Out of my past eighteen birthdays, I had to say I've never been more excited to celebrate getting older. I knew my nineteenth birthday was going to be one I would never forget.

On my birthdays in the past we usually spent them with one of my friends throwing a house party with drinking, dancing, and drugs. I never took part in that last one though. Was just never really my thing. I would usually spend the night hammered and making out with some random girl. The surprising thing was, out of all of the times I've had sex, I've never had sex on my birthday. I never really realized that until now.

"So, we doing the usual tomorrow?"

I walked around the pool table while trying to find the perfect shot. Nick was game to hang out today when I called him this morning. Even though I was all gung ho about Karma going on this camping trip, I was extremely bummed that she wasn't going to be here for my birthday tomorrow.

"Nah," I said to him and angled my pool stick against the table. "I think I'm just gonna stay home."

"What? No. It's your birthday," Nick pointed out as if I had forgotten. I didn't need to look up to know he was sporting an annoyed expression. "We always do something for your birthday."

My pool stick made contact with the cue ball, which made it hit the number fourteen stripped one and it sunk straight into the corner pocket. I straightened and walked around to the other side of the pool table.

"Things are different this year, Nick. I want to spend my birthday with Karma. I made a promise."

Nick splayed his arms wide and had an offended look on his face. "What? So just because you have a girlfriend now you're just going to forget about your best friend?"

"If I forgot about you, Nick, I wouldn't be here with you right now." 

"You know what I mean." 

Actually, I did. Nick and I went back all the way to the sandbox. Not a birthday has gone by that we haven't spent together. To be honest, if he was the one with the girlfriend and I wasn't able to see him on his birthday, I would be feeling some type of way, too. 

"All right," I said on a sigh. "I'll be honest, I don't want to go to one of those parties. Especially after what happened with Brian and shit. I promised Karma I wouldn't do anything until I celebrated with her, but I'll talk to her and let her know that I'm going to do something with you tomorrow and she and I can still celebrate when she gets back." 

The corners of his mouth lifted, and his expression went from disappointed to happy. "What about your girl? You sure this won't put you in the doghouse?" 

Leaning against the side of the pool table, I gave Nick's question some thought. I've known Karma almost as long as I've known Nick. That girl was one of the most caring and understanding people I knew. Not only would she understand why Nick and I had to hangout on my birthday, but she would probably be pissed if I didn't just because of a promise I made to her. But I wasn't stupid, though. I was still going to call her tonight to make sure she was cool with it. 

"Believe me," I said to my best friend, "there will be no doghouse. I know my girl." 

Nick and I shot a few more games of pool at L.O.S.T before we took a break to eat some food and then we played a couple games of air hockey. Since I was under strict orders to be home by dinner time, I dropped Nick off and then hurried to my place so I didn't have to face the wrath of my mom.

Thanks to Karma's mom's constant worrying about me sneaking off to crash their camping weekend, my own mom has been on my ass. She gave me the Mrs. Jenkins' stare doubled with the finger point as she warned me what would happen should I make any attempt to sneak off and see Karma before she got back from her trip. That's how you knew that woman meant business.

So as I sat at the large dinner table in our kitchen, I tried desperately to avoid that same exact stare while I scooped spaghetti from the pot to put some on my plate. Just when I reached for the garlic bread...

"Nate, I hope I don't have to remind you that I'm going to be doing random checks on your bedroom tonight."

Here we go. "Mom, I promise you that I wasn't going to sneak out to see Karma. You can trust me."

My mom scoffed as she wiped her hands on her apron. "Just like the time you told me I could trust you when you and Nick said you were going to see a movie, when you actually were at a girl's house and then got caught by her father and had to sneak out a window? Or the time when you said I could trust you about not drinking at the homecoming dance sophomore year? As I recall, I got the phone call right at midnight from the police officer that caught you and Nick peeing on his cop car."

"In my defense, mom, that was Nick. Not me."

"Even so, tell me why this time is any different, Nathan Jenkins?"

I sat there for a few minutes with my fork in my hand and just stared at my mom as I thought about her question. I could have bullshitted my way through this discussion if I really wanted to, but I figured if I wanted her to trust me then I needed to tell her the truth.

"It's different this time because...I'm different, mom. I'm not the same Nathan who did those things. You should know that better than anyone. And I didn't only promise you that I would follow the rules this weekend, but I promised Karma too."

The corners of my mom's mouth lifted in a warm smile. "Okay, Nate. I believe you. Now, eat your dinner before it gets cold."

After eating dinner with my parents and having a little bit of my mom's famous lemon pound cake, I decided to call it a night. I went upstairs and took a quick shower before grabbing a magazine and stretching out on my bed.

Man, I really missed Karma. I didn't like her being out of town. If this was a normal day, in another hour or two I would be getting in my car to drive to her place before sneaking into her window and making love to her all night before sleeping beside her until the early hours of the morning.

But not tonight. Tonight I was going to be sleeping alone without the girl I loved. Sunday evening needed to get here quick. The girls were supposed to be heading back home right after lunch time on Sunday. Karma said she was going to go by her place just to visit with her parents for a little bit and then the rest of that day was ours.

I couldn't fucking wait.

As if on cue, my cell phone chimed from where I sat it on my bed next to me. I thought it was from Karma letting me know that she was going to bed, but to my surprise that wasn't the case.

Nick: I'll be at ur place at 12 to party 2morrow!

Me: sounds good. C u then.

Just when I sat the phone back down, it went off with another text. My assumptions we're clearly off because I assumed it was Nick this time. Nope. This time it was from Karma. But this text didn't include a message. It was an image. One single dick hardening image.

Karma was laying on her sleeping bag in her tent. Her hair was over one shoulder. It was obvious she was holding the camera far away from her when she snapped the picture. She had a naughty sensual smile on her face, her expression filled with tempting promises. Then holy fuck, her tits were completely bare and one hundred percent visible to my gaze.

I knew my girl was a temptress but goddamn. Thank God this picture wasn't a whole body shot, otherwise I would be in my car heading up north right now. Unable to look away from the picture or even blink, I just stared at the beauty of my girlfriend. That is until I got another text...

Gorgeous: missing you xoxo

Yeah, I missed her too. What a fucking understatement that was. Even though I meant every word I said to my mom downstairs, how the hell was I going to stay away from Karma until Sunday?

Before I even finished that thought, and idea suddenly popped in my head that had me backing out of the picture Karma sent and dialing Nick's number on the keypad.

He answered on the second ring. "What's up, bro? You better not be canceling on me."

"It's the complete opposite, actually." I walked over to my desk before I grabbed my get outta jail free card that was going to make this little surprise visit possible. "How do you feel about going on a little road trip tomorrow, Nick?"

His deep chuckle told me he knew exactly what I was talking about. "Oh hell yeah. Let's do it."

***

Hey everyone. I'm so sorry that I wasn't able to post on Friday or Sunday. Unfortunately on Friday I had to unexpectedly put my sweet dog, Leeloo, down. It's been a really rough few days, but I appreciate your patience.

For those who are caught up with the later books in the series, I am still doing an early release for the next book in the series which focuses on Harper and Jackson titled Forever Mine tomorrow.

Rest in my peace my sweet baby girl 🖤