even five minutes in, and I was in love with the effort the restaurant put into the theme.
As we sipped on our blood red cocktails, Carter and I chatted about our old Halloween memories. He told a lot of stories about his adventures on mischief night with his friends and all the havoc they caused. Apparently, he used to be quite the trouble-maker.
In return, I told him a few stories about previous Halloweens, but all of them included Max. And with every mention of his name, Carter’s smile grew dimmer and dimmer.
“All this was after I moved in with my fathers,” I said, trying to change the subject, but not in the direction I meant.
“After?” Carter asked. “Where did you live before? I mean, I know you mentioned you were adopted, but I thought as a baby.”
I averted my eyes. “Lots of places. Before that, I lived with my mom.”
His brows came together. “What happened? Did she…?” He trailed off, unsure if the question was safe to ask in its entirety.
“No. She isn’t dead. At least not that I know of. She just…” I sucked in a breath as the weight whenever she came up crushed my chest. “She had a lot of demons, and she lost more battles than she won with them. I, um…I tried not to call the ambulance when she’d take too much. She told me not to. But, one day, she wouldn’t wake up and I couldn’t find help, so I…I had to. The social worker at the hospital told me I’d saved her life. And I wasproud of that for a moment - before I realized I was going to lose her for good, anyway. That instance was the final straw that made child services deem her unfit. Our case worker had wanted to place me in a ‘more stable’ environment for a little while by then. I didn’t actually get it when I entered the system. Not at first. I bounced around foster homes for over a year before I ended up with Rashad and Benny.”
“Oh,” Carter murmured. “Have you…have you seen her since then?”
Shaking my head, I took a long sip of my wine. “No. She, uh…she never came to any of the attempts for a supervised visit. Which didn’t exactly surprise me. Our last conversation felt very final. She…she told me she loved me. And although I truly believe she did, we both knew it wasn’t as much as she loved her demons.”
“Damn. I’m…I’m sorry, Audrey.”
“Don’t be. I’ve been in a lot of therapy. Processed a lot of my shit. And I’m okay now.” Or at least as okay as anyone can be after all that.
Carter frowned at the change in my mood, and quickly changed the subject to horror movies to lighten it.
I silently thanked him for not pushing. My past before my fathers was always hard to discuss. It still haunts me from time to time. Very few knew about it. Even some of my boyfriends in college, after Max, didn’t know about it. But, Carter seemed like a safe enough space to let some of that weight down onto.
After all, it was about time I started letting him in. I just hoped that, if he ever saw every ugly scar that lay beneath my skin, he’d still think I was beautiful.
After dinner, we drove over to one of the clubs downtown, also hosting a Halloween theme.
The loud music pulsed through my ears the moment we stepped inside. Neon lights flashed from the ceiling, offeringbrief illuminations of the patrons milling around the club. Waitresses dressed in seductive vampire costumes weaved through the crowds, carrying trays of drinks. On the dance floor, people dressed in a variety of costumes danced to the quick beat and sipped on the drinks in their hands. Their energy was infectious, spreading good vibes throughout the entire room.
Carter held on tight to my hand as he towed me through the crowds towards the bar. We had a few drinks at the restaurant, but nothing strong enough to give us the courage we needed to get out on the dance floor.
Thankfully, the bar wasn’t too crowded. We easily found two open bar stools and ordered our drinks.
We started with a few shots. I almost laughed at Carter’s impressed look as I threw them back without gagging or complaining about the burn.
“What?” I asked.
“I didn’t take you for a party-er.”
I scoffed. “I studied medicine for over ten years. I couldn’t afford to be a party-er. But, I sure did go on a few bar crawls to celebrate passing exams.”
He chuckled.
